Dominique D'Onofrio

Dominique D'Onofrio
Personal information
Date of birth18 April 1953
Place of birthCastelforte, Italy
Senior career*
YearsTeamApps†(Gls)†
1974–1975R.R.F.C. Montegnée
1975–1976Ans FC
1976–1977RJS Bas-Oha
1977–1982Ans FC
Teams managed
1994–1995Tilleur Saint-Nicolas
1995–1996RFC Union La Calamine
1996–1997R.R.F.C. Montegnée
2000–2001Standard de Liège
2002–2006Standard de Liège
2010–2011Standard de Liège
* Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only.
† Appearances (Goals).

Dominique D'Onofrio is an Italo-Belgian football coach, later chairman. He was born on 18 April 1953 in Castelforte (Italy). He was coachbuilder until his brother bought out Standard Liège and enabled him to integrate a professional club. At Standard de Liège since 1998, at first with the U6 (youth, scouting and contracts), he quickly took over from Tomislav Ivić (with Christian Labarbe) for 2000–01. He took charge for the first team for three matches in December 2000. In January 2001, he took over from Michel Preud'homme until July 2002.

In 2002–2003, he took over from Robert Waseige for the first five matches of the Championship. He had little success as first team coach, and was fired on 14 September 2002, after domestic defeat against Club Bruges and a catastrophic first season.

Adored by some supporters who appreciated the results gained under his leadership, reviled by others who disliked his gameplay and recourse to a long-ball system, he left his post in May 2005, before being named a few weeks later after the club failed to find a replacement. This provoked great remorse from those supporters who had campaigned for his firing, who apologised a few days before his return was announced.

In May 2006, he left the post of coach for good, and became sporting director with technical director (Michel Preud'homme). Although the club had qualified for the first time for the third preliminary round of the Champions League, he was hounded by supporters after the last game of the season, where they failed to win their first championship since 1983. He stated that he held himself responsible for this.

Becoming sporting director of Standard de Liège and technical director in July 2006, he was in charge of scouting and recruitment. Two months later, when Michel Preud'homme took over from Johan Boskamp, and appointed his own staff, looking for immediate results, Dominique D'Onofrio became technical director and looked to improve the club's results.

On 10 February 2010, due to bad results at the club, he ended the contract of László Bölöni, Dominique D'Onofrio took over as head coach of Standard until June 2010.[1]

Under his leadership, Standard de Liège obtained the following results in the Championship:

Year Position Matches Won Drawn Lost GF GA Points
2000–2001 Interim 3 1 1 1 7 5 4/9
2002–2003 7th 29 15 7 7 53 29 52/87
2003–2004 3rd 34 18 11 5 68 31 65/102
2004–2005 4th 36 22 7 7 67 34 73/108
2005–2006 2nd 34 19 8 7 51 28 65/102
2009–2010 8th 10 3 3 4 11 10 12/30
2010–2011 6th 30 15 4 11 50 38 49/90
Total – 176 93 41 42 307 172 320/528

Honours

RRFC Montegnée

Seraing RUL
Standard de Liège

References

  1. ↑ http://www.standard.be/fr/n_nouvelle.php?id=15007 Rédaction Standard.be. Dominique D'Onofrio. 10 February 2010. Consulted 10 February 2010.