Franco Colomba

Not to be confused with Franco Colombo, Italian footballer born 1917.
Franco Colomba
Personal information
Date of birth6 February 1955
Place of birthGrosseto, Italy
Playing positionMidfielder
Club information
Current team
FC Pune City (head coach)
Senior career*
YearsTeamApps†(Gls)†
1973–1975Bologna9(2)
1975–1976→ Modena (loan)28(1)
1976–1977→ Sambenedettese (loan)27(1)
1977–1983Bologna159(4)
1983–1988Avellino132(14)
1988–1990Modena48(1)
Teams managed
1990–1992Modena (youth team)
1992–1993Spal (youth team)
1993–1994Olbia
1994–1995Novara
1995–1997Salernitana
1997–1998Reggina
1998–1999Vicenza
1999–2002Reggina
2002–2003Napoli
2003Reggina
2004–2005Livorno
2005–2006Avellino
2006–2007Cagliari
2007Verona
2008–2009Ascoli
2009–2010Bologna
2011–2012Parma
2012–2013Padova
2014–Pune City
* Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only.
† Appearances (Goals).

Franco Colomba (born 6 February 1955 in Grosseto) is an Italian football coach and former player, in charge of Indian Super League club FC Pune City.

Career

Playing

Colomba, a midfielder, started his playing career in Bologna, making his Serie A debut in 1973–74. He played for Bologna until 1983, except two loan spells at Serie B teams Modena and Sambenedettese, in 1975 and 1976 respectively. After having left Bologna, Colomba signed for Avellino, a minor Serie A team where he played until 1988, when Avellino relegated to Serie B, and became a favourite among the biancoverdi fans. He ended his career in 1990 with Modena.

Coaching

After three years as youth coach for Modena and Spal, Colomba took his first head coaching job in 1993, at the helm of Olbia of Serie C2. After an impressive season with Novara one year later, in 1995 Colomba was called to coach Salernitana, where he narrowly missed immediate promotion to Serie A; he was fired one year later, because of poor results. In 1997, Colomba signed for Reggina of Serie B, where he obtained a seventh place. At the end of the season, he left Reggina for Serie A team Vicenza, where he however did not end the season, being fired after nineteen matchdays.

Colomba returned to Reggina in 1999, and stayed in Calabria for three seasons, with a relegation in 2001 (after having lost a play-off match to Verona) and a successive promotion in 2002. In the 2002–03 season, Colomba had a somehow turbulent Serie B experience at fallen giants Napoli, with a sacking and a successive recall, and a disappointing fifteenth place as a result. The next year saw Colomba making his third comeback at Reggina, but he is fired after the eleventh matchday and replaced by Giancarlo Camolese. The 2004–05 season started with Colomba at the helm of newly promoted Serie A side Livorno, but abruptly ended in January, when he was sacked and replaced by Roberto Donadoni. In October 2005, a Serie B team in danger of relegation, Avellino, called him to replace Francesco Oddo; however, Avellino finally lost its place to Serie B after two play-off matches lost to AlbinoLeffe.

Colomba returned to coach in December 2006, when he was appointed to replace Marco Giampaolo at the helm of Serie A club Cagliari Calcio. He was fired on 26 February 2007 following a 2–0 home defeat to Lazio.

On 19 July 2007 he was announced as head coach of Serie C1 club Verona.[1] However, Verona had a very poor start in their Serie C1 2007–08 campaign, with no wins in the initial seven league matches, and a shock 1–2 defeat against Legnano led the club management to sack Colomba on 8 October 2007.[2]

On December 2008 he was appointed as new head coach of Ascoli, becoming the third manager of the bianconeri in the Serie B 2008–09, and replacing Vincenzo Chiarenza.[3] He guided Ascoli into a mid-table finish at the end of the season, but his contract was not extended and therefore left the club.[4]

On 20 October 2009 Colomba was appointed new head coach of Bologna, taking over from Giuseppe Papadopulo.[5] Notably, despite being born in Grosseto, Colomba grew up in Bologna and is a fan of the local club since childhood, and Bologna was also the club that gave him the chance to make his professional football debut. After taking the reins of the rossoblu club, he defined his appointment as head coach of Bologna as a dream coming true.[6] He guided Bologna to keep their place in the Serie A in 2009–10, however his position was put under question after Sergio Porcedda took over the club. Originally confirmed at the helm of the club, he was ultimately dismissed on 29 August 2010, exactly one day before the first game of the season, allegedly due to disagreements with the board.[7]

On 5 April 2011, Colomba was announced as the new head coach of Parma, replacing Pasquale Marino, and saved the club from relegation, being subsequently confirmed at the helm of the club also for the new season. On 9 January 2012, he was fired and replaced by Roberto Donadoni following Parma extended winless streak to six matches with a 5–0 loss to Inter.[8]

Since 2014 he is the new coach of FC Pune City. He was send out by the refree during the second half of Pune's ISL match against Mumbai FC on December 3, 2014, for celebrating the team's two goals by running into the ground. He even ran to the goal keeper to celebrate. He had to watch the match from the VIP gallery for the rest of the match.

References

  1. ↑ "E' ufficiale: Franco Colomba è il nuovo allenatore" (in Italian). Hellas Verona FC. 19 July 2007. Retrieved 2007-07-19.
  2. ↑ "Punch-drunk Verona fire Colomba". Football Italia. 8 October 2007. Archived from the original on 1 December 2007. Retrieved 2007-11-14.
  3. ↑ "Comunicato Stampa" (in Italian). Ascoli Calcio 1898. 7 December 2008. Retrieved 2008-12-07.
  4. ↑ "Mister Colomba lascia l’Ascoli" (in Italian). Ascoli Calcio 1898. 4 June 2009. Retrieved 2009-06-04.
  5. ↑ Il profilo di Franco Colomba
  6. ↑ "Colomba, Ranieri e la sfida del cuore Com'è dura allenare a casa" (in Italian). 1 November 2009. Retrieved 2010-03-10.
  7. ↑ "Nota della Società" (in Italian). Bologna FC 1909. 29 August 2010. Archived from the original on 2 September 2010. Retrieved 23 June 2013.
  8. ↑ "Parma: esonerato Colomba, Donadoni nuovo tecnico". Sportitalia (in Italian). 9 January 2012. Retrieved 10 January 2012.