Carlo Ancelotti

Carlo Ancelotti (Italian pronunciation: [ˈkarlo antʃeˈlɔtti]; born 10 June 1959) is an Italian professional football manager and former player who is the head coach of the Brazil national team. Nicknamed "Carletto" in Italy and "Don Carlo" in Spain, he is regarded as one of the greatest football managers of all time.

Ancelotti has won the UEFA Champions League five times, a record for a manager, and is the only manager to take part in six Champions League finals. Ancelotti is also the only manager to win league titles in all of Europe's top five leagues. He has won the FIFA Club World Cup three times and has won the UEFA Super Cup five times, a record for a manager.

As a player, Ancelotti won two European Cups with AC Milan in 1989 and 1990, making him one of seven people to have won the European Cup/Champions League as both a player and a manager. He played as a midfielder and began his career with Italian club Parma, helping the club get promoted to Serie B in the 1978–79 season. He moved to Roma the following season, where he won a Serie A title and four Coppa Italia titles. He then played for the late 1980s Milan team and won multiple titles, including two Scudetti and two European Cups. At international level, he had 26 appearances and one goal for the Italy national team. He represented Italy at two FIFA World Cups and at the UEFA Euro 1988, finishing in third place at the 1990 World Cup and being a semi-finalist at the Euro tournament.

As a manager, Ancelotti worked for Reggiana, Parma, and Juventus between 1995 and 2001. He then joined Milan in 2001 and went on to win both the 2002–03 Champions League and 2002–03 Coppa Italia. The following season, he won the Scudetto with an Italian record of 82 points. In 2007, he won his second Champions League with Milan. Ancelotti was awarded the Serie A Coach of the Year twice. He resigned from Milan after the 2008–09 season and was the club's longest-serving manager.

In 2009, Ancelotti became the manager of Chelsea and won the domestic double of the Premier League and the FA Cup in his first season. In 2011, he became the manager of Paris Saint-Germain; the following season, he won their first Ligue 1 title in 19 years and was awarded joint Ligue 1 Manager of the Year. Following his success in France, Ancelotti became the manager of Real Madrid. In his first season, he led Real Madrid to their tenth Champions League title and a Copa del Rey title. Despite winning more trophies with the club and being awarded the Miguel Muñoz Trophy in 2014–15 for the best manager in La Liga, Ancelotti was dismissed from Real Madrid in May 2015. He became the manager of Bayern Munich in 2016 and won the Bundesliga title in his first season. Following stints at Napoli and Everton between 2018 and 2021, he returned to Real Madrid in the summer of 2021, where he won two La Liga–Champions League doubles in 2022 and 2024. In 2025, he was appointed as coach of a national team for the first time when he took on the position with Brazil.

Club career

Parma

Ancelotti began his career in 1974 with Parma. He made his professional debut in Serie C during the 1976–77 season, at the age of 18. Under manager Cesare Maldini, he was often deployed as an attacking midfielder or as a second striker, due to his eye for goal. Ancelotti excelled in these roles and helped Parma to a second place in the Serie C1 girone A during the 1978–79 season, which qualified the team for the Serie B play-offs. In the decisive match in Vicenza, against Triestina, with the score tied at 1–1, he scored two goals, which gave Parma a 3–1 victory and sealed their place in Serie B the following season.

Roma

After attracting strong interest from Inter Milan, in mid-1979 Ancelotti transferred to Roma, and made his Serie A debut in a 0–0 draw against AC Milan on 16 September. Under manager Nils Liedholm, he was deployed as a winger or central midfielder and became one of the club's most important players, in a team which featured Brazilian midfielders Falcão and Toninho Cerezo, as well as Italian footballers Roberto Pruzzo, Bruno Conti, Agostino Di Bartolomei and Pietro Vierchowod, winning consecutive Coppa Italia titles in his first two seasons with the club. During his eight seasons in Rome, he won the Coppa Italia a total of four times (1980, 1981, 1984 and 1986). After struggling with knee injuries, and managing second and third-place league finishes in 1981 and 1982, Ancelotti helped lead the team to win the Italian championship in 1983, the club's second league title in their history.

In the following season, Ancelotti helped Roma to win another Coppa Italia title and reach the European Cup final in 1984, although he missed the final through injury, as Roma were defeated by Liverpool on penalties at the Stadio Olimpico in Rome. He was named the team's captain in 1985 under new club manager Sven-Göran Eriksson, and served as a mentor to the young midfielder Giuseppe Giannini, as Roma won the Coppa Italia, but once again narrowly missed out on the league title during the 1985–86 Serie A season, finishing in second place behind Juventus.

AC Milan

From 1987 until 1992, Ancelotti played for Milan, and was a key part of the squad that won the Serie A title in 1988, consecutive European Cups in 1989 and 1990, two European Super Cups, two Intercontinental Cups and a Supercoppa Italiana under manager Arrigo Sacchi. During this time, Milan, under the financial backing of club president Silvio Berlusconi, featured players such as Paolo Maldini, Franco Baresi, Mauro Tassotti and Alessandro Costacurta as defenders; Frank Rijkaard, Ruud Gullit and Roberto Donadoni as midfielders; and Marco van Basten upfront. One of Ancelotti's most memorable moments with Milan was when he received a pass from Ruud Gullit, dribbled around two Real Madrid players and netted a powerful long-range shot during the Rossoneri's 5–0 thrashing of Real Madrid in the 1989 European Cup semi-finals. He went on to play all 90 minutes in Milan's 4–0 win over Steaua București in the final.

The following season, Ancelotti suffered an injury to his left knee in the quarter-finals of the European Cup against KV Mechelen, which forced him to miss the semi-finals, although he was able to return in time to help Milan defend their title against Benfica in the final, held in Vienna. Following Sacchi's departure, he won a second Serie A title under his replacement Fabio Capello during the 1991–92 Serie A season, as Milan won the title undefeated, but persistent knee injuries and competition from youngster Demetrio Albertini limited his playing time, and eventually forced him into premature retirement at the end of the season, at the age of 33. He played the final match of his career with the club in a 4–0 home win over Hellas Verona on 17 May 1992, in which he came off the bench in the final 20 minutes of the game and scored two goals, and was given an ovation by the fans.

International career

Under manager Enzo Bearzot, Ancelotti made his Italy national team debut and scored his first and only goal on 6 January 1981 in the 1980 World Champions' Gold Cup against the Netherlands, which ended in a 1–1 draw. He was very likely to be capped for the 1982 World Cup campaign, but a dramatic knee injury forced him away for several months, as Italy went on to win the tournament without him. He was a part of Italy's squad in the 1986 World Cup, but did not make a single appearance, as both he and Paolo Rossi struggled during the team's fitness tests, due to the altitude of the region, and were replaced in the starting line-up by Fernando De Napoli and Giuseppe Galderisi, respectively.

Under new Italy manager Azeglio Vicini, he was a key member of the Italy squad that reached the semi-finals of UEFA Euro 1988, and was also set to represent his nation at the Summer Olympics in Seoul that summer. An injury to the meniscus of his right knee, however, prevented him from taking part in the tournament, where Italy ultimately managed a fourth-place finish. Ancelotti later went on to play in the 1990 World Cup on home soil under Vicini at the age of 31, although another injury in the first group match against Austria once again limited his appearances in the competition to just three, and kept him on the sidelines until the third-place final against England, in which he returned to help Italy to a 2–1 win. Ancelotti made a total of 26 performances for the Italy national side, and announced his retirement from international football in 1991, making his final Italy appearance under Arrigo Sacchi.

Style of play

Ancelotti was a midfielder known for his leadership and creativity; he was regarded as one of the best Italian midfielders of his generation. Although he lacked pace and physicality, he was a talented, hardworking, and tenacious player who had excellent technical ability, tactical intelligence, vision, and passing range; his most notable skill being his powerful and accurate shooting from outside the box. A versatile midfielder, he was capable playing several midfield positions. He often played as a deep-lying playmaker, as a central midfielder, or as a defensive midfielder, which allowed him to set the tempo of play after winning back the ball; he was also the mentor and predecessor of Demetrio Albertini and Andrea Pirlo when he was a playmaker at Milan. Despite his abilities, his playing time was cut short by several injuries, which forced him into retirement in 1992 at the age of 33.