Who is Fabio Capello?
Fabio Capello (born 18 June 1946) is an Italian manager and a former professional footballer who was most recently the head coach of the Russia national football team.
As a player Capello represented SPAL 1907, Roma, AC Milan and Juventus. He played as a midfielder and won several trophies during his career which lasted over 15 years. He won the Coppa Italia with Roma in 1969. He was most successful with Juventus, winning three Serie A titles in 1972, 1973 and1975. With Milan he won the Coppa Italia again in 1977 and also won another Serie A in 1979. Capello also played for Italy during his career and amassed 32 caps, scoring eight goals as well.
In his first five seasons as a manager he won four Serie A titles with Milan, where he also won the 1993–94 UEFA Champions League, defeating Barcelona 4–0 in a memorable final. He then spent a year at Real Madrid, where he won the La Liga title at his first attempt, and in 2001 led Roma to their first league title in 18 years. Capello also won two titles at Juventus (which were later stripped after the Calciopoli scandal), and in 2006 returned to Real Madrid, where he won another La Liga title. Overall he has won a major league championship in nine, counting the two revoked titles with Juventus of his 16 seasons as a coach. He is regarded as one of the greatest managers of all time.
Capello was appointed as England manager in December 2007. During his time as England manager he was successful in tournament qualification, guiding the team to the 2010 FIFA World Cup, where they were knocked out in the second round, and 2012 European Championship, where they were knocked out in the quarter-finals under new manager Roy Hodgson. In February 2012, he resigned as manager due to a dispute with the Football Association, before being appointed coach of the Russian national team in July 2012. On 14 July 2015 he was sacked by the Russian FA, and therefore been replaced by Leonid Slutsky.
Coaching career
1) Early years
Before going into management, Capello spent the early 1980s coaching the Milan youth teams. Bringing through talent such as Paolo Maldini and Alessandro Costacurta, he led the under-19s to numerous youth tournament successes. He completed the last of his coaching badges in 1986. He was promoted to first team coach in 1987, and worked as Nils Liedholm's assistant. His first experience as a head coach was leading Milan in the last six games of the 1986–87 Serie A season, replacing Liedholm and achieving the UEFA Cup qualifications in a play-off with Sampdoria. However, the following season, Silvio Berlusconi hired Arrigo Sacchi as the new "Rossoneri" manager and Capello stepped aside
2) Milan
Capello replaced Sacchi as Milan manager in June 1991 and largely retained the players and tactical systems put in place by Sacchi, though he replaced ageing central midfielder Carlo Ancelotti with a youngster Demetrio Albertini and signed goalkeeper Sebastiano Rossi. Allowing for more creative freedom from his attackers, Milan won the Serie A title in 1991–92.
He also signed Gianluigi Lentini, Fernando De Napoli, Stefano Eranio, Jean-Pierre Papin, Dejan Savićević, and Zvonimir Boban. Already boasting talent such as Marco van Basten, Ruud Gullit, Paolo Maldini, and Frank Rijkaard, Capello was one of the first managers to introduce a squad rotation approach. He played Rijkaard and Albertini as deep-lying central midfielders, allowing his wingers more license to attack. Milan dominated the league in the 1992–93 season and reached the 1993 UEFA Champions League Final, losing to 1–0 Olympique de Marseille. Milan remained unbeaten for 58 league games, between 19 May 1991 and 21 March 1993, which included an entire season in the league..
Building for the 1993–94 season, he signed Christian Panucci, Brian Laudrup, Florin Răducioiu, and Marcel Desailly. Playing Desailly as a holding midfielder allowed the rest of the midfield to push on and attack. He lost the Intercontinental Cup 1993, but won the 1994 UEFA Champions League Final with a 4–0 victory over Barcelona.
Milan struggled at the start of the 1994–95 season and lost in the 1994 Intercontinental Cup. However they beat Arsenal in the 1994 European Super Cup and reached the 1995 UEFA Champions League Final, where they were beaten by Ajax. They finished the league campaign in fourth place.
At 1995–96 season, Milan signed strikers George Weah and Roberto Baggio they already had Di Canio, Lentini, and Marco Simone and they won the title by an eight-point margin.
3) Real Madrid
Capello was unveiled as the new Real Madrid coach in 1996. A major task was combining the attacking talents of Davor Šuker, Predrag Mijatović and Raúl in a single team, which Capello did by playing a three-man attack, in spite of his reputation for cautious and defensive football. A simple but effective tactic would be the long ball from defender Fernando Hierro to a sprinting Roberto Carlos, who would be supported on the left by Mijatović and Raúl; Carlos would then have the option of either going to goal or passing to Šuker, Mijatović or Raúl. In his first spell He had a single season in charge of Real guiding the club to the Spanish league title in 1997. Real managed to edge out their bitter rivals FC Barcelona by just two points. Despite his tenure with Los Merengues lasting only a year, he was credited with bringing in a number of players such as Šuker, Mijatović, Roberto Carlos and Clarence Seedorf who helped the club establish their Champions League dominance over the next few years. Despite his success, he fell out with Chairman Lorenzo Sanz and was not popular with fans or the Spanish press for "demoting" Raúl to the left-wing.
During his second spell Capello arrived at a Real Madrid side suffering one of the longest spells without a trophy in their history. He quickly drew the disdain of Real's ardent supporters because of his defensive playing style. Capello said that the beauty of attacking plays was old and that results were much more important than playing beautifully. He also added that "those days are over." His remit was to bring the title back to Madrid, a task that had been too much for five other coaches since 2003.
He was criticised for not playing David Beckham because of his contract wrangling and Ronaldo, who struggled for fitness and form.
Real were again eliminated early from the Champions League and were mired in fourth place in the league, six points behind FC Barcelona. Despite the unrest, Capello recalled Beckham, whose return was pivotal for the team's recovery. A string of successful results in the latter half of the season took Real to the top of the table, while Barça's results became inconsistent.
Despite winning La Liga, Capello was sacked due to Real's pragmatic style of play at a club with recent memories of the individualistic and free-flowing, but ultimately unsuccessful Galáctico era.
4) Roma
In 1999 Capello moved to Roma and built his side around Marco Delvecchio, sometimes leaving Vincenzo Montella on the bench. Believing his squad lacked a world-class striker, Capello made a move to sign Ruud van Nistelrooy, but the deal was wrecked following a serious injury. His first season saw Roma finish 6th, made particularly disappointing as cross-city rivals Lazio won the title, and they were knocked out of the UEFA Cup by Leeds United.
Capello's breakthrough at the club occurred when he won the 2001 Serie A, having signed Walter Samuel to strengthen his defence and Gabriel Batistuta who scored a number of vital goals. The season began in difficult fashion with Roma struggling for form and an angry fans protest at the club's Trigoria training complex which turned violent when players cars were attacked. Capello resisted calls for his resignation, and the team's results dramatically improved helped by the performances of the Brazilian midfielder Emerson. The title was sealed with a 3–0 victory over Parma at the Stadio Olimpico prompting a major pitch invasion by the Roma supporters. Capello was praised for fielding Montella, a player he had had a bust-up with just days before, in the final match of the season.
That was Roma's first major honour in a decade and only the third time they had been crowned Champions of Italy.
The 2002 season developed into a battle between Roma and Juventus. After a heated encounter between the teams, Capello used an interview to criticize the Moggi family that ran Juventus, particularly their dealings with players agents.
However, the defence of the title was dealt a major blow when the club drew with bottom-placed Venezia, as Roma finished second in the table behind Juventus by a single point. The following season Roma failed to maintain a serious challenge, and finished in eighth.
Their Champions League ambitions were also ended following a defeat and a draw against Arsenal which saw them finish bottom of their group. Once again it had been English opposition that had thwarted Roma in Europe. Roma lost the Italian Cup final to A.C Milan, with Capello particularly angered by supporters who waved banners calling on him to go.
5) Juventus
In 2004, Capello left debt-ridden Roma to sign with Juventus. His move came as a surprise, because he had kept it such a secret, and because he had been engaged in a war of words with the Moggi family. One of Capello's first moves was to sign Emerson from Roma, further angering many of his critics who believed he had betrayed Roma. Capello's Juventus reached the quarterfinals of the 2004–05 and 2005–06 Champions Leagues before being eliminated by Liverpool and Arsenal, respectively. Juventus also won the 2004–05 and 2005–06 Scudetti under Capello's leadership, but were later stripped off their trophies due to the team's involvement in the 2006 Serie A scandal.
In July 2006, with Juventus in the midst of the aforementioned scandal, Capello resigned as Juventus manager. Press reports strongly linked him with a move back to Real Madrid; new club president Ramón Calderón had publicly stated his hope that Capello would return for a second stint at the club and on 5 July 2006, the official Real Madrid website announced Capello's appointment.
6) England
Capello was formally appointed as manager of the England national football team on 2007, he was welcomed by many English fans and the press who hailed his appointment as a triumph, his arrival also generated some criticism, notably from FIFA President Sepp Blatter, who said, "I would say it is a little surprising that the motherland of football has ignored a sacrosanct law or belief that the national team manager should be from the same country as the players."
England opened Capello's first competitive campaign with a 2–0 victory over Andorra, after that England played Croatia, the team that had qualified for the previous competition (Euro 2008) at their expense. England won 4–1 with Theo Walcott scoring a hat-trick and then they played against Kazakhstan and went on to win 5–1. A fourth straight win made this England's best ever start to a World Cup qualifying campaign as they beat Belarus 3–1. England rounded off 2008 by beating Germany 2–1.
In the spring of 2009, England fell to a 2–0 defeat against European champions Spain and beating Slovakia 4–0. In the summer of 2009 England played another friendly against the Netherlands, coming back from 2–0 down to secure a 2–2 draw away from home. Slovenia was beaten 2–1 in Wembley in the same year. England resumed their qualification campaign by beating Ukraine 2–1, at Wembley then they beat Kazakhstan 4–0 and beat Andorra again 6–0, making it seven wins out of seven in the qualification campaign. A notable feature of the campaign was the goal scoring form of Wayne Rooney: eight in seven games.
Capello successfully guided England to qualification to the 2010 World Cup following a 5–1 win at home to Croatia. England's hopes of a 100% record in their 2010 qualifying campaign were ended with a 0–1 defeat in Ukraine in the final away match. However, a 3–0 victory over Belarus confirmed England as the top scorers in the UEFA zone with 34 goals, 6 ahead of second top scorers Spain.
2010 World Cup
on June 2010 Capello committed himself to the England job until at least after the 2012 European Championships. England's build up to the World Cup started badly, with John Terry being stripped of the captaincy by Capello after his involvement in a tabloid scandal in February 2010.
Terry's successor as captain, Rio Ferdinand, was injured in a training session prior to England's opening match, resulting in his withdrawal from the squad. England drew the first game 1–1 with the United States due to an error by goalkeeper Robert Green. This was followed by a poor display against Algeria leading to a 0–0 draw and widespread criticism of both Capello and the England team. On 23 June, Capello led England into the round of 16 of the World Cup after they beat Slovenia 1–0. However they were beaten in their first knockout match 4–1 by Germany.
After England's elimination, Capello was criticized for imposing a strict military regime at England's Bloemfontein training camp, and not allowing his senior players to have tactical input. His 4–4–2 formation was derided as "outdated" with Steven Gerrard's positioning on the left of midfield also criticized.
Capello's squad selection was questioned, with the selection of an unfit Ledley King and out of form Emile Heskey, as well as the surprising omission of Theo Walcott also coming under fire. Capello's indecision over his starting goalkeeper was cited as a reason for Robert Green's error in England's opening match with the United States. On 2 July 2010, the Football Association announced that Capello would remain as the manager of the England national team following speculation over his future following the World Cup 2010.
Euro 2012 qualification
England kicked off their Euro 2012 qualifying campaign with two wins, 4–0 against Bulgaria and 3–1 away against Switzerland, yet could only draw 0–0 against group leaders Montenegro at Wembley. Capello made some changes afterwards, with Ferdinand and Gerrard out of the picture. John Terry was reinstated as captain to much criticism. The traditional 4–4–2 was transformed to 4–3–3 with Darren Bent as centre forward and Rooney as a left-sided forward. The result was successful, as England beat Wales 2–0. England's next game was against Switzerland, which they recovered from a 0–2 deficit to draw 2–2 with goals from Frank Lampard and Ashley Young.
After a narrow 1–0 win against Wales Capello claimed that several England players were "mentally fragile" and suggested he intended to reinvent his squad once Euro 2012 qualification had been sealed. England qualified for the European Championships with a 2–2 draw in Montenegro.
England completed their campaign with a record of 5 wins, 3 draws and no defeats but Capello resigned following the FA removing the captaincy from John Terry.
7) Russia
July 2012 Capello became manager of the Russian national team following the resignation of Dick Advocaat. His first game in charge was a 1–1 draw with Cote d'Ivoire. Capello's first competitive game in charge of Russia was the opening match of the 2014 World Cup qualification campaign, a 2–0 victory at home to Northern Ireland. He led Russia into the 2014 FIFA World Cup Qualification Finals, finishing first in Group F. In January 2014, Capello committed his future to the Russian national team until the end of the 2018 FIFA World Cup in Russia.
At the 2014 FIFA World Cup, Russia was knocked out at the group stage, finishing third after a 1–1 draw against Algeria in their final match. During qualifying for UEFA Euro 2016, Capello had 6 games as the head coach of Russia with results: 2 wins, 2 draws and 2 losses. On 14 June 2015 Russia lost 1–0 to Austria. Thereafter, on 14 July 2015, Capello was sacked as Russian manager.
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