Vincenzo Montella

Overview

Vincenzo Montella (Italian pronunciation: [vinˈtʃɛntso monˈtɛlla]; born 18 June 1974) is an Italian football manager and former player who played as a striker. He last served as the head coach of Turkey's national football team. Montella's nickname during his playing career was "Aeroplanino", in reference to his small stature and trademark goal celebration, in which he spread his arms like wings. A prolific goalscorer, throughout his playing career Montella played for Italian clubs Empoli, Genoa, Sampdoria and Roma, and also had a spell on loan in England with Fulham. He is mostly remembered for his performances with Roma, where he won the Serie A title and the Supercoppa Italiana during the 2000–01 season, also later reaching the 2003 Coppa Italia final with the club. In 2013, Montella was inducted into the Roma Hall of Fame. At international level, he made 20 appearances for Italy between 1999 and 2005, scoring three goals; he was notably a member of the Italian team that reached the final of UEFA Euro 2000, and he also represented his country at the 2002 FIFA World Cup. Montella began his managerial career as Roma's caretaker manager in 2011, later coaching Catania the following season. In 2012, he moved to Fiorentina, where he spent three seasons, leading the club to three consecutive fourth-place league finishes, the 2014 Coppa Italia final and the 2014–15 UEFA Europa League semi-finals. After a season-long spell with Sampdoria, he was appointed Milan's manager in 2016, and later that year, he won his first title as a coach with the club, the Supercoppa Italiana. He was sacked by the club in 2017, and was subsequently appointed manager of Spanish side Sevilla. Despite reaching the Copa del Rey final and the UEFA Champions League quarter-finals for the first time in the club's history, he was sacked by Sevilla four months after his appointment, following a run that included nine matches without a victory. He returned to Fiorentina in 2019, with the second spell lasting over eight months. After managing Adana Demirspor in the Turkish league from 2021 to 2023, he was appointed as coach of the Turkish national team in September 2023. Under his leadership, the team qualified for UEFA Euro 2024 and reached the quarter-finals, and also participated in the 2026 FIFA World Cup, marking their first appearance at the finals since 2002. Additionally, the team was able to get promoted to League A, the top tier of the UEFA Nations League. He was sacked in October 2026, after the team was eliminated in the group stage of the 2026 FIFA World Cup, followed by four consecutive defeats in League A of the 2026–27 UEFA Nations League.