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Massimo Donati (born 26 March 1981) is an Italian professional football manager, pundit and former player who played as a midfielder. He is the current head coach of club UC Sampdoria.
Born in San Vito al Tagliamento, Italy, Donati made 314 appearances in Serie A for several clubs, including Atalanta BC, AC Milan, AS Bari, and Palermo, plus another 72 appearances in the Scottish Premier League with Celtic — where he won the league and Scottish Cup — and Hamilton.
Donati represented Italy at Under-16, Under-18, Under-20 and Under-21 levels.
The 2003–04 season, his third as a Milan player, saw him join UC Sampdoria on loan, before enjoying a successful spell at Messina for the 2004–05 and 2005–06 seasons. Despite finding his form at Messina, Donati still found himself out of favour at Milan and was again sent on loan, this time returning to his first club Atalanta for the 2006–07 season.
Donati was a youth international, representing Italy at under-16, under-18, under-20 and under-21 levels.
On 28 November, Donati won the match for Celtic in the UEFA Champions League fixture against Shakhtar Donetsk, netting in the 92nd minute to win the match 2–1. This result meant Celtic only needed a point away to Donati's former club Milan at the San Siro to qualify for the last 16 stage of the tournament. Celtic lost 1–0 to Milan, but still qualified for the last 16 as runners-up in their group after Benfica defeated Shakhtar in Ukraine. As the season went on, Donati's form began to dip, resulting in the central midfield positions being changed with Barry Robson and Paul Hartley in place of Donati and Scott Brown. In May 2008, it was reported that Donati wanted to go back to Serie A.
In the 2008–09 season, Donati made only a handful of appearances for Celtic, though he started in the home game against Kilmarnock on 12 November 2008 and won the man of the match award.
After the appointment of Tony Mowbray as Celtic manager, Donati won back his place in the Celtic midfield alongside new signing Landry N'Guémo. Donati played in most of the pre-season games and scored in a 5–0 win over African Champions League winners Al-Ahly in the Wembley Cup. He started the 2009–10 campaign in fine form and scored from a spectacular volley in Celtic's 3–1 loss to Arsenal in the Champions League play-off.
In January 2018, Hamilton announced that they had agreed with Donati to cancel his existing playing contract, for him to begin a coaching career. Donati had also been coaching the Hamilton under-15 team.
He briefly resumed his role at DAZN between August and September 2021, leaving again after Sambenedettese was successfully readmitted into Serie D.
On 25 June 2021, he was appointed as the new head coach of Sambenedettese. The club, originally scheduled to play Serie C in the 2021–22 season, was successively demoted to Serie D due to financial irregularities; nevertheless, in September 2021 Donati was confirmed he would stay at Sambenedettese also in the lower tier. On 31 October 2021, Donati was dismissed from his role following a negative start in the club's Serie D campaign.
In the 2023–24 Serie C season, Legnago made a surprising sixth-place finish and qualified for the promotion playoffs. From 4 November, Donati's side would lose only two matches, including one to eventual champions Mantova. Until 13 April, Legnago were Italy's only unbeaten team in the calendar year 2024. In the 2023–24 Serie C promotion playoffs, Legnago defeated FC Lumezzane in the first round but were eliminated in the second round with a 1–1 draw away to Atalanta U23, as a result of being the lower seed.
| + Appearances and goals by club, season and competition | |||
| Atalanta BC | 1999–00 | Serie B | 1 |
| 2000–01 | Serie A | 2 | |
| AC Milan | 2001–02 | Serie A | 0 |
| Parma FC (loan) | 2002–03 | Serie A | 1 |
| Torino FC (loan) | 2002–03 | Serie A | 4 |
| UC Sampdoria (loan) | 2003–04 | Serie A | 0 |
| ACR Messina (loan) | 2004–05 | Serie A | 1 |
| 2005–06 | Serie A | 1 | |
| Atalanta (loan) | 2006–07 | Serie A | 2 |
| Celtic | 2007–08 | Scottish Premier League | 4 |
| 2008–09 | Scottish Premier League | 0 | |
| 2009–10 | Scottish Premier League | 1 | |
| AS Bari | 2009–10 | Serie A | 1 |
| 2010–11 | Serie A | 1 | |
| 2011–12 | Serie B | 3 | |
| Palermo | 2011–12 | Serie A | 2 |
| 2012–13 | Serie A | 0 | |
| Hellas Verona | 2013–14 | Serie A | 1 |
| Bari | 2014–15 | Serie B | 2 |
| 2015–16 | Serie B | 1 | |
| Hamilton Academical | 2016–17 | Scottish Premiership | 3 |
| 2017–18 | Scottish Premiership | 1 | |
| St Mirren | 2017–18 | Scottish Championship | 0 |
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