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Silvio Baldini (born 11 September 1958) is an Italian association football manager, currently in charge of the Italy U21 national team.
In 1989, he was appointed at the helm of the Promozione team Forte dei Marmi, which he led to promotion in 1991. After a single season with Viareggio, he finally obtained a professional coaching license and returned to Massese, this time as head coach, in 1992. Following that experience, he served as head coach for Serie C1 clubs Siena (1993–1995) and Carrarese Calcio (1995–1997).
In his Serie A debut year, Baldini led Empoli, widely tipped for relegation, to an impressive 12th place in the Italian top flight.
In January 2004, following a 1–3 home defeat to Salernitana, Baldini criticized his chairman Zamparini for his words regarding the team's recent performances; he was subsequently fired, leaving Palermo in third place, and replaced by Francesco Guidolin who eventually guided the Sicilians to win the league title.
In September 2005, he was appointed as Lecce head coach but was fired again in January 2006.
On 26 August 2007, during the first league match, Baldini kicked the Buttocks of Parma boss Domenico Di Carlo after being sent off and having engaged in a dispute with his opponent head coach. He consequently received a one-month ban due to his unprofessional behaviour. During his ban period, assistant coach Gianluca Atzori served at his place during games.
After a hard-fought match against Inter (nevertheless losing 2–0), Baldini switched from his traditional 4-2-3-1 to a more practical 4-3-3 to better suit Catania's needs. In his first two successive matches since Inter, Catania played an honourable match against Fiorentina despite losing 0–1 to the Viola. In the next game, Catania achieved its first league victory, defeating relegation rival Empoli 1–0 thanks to a goal from Martinez. On 30 September, his Catania side held Milan to an impressive 1–1 draw at the San Siro. He will return to the Catania bench against Livorno.
Despite criticism, Baldini initially managed to achieve a better league position than his predecessor Pasquale Marino and also led his side to a historical qualification in the Coppa Italia 2007–08 semi-finals. However, a row of poor results quickly pushed Catania down to 18th place, being potentially relegated as of Week 31, and with only three points ahead of last-placed Empoli, persuading Baldini to resign from his post on 31 March 2008.
After his farewell to Empoli, he left active football and worked as a pundit for the sports channel Sportitalia.
On 13 June 2011, he was officially announced as the new head coach of Serie B club Vicenza Calcio, signing a one-year contract with the Venetian club, but on 4 October 2011, he was sacked. and replaced by Luigi Cagni.
After almost four years in charge of Carrarese, during which he consistently led the club to reaching the promotion playoffs, most prominently being eliminated in the semifinals by Bari in the 2019–20 season, Baldini resigned on 10 April 2021, following a fifth consecutive defeat in the Serie C league at the hands of AlbinoLeffe.
Under his tenure, Baldini successfully turned the club's fortunes, also becoming a fan favourite due to his temper and his attitude toward the city, as well as changing the playing style into a more attacking one, making room for players such as Matteo Brunori (who eventually ended up becoming the top goalscorer in all Italian professional leagues with 29 goals) to shine. Palermo completed the 2021–22 Serie C Group C regular season in third place, thus qualifying to the promotion playoffs, where they defeated Triestina, Virtus Entella and Feralpisalò in the process, with all home games being attended by about 35,000 people, a stark change to the rest of the season.
On 12 June 2022, following a 1–0 home win against Calcio Padova at a sold-out Stadio Renzo Barbera, Baldini's Palermo won the promotion playoffs and promotion to Serie B. On 27 July 2022, a few weeks after Palermo's promotion to Serie B and a club takeover by City Football Group, Baldini and director of football Renzo Castagnini announced their resignations from their respective roles at the club due to disagreements with the board.
For his winning tenure as Palermo coach, in February 2023 Baldini was awarded the Golden Bench for best Serie C coach, a trophy he donated to the Palermo Museum shortly afterward.
On 16 October 2022, following a 1–2 home loss against Südtirol, the third consecutive in all games in charge, Baldini announced his resignation with immediate effect.
On 20 February 2024, Baldini agreed to join Serie C club FC Crotone as their new head coach until the end of the season. He resigned just a month later, on 21 March, after suffering four defeats in his five games in charge of Crotone.
In July 2024, Baldini was hired as the new head coach of Serie C club Pescara. After guiding Pescara to fourth place in the league, Baldini eventually led the club to win the promotion playoff tournament, bringing them back to Serie B after four years; this was the second playoff tournament win for Baldini. A few days later, Baldini announced his resignations from the post, citing family reasons.
On 17 July 2025, Baldini was unveiled as the new head coach of the Italy U21, with Andrea Barzagli as his assistant.
| + Managerial record by team and tenure | |||
| Forte dei Marmi | 1 July 1989 | 30 June 1991 | |
| Viareggio | 1 July 1991 | 30 June 1992 | |
| Massese | 1 July 1992 | 30 June 1993 | |
| Siena | 1 July 1993 | 30 June 1995 | |
| Carrarese Calcio | 1 July 1995 | 30 June 1997 | |
| Chievo Verona | 17 July 1997 | 30 June 1998 | |
| Brescia Calcio | 1 July 1998 | 30 June 1999 | |
| Empoli | 30 November 1999 | 25 May 2003 | |
| Palermo | 17 June 2003 | 26 January 2004 | |
| Parma | 17 June 2004 | 13 December 2004 | |
| Lecce | 27 September 2005 | 23 January 2006 | |
| Calcio Catania | 4 June 2007 | 31 March 2008 | |
| Empoli | 27 May 2008 | 16 June 2009 | |
| Vicenza Calcio | 13 June 2011 | 6 October 2011 | |
| Carrarese Calcio | 20 June 2017 | 11 April 2021 | |
| Palermo | 24 December 2021 | 27 July 2022 | |
| Perugia | 20 September 2022 | 16 October 2022 | |
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