The word is out, and on April 18th, Central League One rivals Nanjing City FC welcomed a heavyweight. Former Jiangsu Suning youth training director and Italian soccer great Fulvio Pea officially took over as the team's head coach.
Pia, the son of the Lombardy region born on February 10, 1967, holds UEFA professional level coaching qualifications. He has trained a number of Italian internationals such as Santon, Matri and Destro, and his coaching career began in 1989. After 9 years of youth coaching, in 1998, he became associated with the world-famous club AC Milan and was in charge of Inter's U13 team.
In 2001, Pia moved to Bulgaria and joined the Army of Central Sofia, where he made his debut as Youth Training Director. He then became the right-hand man of the famous Italian coach Gigi Simone and worked with him for 5 years, helping him to coach Ancona, Napoli and Siena, and helping Ancona to reach the first division. Later, Pia returned to the youth team and led Sampdoria's reserve team to win the Coppa Italia and the league.
In the 2009/10 season, Pia took charge of AC Milan's reserve team and helped the team win the UEFA Youth Champions League, and in the 2011/12 season, he led Serie B side Sassuolo to a third-place finish in the league. After nearly 30 years of coaching in Europe, Pia was recommended by Inter to come to China in 2019 to serve as youth training director of Jiangsu Suning Football Club. After Suning's tenure ended, he chose to remain in China.
The official microblog of Nanjing City revealed, "The addition of Fairvio Pia will undoubtedly inject a strong impetus into the team. In the new season, we will go all out to carry forward the team spirit of tenacity and hard work, and strive to achieve the club's goals and present more exciting matches for our fans."
