(Football news) Former Roma legend and captain Daniele De Rossi has officially accepted his first head coaching job as the 39 year-old has been named the manager of Serie B side SPAL, signing a two-year contract with the club until June 2024. The Ferrara-based side announced that they will make Rossi as their new manager less than one day after they sacked former manager Roberto Venturato.

Club president and former Roma executive director Joe Tacopina sacked Venturato yesterday following the team’s 2-0 loss to Frosinone. It will be De Rossi’s first managerial role following his retirement as a player in January of 2020 but since then he has spent time with the Italian national team as a part of Roberto Mancini’s Italian team staff and was also a member of the team’s Euro 2020 victory. As an individual he never hid his managerial aspirations and his finally getting his dream.

De Rossi was linked to a host of clubs once he embarked on his coaching career, however, he never accepted any of the offers as he claimed the timing wasn’t right. SPAL president Joe Tacopina, was in search of a new manager after Roberto Venturato was relieved of his duties following the team’s 2-0 loss to Frosinone. De Rossi, recently turned 39 as he made his Roma debut during the 2002-03 season and went on to make 616 appearances for AS Roma. He then joined Boca Juniors in July 2019 on a one-year contract but he played only five games for the Argentinian side before announcing his retirement in January 2020. De Rossi also had a highly successful international career, making 117 appearances for Italy and went on to win the 2006 World Cup. He replaces Roberto Venturato at SPAL, who was sacked with the club 14th in the table SPAL are into their third consecutive season in Serie B, having been relegated from Serie A during the 2019-20 season as De Rossi’s first match in charge will be the trip to Cittadella on Saturday.

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