Ezio "Eziolino" Capuano (born 19 January 1965) is an Italian football coach.

Eziolino Capuano
Personal information
Date of birth (1965-01-19) 19 January 1965 (age 59)
Place of birth Salerno, Italy
Managerial career
Years Team
1988–1989 Pro Ebolitana
1992–1993 Poseidon AICS
1993–1994 Cavese
1995–1996 Altamura
1996–1999 Cavese
1999–2000 Trapani
2000–2001 Puteolana
2001–2002 Taranto
2002–2003 Nocerina
2003–2005 Sora
2005–2006 San Paolo Altamura
2006–2008 Juve Stabia
2008–2009 Paganese
2009 Potenza
2009–2010 Potenza
2010 Messina
2010 Eupen
2010–2011 Paganese
2012 Fondi
2013 Casertana
2014–2016 Arezzo
2016–2017 Modena
2017–2018 Sambenedettese
2019 Rieti
2019–2020 Avellino
2020 Foggia
2020–2021 Potenza
2021 ACR Messina
2022–2024 Taranto
2024 Foggia

Career

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Coach

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Capuano is a head coach with massive experience as a head coach in the lower ranks of Italian football, all from and below the third tier, and mostly in Southern Italy. He started his football activity as coach since the age of 20.[1]

In September 2010, he was named the new head coach of bottom-placed Belgian top-flight club Eupen, with no points in the first five games under the guidance of Capuano's predecessor.[1] In his debut in charge of the club, Capuano guided Eupen to a 0–0 away draw to Zulte Waregem, the first point in top-flight history for the club.[2] This was followed by a home loss at the hands of Germinal Beerschot and a sounding 4–0 defeat at Club Brugge's home. On 24 September, Capuano and his whole coaching staff announced their immediate resignation from the club.[3][4] On 1 November he was announced as new head coach of Lega Pro Prima Divisione side Paganese, a club he had already managed during the 2008–09 season.[5]

He has been the head coach of Fondi, since 17 January 2012[6] until 18 December 2012, when he resigned.

In July 2013, he was introduced as the new head coach of the newly promoted Lega Pro Seconda Divisione club Casertana. However, his time at Casertana was quite short-lived, as he was fired after only three games in charge.

Capuano returned to management in June 2014 as the new head coach of Arezzo; the club, originally scheduled to play in the amateur Serie D league at the time of Capuano's appointment, was then admitted to Lega Pro to fill a vacancy. He guided the team to safety in its first season, with a squad mostly composed of loans and emergency signings, and was offered a two-year extension by the end of the season.

Capuano's second Arezzo season led him into the public spotlight due to several events, mostly originating from the exclusion of Nicolò Sperotto from the squad after he recorded Capuano's angry rant after a loss to an amateur team in a mid-week friendly game. Capuano himself was fired on 17 April 2016 after a winless streak of seven games and a falling out with the board, despite the team being in a safe league table position.

On 28 November 2016, Capuano returned to management as head coach of Lega Pro club Modena in place of Simone Pavan.[7] Following a positive start to his coaching stint, with Modena finally out of the relegation play-off zone, he accepted a one-year contract extension in March 2017.[8] On 6 November, Modena was officially excluded from the league and dissolved after failing to attended four consecutive matches due to financial irregularities; all staff were subsequently released.[9]

On 10 November 2017, he was hired as the head coach of Serie C club Sambenedettese.[10] He was dismissed from his coaching post on 29 April 2018, after a 0–1 home loss to AlbinoLeffe, with the team in second place in the league table with only one game to go.[11]

He returned to management on 8 January 2019 as head coach of newly promoted Serie C club Rieti,[12] successfully saving the team from relegation by achieving 24 points in his 17 games in charge. He left the club by mutual consent at the end of the season.

On 16 October 2019, he was hired by Serie C club Avellino.[13] After leading the club to a spot in the promotion playoffs, then lost to Ternana, he was sacked on 7 July 2020.[14]

On 2 September 2020 he was announced as the new head coach of Foggia, following the club's readmission to Serie C,[15] a position he left just a few weeks later on 28 September.[16] On 3 November 2020, he was announced as Mario Somma's replacement at the helm of Potenza, marking his return in charge of the club after ten years.[17] He was sacked on 4 February 2021 following a string of negative results that left Potenza in the relegation playoff zone.[18]

On 11 October 2021, Capuano took over as the new head coach of Serie C club ACR Messina, replacing Salvatore Sullo.[19] He was however sacked only two months later, on 15 December, due to negative results.[20]

On 12 September 2022, Capuano took on at Serie C club Taranto, replacing Nello Di Costanzo.[21] After guiding Taranto to safety by the end of the season, he signed a three-year contract extension to keep him in charge of the club until 30 June 2026.[22] In his second season, in spite of a four-point deduction, Capuano guided Taranto to fourth place in the league table and made it to the promotion playoffs, eventually losing to Vicenza.

On 16 August 2024, after a number of events that led to the resignation of Taranto's chairman and a complete shakeup of the squad and board of directors due to financial issues, Capuano and his assistant Cosimo Zangla were sacked from their posts.[23] Just a month later, on 27 September 2024, Capuano signed a contract until the end of the season with Foggia, thus returning in charge of the Satanelli four years after his previous experience with the club.[24] His second stint at Foggia lasted however only one month, as Capuano tended his resignations on 27 October 2024 immediately after a shocking 1–2 injury time loss to Sorrento, formally confirming them the next day.[25]

Honours

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Altamura
Cavese

References

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  1. ^ a b "L'Eupen presenta Capuano ed è subito grande show" (in Italian). Corriere dello Sport - Stadio. 8 September 2010. Archived from the original on 3 March 2016. Retrieved 12 September 2010.
  2. ^ "Eupen, uno storico punto con l'esordio di Capuano" (in Italian). Corriere dello Sport - Stadio. 12 September 2010. Retrieved 12 September 2010.
  3. ^ "Capuano lascia l'Eupen "Non baratto la mia dignità"" (in Italian). Corriere dello Sport - Stadio. 24 September 2010. Archived from the original on 3 March 2016. Retrieved 27 September 2010.
  4. ^ "Trainerwechsel" (in German). AS Eupen. 24 September 2010. Archived from the original on 26 September 2010. Retrieved 27 September 2010.
  5. ^ "UFFICIALE: E' CAPUANO IL NUOVO ALLENATORE" (in Italian). Paganese Calcio 1926. 1 November 2010. Archived from the original on 6 October 2011. Retrieved 18 November 2010.
  6. ^ "UFFICIALE: Fondi, Capuano è il nuovo tecnico" (in Italian). TuttoMercatoWeb. 17 January 2012. Archived from the original on 15 September 2012. Retrieved 23 January 2012.
  7. ^ "Modena, Ezio Capuano è il nuovo allenatore" (in Italian). SKY Sport. 28 November 2016. Archived from the original on 1 December 2016. Retrieved 7 December 2016.
  8. ^ "Calciomercato Modena, ufficiale: blindato Capuano" (in Italian). Corriere dello Sport - Stadio. 22 March 2017. Retrieved 17 April 2017.
  9. ^ "Official: Modena excluded from Lega Pro". Football Italia. 6 November 2017.
  10. ^ "Conferenza di presentazione di Mister Capuano" (in Italian). S.S. Sambenedettese Calcio. 10 November 2017. Archived from the original on 14 November 2017. Retrieved 5 April 2018.
  11. ^ "Serie C Sambenedettese, via Capuano: ufficiale l'esonero" (in Italian). Corriere dello Sport - Stadio. 29 April 2018. Retrieved 30 April 2018.
  12. ^ "EZIO CAPUANO È IL NUOVO MISTER!" (in Italian). Rieti Calcio.
  13. ^ "AVELLINO, INTERROTTO IL RAPPORTO CON MISTER IGNOFFO: EZIO CAPUANO È IL NUOVO ALLENATORE" (Press release) (in Italian). Avellino. 16 October 2019. Archived from the original on 17 October 2019. Retrieved 16 October 2019.
  14. ^ "Avellino, esonerato Ezio Capuano: ufficiale" (in Italian). Corriere dello Sport - Stadio. 7 July 2020.
  15. ^ "Ufficiale: Ezio Capuano è il nuovo allenatore del Foggia" (in Italian). Corriere dello Sport - Stadio. 2 September 2020.
  16. ^ "Eziolino Capuano non è più l'allenatore del Foggia Calcio" (in Italian). FoggiaToday. 28 September 2020.
  17. ^ "Capuano nuovo allenatore del Potenza: è ufficiale" (in Italian). Corriere dello Sport - Stadio. 3 November 2020.
  18. ^ "Potenza, esonerato Capuano: è ufficiale" (in Italian). Corriere dello Sport - Stadio. 4 February 2021.
  19. ^ "ACR Messina, Ezio Capuano è il nuovo allenatore. Prende il posto di Sullo" (in Italian). TuttoMercatoWeb. 11 October 2021.
  20. ^ "Acr Messina, esonerato Eziolino Capuano. Raciti tecnico ad interim" (in Italian). TuttoMercatoWeb. 15 December 2021.
  21. ^ "Taranto, il nuovo mister è Capuano. Evangelisti invece il nuovo Ds" (in Italian). TuttoMercatoWeb. 12 September 2022.
  22. ^ "Taranto, avanti con Capuano: il tecnico ha firmato un triennale coi rossoblù" (in Italian). TuttoMercatoWeb. 18 May 2023.
  23. ^ "Mister Capuano sollevato dall'incarico" (in Italian). Taranto FC 1927. 16 August 2024. Retrieved 19 August 2024.
  24. ^ "Bentornato Mister Capuano" (in Italian). Calcio Foggia 1920. 27 September 2024. Retrieved 27 September 2024.
  25. ^ "Capuano ai saluti" (in Italian). Calcio Foggia 1920. 28 October 2024. Retrieved 28 October 2024.
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