Fabio Liverani

Club career

Fabio Liverani was born in Rome, Italy in 1976 to a Somali mother and an Italian father making him an Italo-Somalo. He made his professional footballing debut with Viterbese of Serie C2 in 1996–97. However, it was not until his transfer to Perugia over the 2000–01 season that he showed his full potential.

From 2001 to 2006, Liverani played for Lazio in Italy's Serie A. Despite a string of lacklustre performances by the club, he earned a call-up to the national team during the pre-World Cup stage held on 2 and 3 May. However, he was not re-called for the FIFA World Cup.

The 2006 season saw Liverani move to Fiorentina. He played a total of two seasons with the team, being instrumental in the Viola's successful 2007–2008 Serie A campaign, which ended with Fiorentina securing fourth place in the League's final standings. This ensured the club a spot in the third qualifying round of the UEFA Champions League 2008-09. Fiorentina and Liverani parted company the following season.

In May 2008, Liverani signed a three-year contract with Palermo, being also appointed team captain. A highly influential player in Palermo's squad, he controlled the midfield, picking up the most completed passes by any player in the Serie A 2008–2009 season. Liverani was forced to miss the first three months of the 2009–10 season due to a serious injury that he had sustained on May, and broke back into the first team only on November, then being replaced as permanent team captain by Fabrizio Miccoli. In his first game as a regular, against Chievo, the first game of new head coach Delio Rossi in charge of the team, Liverani went on to be sent off during the game.

On 30 August 2011, he moved to Lugano, signing a two-year contract. Liverani never played a single game for the Swiss, and rescinded his contract by mutual consent later on November.

International career

On 25 April 2001, Liverani became the first black Italian footballer (Somali descent) to play internationally with the senior Italian national team, making his debut with the Azzurri in a friendly match against South Africa in Perugia, under the management of Giovanni Trapattoni; the match ended in a 1–0 victory for the Italians.

On 16 August 2006, he was again summoned to start for the Italian national team in a friendly in Livorno against Croatia by the team's new coach, former Italian international Roberto Donadoni; the match ended in a 2–0 loss. In total he made 3 appearances for Italy.

Style of play

In spite of his lack of pace, agility, stamina, or defensive skills, Liverani was a highly creative, reliable, and quick-thinking player, who was known in particular for his technique, vision, range of distribution, and precise passing with his left foot, which enabled him to create chances for teammates, and made him an excellent assist provider. Due to his unique set of skills and ability to set the tempo of his team's play in midfield, he usually operated in the centre or in front of the back-line, where he functioned as a deep-lying playmaker in midfield. A diminutive midfielder, he was not, however, particularly imposing physically or strong in the air. In addition to his playmaking abilities as a footballer, he also stood out for his mentality and leadership, both on and off the pitch.

Managerial career

Following his retirement, Liverani was offered a position as youth coach at Genoa, in charge of the Allievi Regionali B squad, which he formally accepted on 15 November 2011.

Genoa

On 7 June 2013, Genoa president Enrico Preziosi announced the appointment of Fabio Liverani as new first team manager in place of Davide Ballardini.

On 29 September 2013, Genoa decided to sack Liverani after one win in his seven games in charge.

Leyton Orient

On 8 December 2014, Liverani was appointed as manager of League One team, Leyton Orient on a two-and-a-half year contract replacing Mauro Milanese who returned to his role as Sporting Director after 8 matches in charge. Following their relegation to League Two, Liverani left the club in May 2015.

Ternana

On 6 March 2017, Liverani was appointed as manager of Serie B team, Ternana Calcio replacing Carmine Gautieri who was sacked after gaining only 3 points in 7 matches. Ternana was last with only 23 points in 29 matches. Liverani inverted the trend and gained 26 points in 13 games managing to avoid direct relegation as well as play-outs. At the end of the season, with Serie B team Ternana Calcio passing to a new owner, Liverani's contract was not renewed.

Lecce

On 17 September 2017 was named new coach of Serie C side Lecce.

Managerial statistics

Honours

Lazio