Antonio Calabro (born 10 August 1976) is an Italian professional football coach and a former player. He is currently the head coach of Serie B club Carrarese.
Playing career
Calabro's playing career started as a youth player for Lazio, with whom he only appeared once as an unused substitute in a Rome derby against Roma on 24 October 1993.[2][3] After that, he left Lazio for Serie C1 outfit Casarano, and then went on to spend most of his career in the lower ranks of Italian football (mainly Serie C1 and Serie C2), with the highest point being a single Serie B season with Castel di Sangro in 1997–1998. He retired in 2012 after three seasons in the amateur leagues back to Casarano.[4][5]
Coaching career
In September 2012 he was named new head coach of Eccellenza amateurs Gallipoli.[6] In his second season in charge, he won promotion to Serie D, but left the club soon after to accept an offer from another Eccellenza club, Virtus Francavilla.[4][7]
As Virtus Francavilla coach, Calabro succeeded in winning two consecutive promotions, leading the small club from Salento from the amateur leagues to the professional ranks of Lega Pro, and then to a place in the promotion playoffs of the 2016–17 Lega Pro after ending the season with an impressive fifth place in the final table. He left the club by the end of the season[8] and successively accepted an offer from Serie B club Carpi for the 2017–18 season.[9] At the end of the season he left the Emilia-Romagna team and he was replaced by Marcello Chezzi.[10]
On 21 January 2019, he was named new head coach of Serie C outfit Viterbese, replacing Stefano Sottili.[11] He was fired on 30 April 2019 and replaced by Pino Rigoli. Being still in contract for the club, on 29 June 2019 he was reappointed as Viterbese head coach in preparation for the 2019–20 Serie C season.[12] He rescinded his contract on 20 August 2019, before the start of the season, due to family reasons.[13] He was rehired by Viterbese once again on 12 November 2019.[14]