Triumphant Maresca strengthens Chelsea's Italian connection

• Enzo Maresca led Chelsea to historic FIFA Club World Cup title
• He is the latest Italian boss to enjoy success with the club
• Seven coaches from the country have had spells in charge at Stamford Bridge

Madonna famously championed the idea that 'Italians do it better' in an iconic music video in 1986, and you would be hard-pressed to find many people who disagree in a certain corner of west London. The connection between Chelsea FC and Italy has often been underpinned by success over the years.

Numerous Italian tacticians have made history in the Stamford Bridge dugout. The latest is Enzo Maresca, who already has two trophies to his name since taking the reins in June 2024, including the coveted FIFA Club World Cup™. Maresca's Blues won the maiden edition of the groundbreaking new competition after a stunning 3-0 final over Paris Saint-Germain on Sunday.

A long-standing love story

No fewer than seven Italian coaches have taken charge of Chelsea: Gianluca Vialli, Claudio Ranieri, Carlo Ancelotti, Roberto Di Matteo, Antonio Conte, Maurizio Sarri and Enzo Maresca.

Impressively, they have racked up 11 trophies between them. The first name on the list, the late Gianluca Vialli, started out in the unusual role of player-manager before eventually hanging up his boots. The former striker went on to amass five trophies with the Blues, trumping all his compatriots to date. He won the UEFA Cup Winners’ Cup, League Cup and UEFA Super Cup in 1998, followed by the FA Cup and FA Charity Shield (now the Community Shield) in 2000.

Straight after Vialli, Claudio Ranieri spent four campaigns with the club, where he won hearts and minds and earned the nickname The Tinkerman, but failed to secure any silverware.

Ancelotti and Di Matteo: The history-makers

It was Carlo Ancelotti’s turn to step into the hot seat five years later in 2009. In his maiden season, Ancelotti won a Premier League and FA Cup double. While he was unable to sustain that level of success the following year, his impact is still fondly remembered by the fan base.

Former Chelsea midfielder Roberto Di Matteo then arrived in March 2012 to replace AndréeVillas-Boas and try to salvage a seemingly faltering campaign. In just two months, the Italian remarkably guided the Blues to the FA Cup and the most prestigious trophy in the club’s history up to that point: a first UEFA Champions League title (Thomas Tuchel would deliver a second in 2021).

Conte and Sarri: Trophies and what might have been

In July 2016, Antonio Conte was fresh off the back of a respectable tournament with the Azzurri at UEFA EURO 2016 when he began his tenure at Chelsea. The ex-Juventus boss implemented a bold new 3-4-3 formation that paid immediate dividends. In his debut season, Conte turned a deflated team that had languished in tenth place in 2015/16 into swashbuckling Premier League champions after registering 30 wins in 38 games. Even though he added an FA Cup to his honours list the following campaign, Conte departed the club with an overriding feeling that so much more could have been achieved if there had been greater alignment behind the scenes.

Maurizio Sarri was entrusted with replacing his fellow countryman following a promising but ultimately disappointing stint with Napoli, where he had endured a particularly painful farewell. The Tuscan tactician remained in the hot seat for just one season, in which Chelsea were crowned UEFA Europa League winners after sweeping aside rivals Arsenal in an all-London final in May 2019. Sarri headed straight back to Italy to occupy the Juventus dugout after that success.

The Maresca era and back on top of the world

The latest chapter in the love affair between Chelsea and Italian coaches kicked off in July last year, with Enzo Maresca joining from Leicester City. A Pep Guardiola disciple who was appointed after leading the Foxes to promotion back to the Premier League, the former Juventus and Sevilla midfielder needed just a few months to settle in and tap into the wealth of talent in a youthful Chelsea squad.

After some ups and downs, the team finished the season in style by ticking off a series of key targets. The Blues sealed a return to Europe’s premier club competition, while they enjoyed unprecedented success in the UEFA Conference League, by handing Real Betis a 4-1 final defeat, and most notably in the Club World Cup, with a jaw-dropping 3-0 victory over Paris Saint-Germain in the showpiece final at MetLife Stadium.