Ballardini new coach of Cremonese, it’s official

David Ballardini is the new coach of Cremona. The grey-red company made it known in a note. Takes the place of Massimiliano Alvini, sacked yesterday after the home defeat against Monza. Cremonese is last in the standings with 7 points and in 18 days has not yet won a game. Ballardini – who directed the first training session today and will make his debut on Tuesday in the Coppa Italia against Napoli – has signed an agreement until 30 June 2024. The members of his staff also arrive in Cremona: Carlo Regno (assistant coach), Francesco Bertini (athletic trainer), Roberto Beni (technical collaborator), Nicola Tarroni (technical collaborator), Andrea Sardini (goalkeeping coach). “I’m very happy that the club thought of us. Having said that, our attention will immediately be focused on working on the pitch and getting to know the players. We can’t add anything else except that we will train and try to do our best” first words of the technician. Cremonese is the fifth Serie A club to change coach after Bologna (Motta in place of Mihajlovic), Monza (Palladino for Stroppa), Sampdoria (Stankovic in place of Giampaolo) and Verona (Bocchetti and then Zaffaroni for Cioffi).

The board

Originally from Ravenna, born in 1964, Ballardini took his first steps in the youth sector between Bologna, Cesena, Ravenna, Milan and Parma before taking charge of Sambenedettese (Serie C1) in September 2004, reaching the play-off semi-finals. On the 3rd day of the 2005-2006 championship he was signed by Cagliari in Serie A, but was sacked after 9 games. He starts again from B, with Pescara, where however he is kicked out after a few months, and in December 2007 he returns to Cagliari, conquering salvation. In September 2008 the call from Palermo, who leads up to eighth place, then Lazio where, in August 2010, he won the first title of his career, the Italian Super Cup, at the expense of Inter. Sacked in February 2010, a few months later he joined Genoa with whom he finished the season in tenth place. After a second parenthesis in Cagliari, here is the first return to Genoa in January 2013 but the 14th place finish is not enough for confirmation. In the 2013-14 championship he took over from Pioli in Bologna but did not avoid relegation, therefore a new double parenthesis in Palermo (salvation centered in the 2015-16 Serie A before resigning after two days in the following championship) and the third return to Genoa. It’s November 2017, Ballardini takes Juric’s place and wins his stay in Serie A well in advance, earning – unlike other times – confirmation for the following championship as well. But in October 2018, despite 12 points in 7 races, here is the exemption. However, just over two years later, the umpteenth call from Preziosi arrives (December 2020) and the fourth adventure in the rossoblù begins for the coach from Ravenna. He leads the team to early salvation and finishes in 11th position, which earns him confirmation the following season (2021-2022) where he experiences a difficult start with 9 points in 12 games leading to his exemption on 6 November 2021 with the team at fourth last place. Now the new adventure on the Cremonese bench.