Chelsea First Team Management

The MANAGEMENT TEAM

Antonio Conte - First Team Head Coach

Antonio Conte is the fifth Italian to manage Chelsea, following on from Gianluca Vialli, Claudio Ranieri, Carlo Ancelotti and Roberto Di Matteo. In common with the first three of those names, he was formerly at Juventus, in his case as both a player and a manager.

Having played more than 400 games for the Italian giants, Conte’s three years in charge of the team between 2011 and 2014 yielded three straight Serie A titles - Juventus’s first league championships in eight years and their first three-in-a-row since the early 1930s. They had finished seventh the two seasons prior to Conte.

The Bianconeri also won two Italian Super Cups with him in charge. Andrea Pirlo, Paul Pogba, Carlos Tevez and Arturo Vidal were among his signings during a spell so productive he was named Serie A Coach of the Year in all three seasons there.

As a player, Conte was a versatile, energetic box-to-box midfielder. He was a Champions League winner as part of the side Vialli captained to a final win over Ajax in 1996. He played in two other finals of that competition and in a convincing win over Borussia Dortmund in the 1993 UEFA Cup final.

He was also a five-time Serie A winner in his 13 seasons as an integral member of the Juve squad. He played for just two clubs having begun his career with his home-town team Lecce in southern Italy.

Conte began his managerial career in 2006 in the Italian lower divisions at Arezzo and Bari, winning promotion to the top flight with the latter, and was briefly employed by Atalanta before he further enhanced his reputation by guiding Siena into Serie A.

That was the cue for Juventus to come calling for their former player, as did the Italy national team three years later when they handed him control of the Azzurri in 2014. He had played 20 times for his country including a semi-final appearance in the 1994 World Cup and a quarter-final of Euro 2000.

Under Conte’s management, Italy qualified for Euro 2016 undefeated in their 10 games. They impressed at the finals, beating Belgium 2-0 in their opening match, which was followed by a 1-0 win over Sweden.

Having progressed to the knockout stages as group winners Italy were handed a tricky tie against holders Spain, but a wonderful collective display saw them run out 2-0 winners, before they were cruelly eliminated in the quarter-finals on penalties by Germany.

Conte’s coaching has been characterised by tactical flexibility and he achieved the remarkable feat of an unbeaten league season at Juventus, becoming only the third Serie A team to do so. Impressively, that was in his first season in charge (2011/12) and in 2013/14 the ‘Old Lady’ recorded an all-time Serie A record of 102 points.

In the 2012/13 campaign, Juventus played Chelsea in the Champions League group stage, drawing 2-2 at Stamford Bridge and winning 3-0 in Turin. They went on to the quarter-finals where they lost to eventual winners Bayern Munich.

In Conte’s three years as Juventus manager, they lost only two home league games, contributing greatly to their new stadium being considered such a success.

At Chelsea, Conte amassed more points by the halfway stage of 2016/17 than any Chelsea manager had in his first season at the club. Included in that were 13 straight league wins in a row which equalled the best by any English top-flight team in a single season. It earned the Italian the Premier League Manager of the Month awards for October, November and December. No one had won three of those in succession before.

The Italian became the third Chelsea manager to lead his side to the Premier League title in his first season in England with the Blues, who had topped the table since November, sealing the championship courtesy of a 1-0 win at West Bromwich Albion on 12 May. Conte also guided us to the FA Cup final following a 4-2 win over Tottenham at Wembley in the last four.

He was rewarded for an outstanding first season at the club by being named LMA Manager of the Year and Premier League Manager of the Season a day after his team had been presented with the trophy at Stamford Bridge following our final game against Sunderland.

In July 2017, it was announced Conte had signed a new two-year contract.

Angelo Alessio - Assistant First Team Coach

Angelo Alessio first linked up with Antonio Conte in a coaching capacity at Siena where they won promotion, and they continued to work together during Juventus’s Scudetto win treble and with the Italy national side.

As a player, Alessio was a team-mate of Conte’s in the Juventus midfield where they won the UEFA Cup and Coppa Italia together. Juve was one of six teams he played for and after starting his coaching career as an assistant at Napoli, he managed three Italian clubs, Imolese, Massese and SPAL, prior to rejoining Conte at Siena.

Gianluca Conte - Assistant First Team Coach

Gianluca Conte is the younger brother of Antonio Conte. They were both young players at their home town club of Lecce, they studied together at the University of Foggia and Gianluca has worked as an analyst with his brother at Bari, Juventus and with the Italy national team.

Carlo Cudicini - Assistant First Team Coach

One of the most talented and popular goalkeepers in Blues history, Carlo Cudicini made 216 appearances during his 10 years at Stamford Bridge between 1999 and 2009, keeping 101 clean sheets.

At the end of the 2002/03 season, in which Chelsea qualified for the Champions League for only the second time, Cudicini won the Premier League’s Golden Gloves award for goalkeeper of the year and during his time at the club he twice picked up winner’s medals in the Premier League, FA Cup, League Cup and Community Shield.

His last playing role was with LA Galaxy in Major League Soccer, which he left in 2014, before taking up a goalkeeper coaching role with the Republic of Ireland Under-21s squad in March 2015.

As a club ambassador, the 2002 Chelsea Player of the Year accompanied the squad on our pre-season tour of Canada and the United States in 2015 and represented the club at the 2015/16 season’s Champions League group stage draw in Monaco.

In July 2016 he started a dual role, when he also became assistant to new first team head coach Antonio Conte.

Paolo Vanoli - Assistant First Team Coach

Paolo Vanoli enjoyed a distinguished playing career and previously worked with Antonio Conte as an Under-19s coach for the Italian national team. His side reached the final of the European Under-19s Championship in 2016.

He is an assistant first team coach under our boss now having arrived in the summer of 2017.

A left-back in his playing days, Vanoli had great success as a member of the brilliant Parma team of the late 1990s, winning the UEFA Cup, the Coppa Italia (he scored in both finals, as did former Chelsea striker Hernan Crespo) and the Italian Super Cup.

Vanoli counts Fiorentina and Verona among his other old clubs, and he also spent a season-and-a-half in Scotland at Rangers. He made two appearances for the Italian national team, scoring once.

Gianluca Spinelli - Goalkeeper Coach

Prior to moving to Chelsea, Gianluca Spinelli was jointly goalkeeper coach for the Italian national side and for Genoa.

He was at Genoa for 12 years and was in charge of the training for the keepers from the first team down to the youth. At Euro 2016, Spinelli prepared Gianluigi Buffon during a campaign in which Italy conceded just two goals in their five games. He was named Serie A’s top goalkeeper coach for 2011/12, 2014/15 and 2015/16 and continues to coach with the Italy team.

Henrique Hilario - Assistant Goalkeeper Coach

Henrique Hilario is a former Chelsea goalkeeper who joined the coaching staff at the end of his playing career.

The Portuguese made 39 appearances for the club between 2006 and 2014, and now assists first team goalkeeper coach Gianluca Spinelli.

Paolo Bertelli - First Team Fitness Coach

Paulo Bertelli is a fitness expert who worked with Antonio Conte in the Italy national set-up and at Juventus.

He began at Fiorentina whom he served for 14 years including during former Chelsea manager Claudio Ranieri’s time in charge there. He also worked at Udinese and at Roma for six years, where he was reunited with Ranieri. Bertelli moved to Juve in 2011 and was there for the three successive Scudetto successes under Conte. He was named best physical coach in Serie A on four occasions.

Julio Tous - First Team Fitness Coach

Julio Tous is a Spaniard who was previously the head of strength and power training for the Italian national team.

Tous held a similar position at Juventus where he first linked up with Antonio Conte. His previous work includes roles with the Spanish Swimming Federation, Real Zaragoza, Barcelona and Sampdoria. He has a PhD is Sports Science.

Chris Jones - First Team Fitness Coach

Chris Jones joined the Chelsea backroom team in 2006, following three years spent working in Fulham’s academy.

He began with the Academy and reserve teams, before moving up to work with the first team squad upon Carlo Ancelotti's arrival in 2009. He continued that role working under Andre Villas-Boas before taking the first team fitness coach responsibilities when Villas-Boas departed in March 2012.

Chris then worked under Jose Mourinho during his second period as Chelsea manager and he has also worked with England Under-19s and Under-21s. He is a graduate of Loughborough University.

Constantino Coratti - Assistant First Team Fitness Coach

Costantino Coratti was previously a fitness coach in Antonio Conte’s staff during his time as Italy manager, having also worked with him at Juventus and at the start of Conte’s managerial career at Arezzo.

Davide Mazzotta - Player Analysis and Scouting

Davide Mazzotta began his playing career at Lecce alongside Antonio Conte in the late 1980s, and he later linked up with his former team-mate as a member of staff in the national set-up, focusing on Italy’s opponents during qualification for Euro 2016 and at the tournament itself.

The former defender spent most of his playing career in the Italian third and four tiers before moving into coaching, including at his former club Lecce.

Mazzotta arrived at Chelsea in July 2017 in the player scouting/analysis department.

Tiberio Ancora - Consultant Traning and Nutritions

A specialist in strength conditioning and sports nutrition, Tiberio Ancora has known Antonio Conte for many years, having previously worked with Bari, Siena, Atalanta, Juventus, Hellas Verona, Torino, Lecce and the Italy national team, as well as working privately with professional athletes in other sports.

Paco Biosca - Medical Director

Doctor Paco Biosca joined Chelsea as medical director in July 2011 having worked in a similar position at Shakhtar Donetsk for the previous six years.

A Spaniard, he worked for 25 years as head of medical services in his homeland at Lleida, a Catalan club, and is a former president of the European Federation of Orthopedics and Sports Trauma and a former president of the Spanish Society of Football Team Doctors.

He is also president of the Iberia Biomechanical Society, founder and subsequent president of the Spanish Society for Sports Trauma and currently a member of the society's senate.

Academically he is a graduate of medicine and surgery from the University of Barcelona and has a specialist medical degree in Orthopaedics. He was Professor of Anatomy at the University of Lleida for 12 years from 1994 and was co-director for the Masters in Sports Medicine, Faculty of Medicine, INEF, for eight years.

In his professional life, prior to taking up his appointments in football at Lleida and Shakhtar, he was a specialist doctor in orthopaedic surgery at Arnau Vilanova Hospital in Lleida, head of orthopaedic surgery service at Monserrat Hospital, and medical director for competition tennis at the Barcelona Olympics in 1992.

Dr Biosca has received a gold medal from the Assurance Society of Spain for Sports Injuries and the Civil Order of Merit, Ukraine.

Scoot McLachlan - Head of International Scouting

cott McLachlan joined Chelsea in 2011 having previously worked at Fulham, as a technical scout, and Southampton, where he was head of performance analysis.

Team Operations

James Melbourne
Head of match analysis/opposition scout. At Chelsea for well over a decade during which time he has been at the forefront of technical and video advances in professional football.

Mick McGiven
Senior development and opposition scout. Previously the club's youth team and reserve team coach, his first Chelsea job was in 1990.

Christophe Lollichon
Club goalkeeper development coach. Joined Chelsea in November 2007, his current role is to develop the club's goalkeepers and identify future ones.

Tim Harkness
Head of sports science

Kevin Campello
Head of first team operations and welfare.

Jim Fraser
Assistant head of youth development/Head of youth recruitment. Assists Neil Bath in the running of the Academy, overseeing Under-9s to Under-16s and heading up recruitment for Under-15s to Under-19s. Joined Chelsea in 2004.

Jason Griffin
Head groundsman. Responsible for both Stamford Bridge and Cobham.

Gary Staker
Player administration.

Garry Grey
Senior kit manager. Previously worked at Fulham.