- published: 14 Jul 2016
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Antonio Conte (Italian pronunciation: [anˈtɔːnjo ˈkonte]; born 31 July 1969) is an Italian professional football manager and former player. He is currently the head coach of the Italian national team.
Playing as a midfielder, Conte became one of the most decorated and influential players in the history of Juventus. He stood out throughout his career due to his tenacity, work-rate, and leadership, captaining the team, and winning the UEFA Champions League, as well as 5 Serie A titles, among other honours. He also played for the Italian national team and was a participant at the 1994 FIFA World Cup and the 2000 UEFA European Championship, where, in both occasions, the Italians finished in second place.
As a manager, Conte is known for using the 3-5-2 formation (or in certain cases, its more defensive variant, 5-3-2), fielding two wingbacks in lieu of wingers, and two pure strikers backed by an offensive box-to-box midfielder in his three-man midfield; Conte thus successfully resists the trend to use just one striker, prevalent in formations such as 4-2-3-1 that have come to dominate many clubs throughout Europe. During his time as head coach of Juventus, he won three consecutive Serie A titles using the 3-5-2 formation, which also began to be employed by several other Serie A clubs. In his time at Bari he was noted for his unorthodox 4-2-4 formation, a modification of the classic 4-4-2 in which the outside midfielders act as attacking wingers.