| Salvatore Bocchetti | |
| Full Name: | Salvatore Bocchetti[1] |
| Birth Date: | 30 November 1986 |
| Birth Place: | Naples, Italy |
| Height: | 1.86 m |
| Position: | Centre-back |
| Currentclub: | Atalanta Under-23 (head coach) |
| Youthyears1: | –1999 |
| Youthclubs1: | Piscinola Calcio |
| Youthyears2: | 1999–2001 |
| Youthclubs2: | Internapoli |
| Youthyears3: | 2001–2005 |
| Youthclubs3: | Ascoli |
| Years1: | 2005–2007 |
| Clubs1: | Ascoli |
| Caps1: | 2 |
| Goals1: | 0 |
| Years2: | 2005–2006 |
| Clubs2: | → Lanciano (loan) |
| Caps2: | 21 |
| Goals2: | 1 |
| Years3: | 2007 |
| Clubs3: | → Frosinone (loan) |
| Caps3: | 17 |
| Goals3: | 2 |
| Years4: | 2007–2008 |
| Clubs4: | Frosinone |
| Caps4: | 38 |
| Goals4: | 2 |
| Years5: | 2008–2010 |
| Clubs5: | Genoa |
| Caps5: | 60 |
| Goals5: | 1 |
| Years6: | 2010–2013 |
| Clubs6: | Rubin Kazan |
| Caps6: | 52 |
| Goals6: | 9 |
| Years7: | 2013–2019 |
| Clubs7: | Spartak Moscow |
| Caps7: | 95 |
| Goals7: | 5 |
| Years8: | 2015 |
| Clubs8: | → AC Milan (loan) |
| Caps8: | 9 |
| Goals8: | 0 |
| Years9: | 2019–2021 |
| Clubs9: | Hellas Verona |
| Caps9: | 5 |
| Goals9: | 0 |
| Years10: | 2020–2021 |
| Clubs10: | → Pescara (loan) |
| Caps10: | 18 |
| Goals10: | 2 |
| Totalcaps: | 317 |
| Totalgoals: | 22 |
| Nationalyears1: | 2007 |
| Nationalteam1: | Italy U20 |
| Nationalcaps1: | 1 |
| Nationalgoals1: | 0 |
| Nationalyears2: | 2007–2009 |
| Nationalteam2: | Italy U21 |
| Nationalcaps2: | 19 |
| Nationalgoals2: | 0 |
| Nationalyears3: | 2008 |
| Nationalteam3: | Olympic Italy |
| Nationalcaps3: | 9 |
| Nationalgoals3: | 0 |
| Nationalyears4: | 2009–2010 |
| Nationalteam4: | Italy |
| Nationalcaps4: | 5 |
| Nationalgoals4: | 0 |
| Manageryears1: | 2022 |
| Managerclubs1: | Hellas Verona (caretaker) |
| Manageryears2: | 2024–2025 |
| Managerclubs2: | Monza |
| Manageryears3: | 2025– |
| Managerclubs3: | Atalanta Under-23 |
Salvatore Bocchetti (pronounced as /it/; born 30 November 1986) is an Italian professional football coach and former player who is the head coach of club Atalanta Under-23. He played as a centre-back as a player.
Bocchetti started his professional career at Ascoli.[2] He made his Serie A debut against Palermo on 20 December 2006.He was sent on loan to Serie C1 for Lanciano, and Frosinone of Serie B in the second half of the 2006–07 season.[3] In the 2008–09 season Bocchetti was signed by Genoa and soon became a regular starter in central defence, also functioning as a fullback on occasion.
In the 2010–11 season, he was signed by Rubin Kazan on a 3.5-year contract with a fee reported to be around €15 million for the transfer.[4] On 2 October 2011, Bocchetti scored two goals in a league match against Tom Tomsk. Kazan won the game 2–0.[5] In January 2013, he moved to Spartak Moscow, another Russian Premier League club.[6] In August 2013, he received a knee surgery and missed the rest of the season.[7] On 27 January 2015, Milan had signed him on loan with an option to make the move permanent at the end of the season.[8] He was released from his Spartak contract by mutual consent on 6 July 2019.[9]
On 25 July 2019, Bocchetti joined Italian Serie A club Hellas Verona on a two-year contract.[10]
On 29 September 2020, Bocchetti joined Serie B club Pescara on loan until 30 June 2021.[11]
In March 2008, Bocchetti made his debut with the Italy U-21 squad. He established himself in Pierluigi Casiraghi's Azzurrini squad, which won the 2008 Toulon Tournament, and retained his place in the starting lineup for the Summer Olympics, as Italy reached the quarter-finals.[12] Together with Marco Andreolli, he was first-choice in central defence during the 2009 U-21 European Championship as Italy reached the semi-finals;[13] he was later named to the team of the tournament.
On 22 March 2009, Bocchetti received his first call-up to the senior Italy squad for two World Cup qualifiers matches but remained an unused substitute.[14] On 10 October 2009, he made his senior national team international debut against Ireland coming on as a second-half substitute in Croke Park. He was named in Marcello Lippi's 23-man squad for the 2010 World Cup.[15] Bocchetti was also selected for Italy's preliminary squad for Euro 2012,[16] but was not picked for the final squad.[17]
Bocchetti has been described as a versatile, left-footed centre back, who is also capable of being deployed as a full back. He is known for his strength, pace, and anticipation, as well as for his reliable technical ability.[18]
Following his retirement from active football, Bocchetti took on a career as a coach, rejoining Verona in July 2021 as a youth coach in charge of the Under-18 team.[19] He left his role later in September 2021 to join Igor Tudor's first team coaching staff as an assistant,[20] and also taking Tudor's place for a single Serie A league game against Cagliari on 30 April 2022 as Tudor himself was disqualified.[21]
Following Tudor's departure and the appointment of Gabriele Cioffi as new head coach, Bocchetti was then handed over the duties of the Under-19 team for the 2022–23 season.[22] [23] In September 2022, he obtained a UEFA A license.[24]
On 13 October 2022, he was promoted head coach of Verona, replacing Gabriele Cioffi.[25] As Bocchetti had no UEFA Pro license at the time of his appointment, Verona had to ask the Italian Football Federation to hand him a temporary authorization, which was handed for a period of 30 days.[26] He guided Verona formally as head coach for a total six games, all of them ending with defeat.[27]
On 3 December 2022, after his temporary authorization to coach the Gialloblu expired,[28] Verona announced the appointment of Marco Zaffaroni as new head coach, with Bocchetti as his assistant.[29] He departed Verona by the end of the season, after the team escaped relegation by means of winning a playoff.
On 23 December 2024, Bocchetti signed a contract until 30 June 2027 as the new head coach of bottom-placed Serie A club Monza, replacing Alessandro Nesta.[30] During his month and a half as head coach, Salvatore Bocchetti achieved a significant victory with Monza against Fiorentina — on January 13, 2025, he recorded his first win both with the Lombard club and as a professional manager, with a 2–1 result. Under his leadership, the team earned a total of 5 points. Shortly after, on February 10, 2025, the club decided to relieve him of his duties and reinstated the previous coach, Alessandro Nesta. Despite these changes, Monza was relegated to Serie B at the end of the season.https://www.acmonza.com/it/news/comunicato-ufficiale-ac-monza-10022025/
On 9 July 2025, Bocchetti was hired as the new head coach of Atalanta Under-23 in the Serie C league.[31]
Bocchetti is married to Ekaterina Maltseva, whom he met while playing for Spartak in Russia; the couple has three children.[32] [33] He is fluent in Italian, English, Spanish and Russian.[34]
| Club | Season | League | Cup | Continental | Other | Total | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Division | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | |||
| Ascoli | 2004–05 | Serie B | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | – | – | 0 | 0 | |||
| 2006–07 | Serie A | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | – | – | 2 | 0 | ||||
| Total | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 | |||
| Virtus Lanciano (loan) | 2005–06 | Serie C1 | 21 | 1 | 0 | 0 | – | – | 21 | 1 | |||
| Frosinone (loan) | 2006–07 | Serie B | 17 | 2 | 0 | 0 | – | – | 17 | 2 | |||
| 2007–08 | 38 | 2 | 0 | 0 | – | – | 38 | 2 | |||||
| Total | 55 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 55 | 4 | |||
| Genoa | 2008–09 | Serie A | 32 | 0 | 2 | 0 | – | – | 34 | 0 | |||
| 2009–10 | 28 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 7 | 0 | – | 35 | 1 | ||||
| Total | 60 | 1 | 2 | 0 | 7 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 69 | 1 | |||
| Rubin Kazan | 2010 | Russian Premier League | 7 | 2 | – | 6 | 0 | – | 13 | 2 | |||
| 2011–12 | 32 | 5 | 4 | 1 | 13 | 0 | – | 49 | 6 | ||||
| 2012–13 | 13 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 4 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 19 | 3 | |||
| Total | 52 | 9 | 5 | 1 | 23 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 81 | 11 | |||
| Spartak Moscow | 2012–13 | Russian Premier League | 10 | 0 | – | – | – | 10 | 0 | ||||
| 2013–14 | 12 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | – | 13 | 0 | ||||
| 2014–15 | 3 | 0 | 2 | 0 | – | – | 5 | 0 | |||||
| 2015–16 | 28 | 3 | 2 | 0 | – | – | 30 | 3 | |||||
| 2016–17 | 15 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 | – | 17 | 1 | ||||
| 2017–18 | 12 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 4 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 18 | 1 | |||
| 2018–19 | 15 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 5 | 0 | – | 22 | 0 | ||||
| Total | 95 | 5 | 8 | 0 | 11 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 115 | 5 | |||
| A.C. Milan (loan) | 2014–15 | Serie A | 9 | 0 | – | – | – | 9 | 0 | ||||
| Hellas Verona | 2019–20 | Serie A | 5 | 0 | – | – | – | 5 | 0 | ||||
| Pescara (loan) | 2020–21 | Serie B | 18 | 2 | 1 | 0 | – | – | 19 | 2 | |||
| Career total | 317 | 22 | 16 | 1 | 41 | 0 | 2 | 1 | 376 | 24 | |||
| National team | Year | Apps | Goals | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Italy | 2009 | 3 | 0 | |
| 2010 | 2 | 0 | ||
| Total | 5 | 0 | ||
| Team | Nat | From | To | Record | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Hellas Verona (caretaker) | 13 October 2022 | 2 December 2022 | |||||||||
| Monza | 23 December 2024 | 10 February 2025 | |||||||||
| Total | |||||||||||
Rubin Kazan[35]
Spartak Moscow
Italy U21[36]
Individual
