Lippi retires on a high

FIFA World Cup™-winning coach Marcello Lippi has announced his retirement after guiding Guangzhou Evergrande to the Chinese Super League title.

The Italian has brought the curtain down on a glittering coaching career which peaked when he guided his country to World Cup glory in Germany in 2006. The 66-year-old is expected to stay on as a technical director with the Chinese outfit but he told reporters in China following his latest triumph that he feels too old to take on the day-to-day business of coaching, according to FIFA.com.

“I do not want to train, I am old,” he was quoted as saying in Gazzettadello Sport. “Guangzhou Evergrande will have a new coach next season. I will follow the staff in the role of technical director.”

Guangzhou Evergrande will have a new coach next season. I will follow the staff in the role of technical director.

After a playing career spent largely with Sampdoria, Lippi also began his coaching career there with the youth team before moving into senior management. He eventually got his big break at Napoli and earned a move to Juventus where he would guide the club to three consecutive Champions League finals, winning in 1996, and also win three Italian titles.

After a short, largely unsuccessful spell at Inter Milan, Lippi returned to Turin and won two further Scudetti while coaching the club to another European Cup final in 2003. He was appointed Italy boss following Euro 2004 and led the team to their fourth World Cup title before stepping down and returned to the post in 2008 to take charge for the unsuccessful 2010 World Cup campaign.

Lippi moved to China in 2012 to take over the defending champions and won a further three consecutive titles while also guiding Guangzhou to the AFC Champions League in 2013.

M.D