- Enzo Maresca joins Leicester City as new First Team Manager
- The 43-year-old Italian joins from the coaching team at European champions Manchester City
- Maresca to lead Leicester’s Championship promotion bid after signing three-year deal
- LCFC Chairman plots future success under Maresca’s management
Enzo, 43, has agreed a contract at King Power Stadium to 2026 and begins work immediately in preparation for the new EFL Championship season.
The Italian arrives in Leicester having most recently worked as first team coach with Pep Guardiola at Manchester City, whom he helped to a Premier League, FA Cup and UEFA Champions League treble in 2022/23.
He will now set about starting a new era at Leicester City, as the Club seeks to mount a challenge for promotion and a return to the Premier League.
Leicester City Chairman Aiyawatt Srivaddhanaprabha said: “Enzo brings a combination of personality, method and ambition that meets extremely well with the footballing direction we are looking to take. His philosophy has been built over a rich and varied career, including an outstanding education as a coach, and fits with the vision we have for this next chapter in Leicester City’s history.
“Enzo’s profile has stood out to us for some time – a feeling that was only enhanced upon meeting him and listening to his enthusiasm for the challenge ahead. I have no doubt he will be warmly welcomed by our supporters and that together we can reset the Club’s course towards future success.”
Leicester City Manager Enzo Maresca said: “I’m very excited because of the Club [I’m joining] and because we have a big season ahead of us.
“At the beginning, the target is to play in the best way we can. From there, we can build, day by day, our idea and our philosophy, and the most important thing is to try to win games.
“First of all, we’re going to give 100 per cent, absolutely, because the Club deserves this. It’s our job, our duty to do that. Then, as I said, day by day, step by step, absolutely we’re going to improve.”
Both as a player and a coach, Maresca’s football education was influenced by some of Europe’s finest managers, including Guardiola, Carlo Ancelotti and Marcello Lippi. Having started his coaching journey in Italy with Ascoli in 2017, Maresca impressed as an assistant coach at West Ham United under Manuel Pellegrini. He was appointed to lead Manchester City’s Elite Development Squad in 2020 and duly delivered the Premier League 2 title, before returning to Italy to take up a head coaching role at Parma. He returned to City in 2022 to join Guardiola’s staff as first team coach.
Maresca will be able to call on experience of English football’s second tier from his earliest days as a player. Having come through the ranks at AC Milan and Cagliari, he eventually made his professional debut at West Bromwich Albion aged 18 and featured during two seasons for the Baggies. He continued a decorated career in Italy, Spain and Greece with clubs including Juventus, Sevilla, Olympiakos and Malaga. He retired from playing in 2017 as a Scudetto winner with Juventus in 2002, a Copa del Rey winner with Sevilla in 2007 and a two-time UEFA Cup winner with Sevilla (2006 and 2007).
Enzo will take training with the Foxes squad for the first time on 3 July, when the Club’s senior professionals not involved in international camps this summer will report for pre-season training.
City fans will have their first chance to see the new Foxes boss in the dugout when we travel to Northampton Town in a pre-season friendly on Saturday 15 July. The Foxes will then head to Southeast Asia for games against Tottenham Hotspur in Bangkok (23 July) and Liverpool in Singapore (30 July) before the EFL Championship kick-off.
Fixtures for the 2023/24 EFL Championship season are released on Thursday 22 June.