Former Leceister Boss Ranieri Set To Retire From Football At 72

Claudio Ranieri, the former manager of Leicester City, is scheduled to retire from sport at the age of 72 after leading Cagliari of Serie A to safety.

The veteran Italian coach, who is well-known for his tactical sense and leadership, will retire following Cagliari’s season-ending match against Fiorentina on May 26. According to Sky Sports Italia, once his most recent tenure at Cagliari officially ends, Ranieri will finally bid farewell to his managing career. When Ranieri guided Cagliari to promotion from Serie B the previous season, he began his second stint there. His comeback was viewed as a positive sign of things to come for the team he had managed in 1988.

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However, the journey in the top-flight was far from easy. Cagliari struggled initially, securing just three points from their first nine matches in Serie A. The dismal start prompted Ranieri to offer his resignation, taking responsibility for the team’s poor performance. Nevertheless, the club and its players persuaded him to stay until the end of the campaign. And, after ensuring Cagliari’s top-flight status for at least one more season after beating Sassuolo 2-0, the manager has decided to call it quits, despite having one more year left in his current deal.

“I have decided to leave now and it is the right thing to do,” Ranieri said after announcing his decision. “I do it reluctantly because it was a hard and painful decision, but I think it is right.”

Cagliari released a statement thanking Ranieri for his work, which read: “Mister Ranieri bids farewell to Cagliari. In his two spells with the club, he always managed to lead the team to achieve their original objective. These are tears of joy and gratitude for the man who was able to write some of the most beautiful scripts in Cagliari’s history. What he did will remain indelible in the hearts of every supporter.”

Over the course of his remarkable 40-year career, Ranieri managed some of the biggest clubs in Europe. He managed Serie A’s biggest clubs, including Juventus, AS Roma, and Inter Milan. Nonetheless, his most well-known accomplishment globally is his leadership of Leicester City, an underdog team, to a stunning Premier League triumph in the 2015–2016 campaign, an accomplishment that took the football world by surprise. Ranieri’s management career has included spells at Chelsea, Fulham, Watford, Valencia, and Atletico Madrid in La Liga, in addition to his triumph at Leicester.

Ranieri’s legacy in football is unrivalled as he gets ready to retire from the touchline. His professional background bears witness to his tenacity, strategic acumen, and capacity for outstanding achievement. Ranieri’s path has been nothing short of legendary, spanning from his early days in management to his historic victory with Leicester City and his ultimate act of salvation with Cagliari.