Franco Colomba (born 6 February 1955 in Grosseto) is an Italian football coach and former player.

Playing career

Colomba, a midfielder, started his playing career in Bologna, making his Serie A debut in 1973/1974. He played for Bologna until 1983, except two loan spells at Serie B teams Modena and Sambenedettese, in 1975 and 1976 respectively. After having left Bologna, Colomba signed for Avellino, a minor Serie A team where he played until 1988, when Avellino relegated to Serie B, and became a favourite among the biancoverdi fans. He ended his career in 1990 with Modena.

Coaching career

After three years as youth coach for Modena and Spal, Colomba took his first head coaching job in 1993, at the helm of Olbia of Serie C2. After an impressive season with Novara one year later, in 1995 Colomba was called to coach Salernitana, where he narrowly missed immediate promotion to Serie A; he was fired one year later, because of poor results. In 1997, Colomba signed for Reggina of Serie B, where he obtained a seventh place. At the end of the season, he left Reggina for Serie A team Vicenza, where he however did not end the season, being fired after nineteen matchdays.

Colomba returned to Reggina in 1999, and stayed in Calabria for three seasons, with a relegation in 2001 (after having lost a playoff match to Verona) and a successive promotion in 2002. In the 2002/2003 season, Colomba had a somehow turbulent Serie B experience at fallen giants Napoli, with a sacking and a successive recall, and a disappointing fifteenth place as a result. The next year saw Colomba making his third comeback at Reggina, but he is fired after the eleventh matchday and replaced by Giancarlo Camolese. The 2004/2005 season started with Colomba at the helm of newly-promoted Serie A side Livorno, but abruptly ended in January, when he was sacked and replaced by Roberto Donadoni. In October 2005, a Serie B team in danger of relegation, Avellino, called him to replace Francesco Oddo; however, Avellino finally lost its place to Serie B after two playoff matches lost to AlbinoLeffe.

Colomba returned to coach in December 2006, when he was appointed to replace Marco Giampaolo at the helm of Serie A club Cagliari Calcio. He was fired on February 26, 2007 following a 2-0 home defeat to Lazio.

On July 19, 2007 he was announced as head coach of Serie C1 club Verona. However, Verona had a very poor start in their Serie C1 2007-08 campaign, with no wins in the initial seven league matches, and a shock 1–2 defeat against Legnano led the club management to sack Colomba on October 8, 2007.

References