Cesare Prandelli may not be a household name outside Italy and some may even find it surprising that the quiet and stylish former Juventus midfielder even occupies the position at all.
He does not have the high-profile of top-class Italian coaches like Ireland's Giovanni Trapattoni, Manchester City's Roberto Mancini, former England boss Fabio Cappello or even Paris Saint-Germain's Carlo Ancelotti.
Nor does he have a dazzling resume, having only won a second division title with Verona in the 1998-99 season.
But what he does possess is style, class and professionalism -- the same qualities that marked him out as a player for the Old Lady of Turin and Atalanta.
After retiring as a player in 1990, he turned to coaching and began to make his name at Parma in 2002, leading the side to successive fifth-placed finishes despite financial worries.
The achievement earned him a move to Roma in 2004 but personal tragedy meant he never took charge of the side, after his wife, Manuela, was diagnosed with breast cancer.
Prandelli -- deeply affected by the Heysel Stadium tragedy in 1985, when 39 Juve fans died in rioting before the European Cup final that his team won against Liverpool -- left the club to care for her, eventually resuming work at Fiorentina.
He steered the team to the Champions League in successive seasons and produced impressive results on the pitch but Manuela succumbed to her illness during his time in charge.
At the time, Italians applauded the dignity with which he conducted himself to overcome his loss.
As a coach, the stylishly turned-out Prandelli has notably introduced a strict disciplinary code of ethics to the national team set-up, even excluding star players from the squad for bad behaviour or suspensions.
More importantly for Italy, though, he has brought a measure of calm and understatement to his role, as the Azzurri seek to banish the disappointment of failing to get through the group stage at the last World Cup after winning in 2006.
Prandelli has always insisted that his team is a work in progress, although he has not been slow to talk them up when necessary.
"I remember at the beginning of this adventure, critics said we don't have any more defenders but we have the best defensive record in the qualification phase," he said.
He is a popular figure not just in the dressing room but also among Italian football's top brass.
Four years ago it was poorly-kept secret that Roberto Donadoni needed to reach the semi-finals to keep his job. He fell short by just one round, when Italy were eliminated by eventual winners Spain in the quarter-finals.
But Italian football federation president Giancarlo Abete has imposed no such conditions on Prandelli this time round.
"We're even more convinced in the coach than we were in the beginning, if that's possible," he said. "We want to have the best Euros possible but that shouldn't influence the choice, we want to have continuity."
Continuity is not something Prandelli has always favoured on the pitch, regularly calling up new and uncapped players to his squad.
But he has always relied on a core of tried and tested veterans from goalkeeper Gianluigi Buffon and centre-back Giorgio Chiellini to midfielder Andrea Pirlo and forward Antonio Cassano.
He has largely stuck to his belief in a system without an out-and-out striker, using midfielders breaking from deep to great effect.
bc12/phz
Source: AFP
