Costantino Coratti has been named last season’s best fitness coach in Serie A. The member of Antonio Conte’s set up at Napoli was awarded the Cronometro d’Oro, the prize given by the FIGC Technical Sector to the top professional in Italy’s top flight, based on the votes of fellow fitness coaches.

“Today we celebrate a role that is indispensable within coaching staffs: the fitness coach,” said the president of the Technical Sector, Mario Beretta, during the Cronometro d’Oro ceremony. “As the Coaches’ School, we can say we have been ahead of the curve for some time: UEFA has in fact drawn inspiration from our fitness coaches’ training courses to develop its own educational programmes.”

Costantino Coratti, Cronometro d'Oro

“I’m extremely happy to receive this prestigious prize,” Coratti said while receiving the award at the Centro Tecnico Federale di Coverciano. “I thank all the colleagues who voted for me. I believe this is an award that should be shared: I want to share it with two colleagues who helped me every single day last season, Cacciapuoti and De Felice, and with the players, given their daily commitment. I also want to share this with the club and with coach Conte.”

The Cronometro d’Oro is the annual event held at the Federal Coaches’ School in Coverciano and, much like the Panchina d’Oro, takes place to reward professional development.

Not only Serie A. The ceremony is not limited to Serie A; fitness coaches were also able to vote for their best colleague in last season’s Serie B, Serie C, Serie A Femminile and Serie B Femminile.

Francesco Vaccariello, Cronometro d'Oro Serie B

 

In Serie B, the Cronometro d’Oro was awarded to Sassuolo’s Francesco Vaccariello, who repeated the success he achieved in the 2022/2023 season, when he was also part of the staff led by Fabio Grosso, then at Frosinone.

 

Massimiliano Botto, Cronometro d'Oro Serie C

 

In Serie C, the award went to Massimiliano Botto of Virtus Entella, who contributed to the Ligurian club’s promotion last season.

 

Ivan Teoli, Cronometro d'Oro Serie A Women

In the women’s game, the Serie A Cronometro d’Oro went to Ivan Teoli of Juventus Women, mirroring the success achieved by his head coach Massimiliano Canzi at the latest edition of the Panchina d’Oro.

Claudia Ceccarelli, Cronometro d'Oro Serie B Women

Finally, the Women’s Serie B Cronometro d’Oro was awarded to Claudia Ceccarelli of Ternana Women. It marks the first time that a woman has won the award since it was created by the FIGC Technical Sector in the 2019/2020 season. A year ago, Ceccarelli also took the stage in Coverciano for the 2025 edition of the Panchina d’Oro, to remember her late coach Fabio Melillo. Today the coach from the Umbrian club was able to celebrate a highly successful season, culminating in her side’s promotion to Serie A.

Professional development. During the day, the fitness coaches in Coverciano also attended a professional development course, with contributions from Stefano Righetti (cardiologist and doctor of the Federazione Italiana di Atletica Leggera), Luca Filipas (coach of the TotalEnergies Pro Cycling Team and researcher at the University of Milan) and Ermanno Rampinini (lecturer in the central courses at Coverciano and coordinator of fitness coaching at Sassuolo).

Note to the media: Clicking this link will allow you to download some images of the awards ceremony. The photos can be used by crediting: FIGC Technical Sector.

Award rankings

Serie A

  1. Costantino Coratti (Napoli)

  2. Andrea Petruolo (Lazio)

  3. Alessandro Pilati (Genoa)

Serie B

  1. Francesco Vaccariello (Sassuolo)

  2. Fabio Allevi (Cremonese)

  3. Luca Alimonta (Pisa)

Serie C

  1. Massimiliano Botto (Virtus Entella)

  2. Andrea Molteni (Padova)

  3. Stefano Valentini (Rimini)

Serie A Women

  1. Ivan Teoli (Juventus)

  2. Simone Vignudelli (Inter)

  3. Matteo Callini (AC Milan)

Serie B Women

  1. Claudia Ceccarelli (Ternana Women)

  2. Daniele Nervi (Lumezzane)

  3. Francesco Zammarchi (Brescia)