Valerio Bertotto

Valerio Bertotto (born 15 January 1973) is an Italian football manager and former professional footballer who played as a defender. He currently serves as the head coach of club Giugliano.

Club career
Bertotto started his professional career during the 1990–91 season with Alessandria in the Italian Serie C2. He joined Udinese in 1993, where he quickly became a historical masterpiece for the team, spending thirteen seasons with the Friuli side, also captaining his side to what is to date their only appearance in the UEFA Champions League. Bertotto also holds the record for the highest number of matches played for Udinese.

In July 2006, aged 33, he left Udinese to join Siena, another Serie A team, where he played two seasons as a regular for the Tuscan side. Subsequently, he was released as a free agent in June 2008. In January 2009, he accepted an offer from Lega Pro Prima Divisione club Venezia. However, he was released for free after the club was excluded from the Italian football panorama due to financial issues.

In 2010, he obtained his UEFA A coaching license, which qualified him to coach Lega Pro teams.

International career
Bertotto has played four times for the Italy national football team between 2000 and 2001, all during his spell at Udinese, with his senior international debut coming in a World Cup qualifying match against Georgia on 11 October 2000, held in Ancona, under manager Giovanni Trapattoni. He missed the 2002 FIFA World Cup due to a knee injury.

Style of play
Bertotto was a hard-tackling and uncompromising central or right-sided defender, who was solid in the air, and effective in the timing of his challenges. Although he was neither particularly quick nor technically gifted, he made up for his lack of pace and skill with his experience and positional sense, and his greatest strength was his ability to defend opposing forwards in one-on-one situations. He also stood out for his leadership throughout his career.

Italy U20 Lega Pro
On 9 August 2012 he was named head coach (selezionatore) of the Italy U20 Lega Pro in place of Giorgio Veneri.

Serie C years
In April 2016, he took over the reins at Serie C club Pistoiese, guiding them to safety. He left in June 2016 to become the new head coach of Messina, which he left in August during the pre-season due to disagreements with the board.

In March 2017, he returned to management, accepting an offer from Serie C club Bassano Virtus, with whom he qualified for the promotion playoffs. He successively served as head coach of another Serie C club, Viterbese Castrense, between July and October 2017.

Ascoli
On 25 August 2020, after three years of inactivity, he was named new head coach of Serie B club Ascoli, this being Bertotto's first coaching experience in the Italian second division.

He was dismissed on 29 November 2020 due to poor results following a 1–2 league defeat to Venezia.

Giugliano
On 4 October 2023, after three years without a job, Bertotto returned to management as the new head coach of Serie C relegation-battling club Giugliano.

Personal life
On 4 November 2020 he tested positive for COVID-19.

Honours
Udinese
 * UEFA Intertoto Cup: 2000