While Carpi is working on the next Lega Pro, there are two former red and white coaches among the great protagonists of the 2023-24 Serie C playoffs. The final which between Wednesday 5th and Sunday 9th will offer the fourth promotion to Serie C is in fact a bench derby between coach Antonio Calabro and coach Stefano Vecchi, respectively in charge of Carpi in the 2017-18 and 2013-14 Serie B championships .
Both were protagonists of a quick takeover and two great comebacks: Calabro inherited the Carrarese bench in January from Dal Canto and led them to a rather surprising third place in group B with 73 points behind Cesena and Torres , while Vecchi took over as coach of Vicenza in December after starting the Serie B season with FeralpiSalò, which they led to promotion last year. A feat that the coach from Bergamo dreams of repeating with the glorious Lanerossi, third with 71 points behind Mantua and Padova in group A.
They both arrive with the wind in their sails and a lot of enthusiasm for the triumphs in the semi-finals over Benevento (Carrarese) and Avellino (Vicenza), while before the Tuscans of Calabro and the other former players Simone Della Latta and Niccolò Belloni had eliminated Juventus Next Gen of Fabrizio Poli and the Perugia of Ryder Matos and Francesco Mezzoni; Vicenza instead reaches the final after getting rid of Alfredo Bifulco and Michael De Marchi’s Taranto and Padova.
WHAT DID THEY DO AFTER CARPI?
Let’s start with Vecchi, who was the first coach in the history of Carpi in Serie B: after his dismissal at the beginning of the 2014 second round in favor of Pillon, the coach that Giuntoli had chosen from Sud Tirol moved to Inter’s youth team, where He won almost everything at Primavera level and was also on the bench of the Nerazzurri first team for a few games after De Boer’s dismissal. He then coached Venezia in B, Sud Tirol again and FeralpiSalò in C and B. Calabro instead succeeded Castori on the Carpi bench in the 2017-18 season, not an easy year after the end of the Immortals cycle. After the Carpi experience which ended with a quiet salvation in Serie B, the Salento coach guided Viterbese, Catanzaro and Virtus Francavilla, again in Serie C.
