Stefano Lavarini is the new coach of Vero Volley Milano. Among the most experienced and successful coaches on the world volleyball scene, Lavarini is ready to experience his first adventure on the bench of the first women’s team of the Vero Volley Consortium. Trained thanks to the important experiences gained first in the staff of Omegna, his hometown, and Novara, then, as assistant in Chieri, at Club Italia and in Bergamo, and, then, as first coach again in Bergamo, for five seasons, Minas (in Brazil), Busto Arsizio, Novara and Fenerbahce (in Turkey), the Piedmontese coach will make all his knowledge available to Vero Volley Milano, leading the rosablù team in the women’s Serie A1 and in the CEV Champions League, as well as in other national and international.
Stefano Lavarini’s career began in his hometown team as assistant coach to Luciano Pedullà at Omegna Pallavolo, from 1995 to 1997, where he won a national Under 16 title and two in Under 18. In the 1999-00 season he followed Pedullà at AGIL of Trecate, where he is involved both in the first team (first in Serie A2 and then in A1) and in the youth team. After four years at the Novara club, in 2003 he moved to Liguria to coach Spezia in Serie C. In the 2004-05 season he returned to Piedmont, to Chieri, where he was initially assigned to lead the Under 15 team that led to the national title by category; in the following year, in addition to continuing his activity with the Under 16s, who repeated the tricolor of the previous season, he was appointed assistant to Giovanni Guidetti in the first team, alongside him for two seasons on the bench of the Turin club. In 2007 he was called by the Italian Volleyball Federation to Club Italia, where he remained for three seasons during which he was Marco Mencarelli’s first deputy at the helm of the Under 19 national team with which he won the European Under 19 championship (in 2008) and, therefore, became technical commissioner of the National Cadette team. In the 2010-11 season he was signed by Bergamo, in Serie A1; initially technical assistant to Davide Mazzanti, with whom he won the tricolour, in the following year he moved to lead the Under 18 team and the B1 series, but already in the 2012-13 season he was promoted to coach of the first team, thus making his debut in the top Italian league. He remained on the Bergamo bench for five seasons, winning the 2015-16 Italian Cup. In the 2017-18 season he moved to Brazil becoming coach of Minas, a club from Belo Horizonte involved in the Superliga Série A: in the two years at the helm of the Mineiro club he won a Brazilian Cup, a championship (also awarded as best coach) and two consecutive editions of the South American Club Championship. In 2019 he was also hired as coach of South Korea, winning the pass for Tokyo 2020. In the 2019-20 season he returned to the Italian top league, hired by Busto Arsizio, while in the following season he returned to Novara, this time as first coach. Furthermore, in January 2022 he was appointed new coach of the Polish national team, with which he won bronze in the Volleyball Nations League in 2023. After a three-year period in Piedmont, in the 2023-24 championship he landed in the Turkish Sultanlar Ligi to coach Fenerbahçe, with whom he won the national cup and the scudetto. After the experience in Turkey, Stefano Lavarini is now ready to write a new chapter in his career at the Vero Volley Consortium and in Milan. THE
“I return to Italy after a satisfying period in the Turkish championship, which allowed me to gain new experiences – commented the new coach of Vero Volley Milano, Stefano Lavarini – I will have the opportunity to compete in our championship thanks to the Vero Volley Consortium and it is very It’s stimulating to be part of one of the most important clubs in our volleyball. Undoubtedly, in recent years Vero Volley has demonstrated constant growth and has come to play for the highest goals.
“We are very happy to have found an agreement with Stefano – declared the sporting director of the Vero Volley Consortium, Claudio Bonati – I am convinced he is one of the best trained coaches at an international level. This will certainly lead us to take a further step forward in our growth path.”
