Transfer News: Give Cesc Fabregas and Kosta Runjaic a medal

In a Serie A where coaches and technical staff change with increasing frequency, Cesc Fàbregas and Kosta Runjaic are the two main exceptions. The Como coach, who arrived in November 2023, and the Udinese coach, who has been in charge since July 2024, are in fact the two longest-tenured coaches among those currently on the benches in the top flight.

This statistic clearly illustrates just how difficult it has become to build long-term success cycles. Behind them, in fact, the landscape changes radically. A large group of coaches began their tenures only between June and July 2025: Gian Piero Gasperini at Roma, Cristian Chivu at Inter, Fabio Pisacane at Cagliari, Eusebio Di Francesco at Lecce, Massimiliano Alvini at Frosinone, Giovanni Stroppa at Venezia, and Carlos Cuesta at Parma—with the latter two now seriously at risk.

Even more recent are the tenures of Luciano Spalletti at Juventus and Daniele De Rossi at Genoa, both of whom took over in the fall of 2025. The summer of 2026 then brought another major shakeup on the coaching benches. Between June and July, Ignazio Abate at Torino, Alberto Aquilani at Sassuolo, Maurizio Sarri at Atalanta, Ruben Amorim at Milan, Gennaro Gattuso at Lazio, Ivan Juric at Monza, and Massimiliano Allegri at Napoli began their tenures.

And the landscape changed even further in September, with Paolo Vanoli returning to Fiorentina following Fabio Grosso’s shock departure, and Raffaele Palladino taking over at Bologna, replacing Domenico Tedesco, who was dismissed after just four matchdays. This situation makes the uniqueness of the Fabregas and Runjaic cases even more evident: to be considered the longest-tenured coaches in Serie A, they need only remain in their positions until the end of 2023 and the summer of 2024, respectively.

This snapshot of Italian coaching staffs thus highlights a well-established trend: the duration of coaching tenures has shortened considerably. Between summer coaching changes and firings once the season has begun, continuity has become a rare commodity. Fabregas and Runjaic, at least for now, are the ones who are holding out the longest against this constant turnover.