Official: Atalanta appoint ex-Juventus and Napoli director Giuntoli | OneFootball

Atalanta have officially confirmed the appointment of former Juventus and Napoli executive Cristiano Giuntoli as the club’s new sporting director effective immediately.

Official: Giuntoli appointed Atalanta sporting director

“Atalanta BC are pleased to announce the appointment of Cristiano Giuntoli — a football executive who has established himself at the highest level through his ability, expertise and vision — to the Club’s sporting structure as its new Sporting Director,” read a statement on the club website.

“Born in Florence, Giuntoli embarked on his career as a football executive at the age of 36, eighteen years ago.

“After an initial experience at Spezia, he was among the main architects of Carpi’s extraordinary rise as Sporting Director, overseeing four promotions in five years and guiding the club from Serie D to its first-ever Serie A campaign.

“Following six highly successful seasons in Emilia and a winning cycle that quickly established him among the finest executives in Italian football, Giuntoli moved to Napoli in 2015, where he enjoyed another significant and successful chapter of his career, winning the Coppa Italia in the 2019/20 season and playing a pivotal role in securing Napoli’s historic third Serie A title in 2022/23, achievements that crowned the outstanding work carried out at the club.

“He concluded his fruitful spell at Napoli as reigning Italian champion before taking on the role of Managing Director Football at Juventus in the summer of 2023, winning the Coppa Italia during the first of his two seasons in Turin.”

Cristiano Giuntoli during Igor Tudor’s introductory press conference at Juventus (picture: www.juventus.com/it)

“The Percassi and Pagliuca families, along with everyone at Atalanta BC, warmly welcome Sporting Director Giuntoli and wish him all the best in his tenure with the Club.”

The 54-year-old spent eight seasons with Napoli between 2015 and 2023 and was part of the management staff that won the club’s first Serie A title in over 30 years at the end of the 2022-23 campaign.

He earned a move to Juventus off the back of the title-winning season, but lasted just two seasons in Turin before being dismissed. He has been out of work since the end of the 2024-25 season.

NAPLES, ITALY – MARCH 03: Khvicha Kvaratskhelia of SSC Napoli celebrates scoring his team’s first goal during the Serie A TIM match between SSC Napoli and Juventus at Stadio Diego Armando Maradona on March 03, 2024 in Naples, Italy. (Photo by Francesco Pecoraro/Getty Images)

Among Giuntoli’s most popular signings were Victor Osimhen for Napoli, Khvicha Kvaratskhelia for a fee of just €11.5m, Kim Min-jae for around €18m, Piotr Zielinski for €15m and Stanislav Lobotka for €20m.

His signings at Juventus were a bit more hit and miss: Khephren Thuram, Francisco Conceicao and Pierre Kalulu were among his best value-for-money deals while with the Old Lady, but the signings of Douglas Luiz and Teun Koopmeiners for a combined cost of over €100m have not worked out at all.