Croatian coach Igor Tudor, who notably worked for Marseille, has been appointed coach of Lazio Rome, where he succeeds Maurizio Sarri, who resigned last week, the Roman club announced Monday evening.
The brief press release from Lazio specifies that the Croatian technician “will assume, from today, the role of manager of the first team” but does not indicate the duration of his contract.
👋 𝗪𝗲𝗹𝗰𝗼𝗺𝗲 pic.twitter.com/OC7Af0vh1W
— SSLazio (@OfficialSSLazio) March 18, 2024
Tudor's arrival at the helm of Lazio was widely anticipated by the Italian media, which indicated before the weekend that an agreement had been reached with the club's president and owner, Claudio Lotito.
Tudor, 45, had been free since leaving Marseille in June 2023 after just one season.
He will reunite in Rome with his former player Mattéo Guendouzi, called up to the French team this Monday to replace Antoien Griezmann.
The former Croatian international returns to a championship that he knows well having spent a good part of his playing career there, at Juventus between 1998 and 2007, and as coach with Udinese (2018, 2019), Juve (2020-21) and Hellas Verona (2021-22).
He arrives at the helm of a club in crisis after the surprise departure of Maurizio Sarri, in post since 2021 and who led Lazio last season to 2nd place in Serie A.
After 29 days, Lazio only occupies 9th place in the championship, 9 points from the 4th and final qualifying place for the next Champions League.
This season, Lazio has just been eliminated in the round of 16 of the C1 by Bayern Munich.