Sassuolo have officially appointed Davide Ballardini as their new head coach on a short term contract until the end of the 2023-24 season.
The appointment comes five days after the Neroverdi parted company with previous coach Alessio Dionisi, who had been in charge of the club since the summer of 2021.
The club have also confirmed in their official statement that Ballardini will bring a couple of new faces with him to the Sassuolo dugout, including Carlo Regno as his assistant, Nicola Tarroni as first team coach, and Daniele Caleca as strength and conditioning coach.
Ballardini’s hiring with Sassuolo comes just over a year after his last appointment, which was with Cremonese, where he had also signed a deal until the end of the season in January of the 2022-23 campaign.
It has been a season of ups, but largely downs for Sassuolo in 2023-24. The club started the season promisingly, picking up wins over league leaders Inter and second place Juventus consecutively in September, but then had to wait until the end of November for their next league victory.
The Neroverdi have won just once in Serie A since the turn of the new year, a 1-0 home victory over Fiorentina on January 6.
Sassuolo now find themselves in the relegation zone after Wednesday’s 6-1 hammering by Napoli. The team have 20 points from 26 matches, and are still level on points with Hellas Verona in 17th place.
Ballardini has 12 Serie A matches left of the 2023-24 season to steer the Neroverdi ship away from danger.
Davide Ballardini è il nuovo allenatore del Sassuolo ✍️
Il Comunicato ➡️ https://t.co/qOsRNfVIGO 📄
Benvenuto Mister! 🖤💚 #ForzaSasol pic.twitter.com/z7Kk4T01dR
— U.S. Sassuolo (@SassuoloUS) March 1, 2024