Juventus appoint veteran coach Spalletti as Tudor's successor

Luciano Spalletti was confirmed as the new Juventus head coach Thursday on a deal that runs until the end of the season.

The contract includes an option to extend if Juve qualify for the Champions League, according to soccer insider Fabrizio Romano.

Former Salernitana boss Giovanni Martusciello, who previously worked at Juventus under Maurizio Sarri, joins Spalletti in Turin as a member of the coaching team, Sky Sport Italia's Gianluca Di Marzio reports.

Igor Tudor was sacked as head coach Monday with the team on an eight-game winless run, compounded by consecutive away defeats to Como, Real Madrid, and Lazio. Juve are 25th out of 36 teams in the opening phase of the Champions League.

Juventus beat Udinese 3-1 at Allianz Stadium on Wednesday. Massimo Brambilla, who oversees the club's Next Gen team, served as interim coach for the match. The result improved Juve's Serie A record to 15 points from nine matches, six points adrift of league-leading Napoli.

Juventus are the 10th club of Spalletti's managerial career. His lengthy resume includes two separate stints with both Udinese and Roma and over four years with Zenit St. Petersburg in Russia. He won the Coppa Italia twice in his first spell with Roma and won four trophies with Zenit, but guiding Napoli to the 2022-23 Serie A title is widely considered his finest moment in the dugout.

The 66-year-old was dismissed as Italy coach in June amid a faltering World Cup qualification campaign, though he signed off with a 2-0 win over Moldova. He was also in charge for the Azzurri's round-of-16 elimination at Euro 2024. Since Spalletti departed the role, his successor, Gennaro Gattuso, has revived Italy's hopes of World Cup qualification by following the Moldova match with four more wins.

"Juventus are a great club with a great history," Spalletti said Tuesday, according to La Gazzetta dello Sport. "Everyone would gladly coach Juventus."