From Romania to Georgia, via Qatar’s “fake soccer” and corruption in Albania: the Ligurian coach recounts his twenty-five-year international career and his latest success with Dila Gori. “Italy? 90% of teams play old-fashioned soccer.”

Romania, Qatar, United Arab Emirates, Albania, Ukraine, Greece, and finally Georgia. At first glance, it looks like the map of an experienced traveler marking the countries he has visited. Instead, these are the leagues in which Diego Longo, the Italian coach who has just won his first two trophies with Dila Gori, the team from the city of Stalin, has coached.

Diego, how did you end up coaching in Georgia?

“It’s just the latest stop on a wonderful journey that has lasted 25 years. I started very early, with the youth teams in Liguria, my region. Then, in 2005, I began my partnership with Răzvan Lucescu, son of the legendary Mircea Lucescu. I traveled the world with him as his assistant.“

Where did you start?

”In the Romanian league: Rapid Bucharest and Brașov. We did well and ended up coaching the senior national team, a very strong Romania with Mutu and Chivu, who was our captain.“

What memories do you have of Chivu as a player?

”Cristi is a great guy, a humble champion, always willing to help others, and by ‘others’ I mean everyone, not just his teammates. I remember that, on a trip to Hungary, at the end of a long journey, the players got off the bus with their bags in hand and hurried to the hotel to rest. He, on the other hand, stayed on the minibus and helped the equipment managers unload all the gear. His teammates saw what he was doing and came back to help him.”

 And what about Chivu the coach?

“I respect him a lot, first of all because he is one of the few former players who does not take advantage of his name to further his career: before starting, he studied a lot, unlike many others. And then his Inter is one of the few Italian teams that plays good football. As a coach, I obviously follow all the European leagues, but I really struggle to watch the Italian one: 90% of the teams play old-fashioned, uninternational football, with exaggerated tactics. Some games are really difficult to watch, such as those of Lecce and Verona; on the other hand, I really like Fabregas’ Como, which has a very similar idea of football to mine.”

Let’s continue the journey: you also went to Qatar, to Al-Jaish Sport Club.

“We even won a cup with them. No one will ever be able to do that again, partly because the club no longer exists. The team, founded to represent the Qatari Armed Forces, was disbanded in 2017 due to financial issues. I have fond memories of that experience, but that world isn’t exactly my cup of tea.“

Can you tell us about an episode?

”Qatar doesn’t have a great soccer tradition, and it’s often difficult to fill the stadiums. Before the games, these huge buses arrive full of workers: bricklayers, laborers, carpenters. As soon as they get off the bus, everyone receives a home team scarf, an envelope with money, and a piece of paper with the chants to sing. After the game, they all get back on the bus, go to another stadium where a game is being played, get a different scarf, a piece of paper with new chants, and go to watch another game.”

You also went to Inzaghi’s Al-Hilal: do you think Saudi Arabia is the new frontier of soccer?

“Another great adventure, if they asked me, I’d go back tomorrow. But that’s not my world either: it’s fake soccer, all artificial, built from nothing, like their buildings that spring up from the desert. The investments are huge, but the roots, the culture, that doesn’t exist and you can’t buy it. We Italians are born, raised, and die with soccer; for us, it’s a story of fathers and sons, grandfathers and grandsons. That’s our strength. That’s why I refused to watch the Super Cup in Riyadh: we mustn’t mimic that kind of soccer.“

So, in your opinion, is it a bubble that will burst?

”I think so. For me, these extravagant transfer campaigns are just a big publicity stunt ahead of the 2034 World Cup in Riyadh. I’ve heard a few things about that event and I can assure you that it will be the most luxurious event in human history: I can’t say anything, but there are things planned that, even just to imagine, seem almost impossible.”

And in Greece, you were at PAOK.

“Xanthi and PAOK. Greece is an incredible country: I’ve never seen such fan support, every stadium is a madhouse. We also won a lot with PAOK. We left after the 2018 disqualification, when President Ivan Savvidis, a Russian oligarch of Greek origin, after a goal against AEK Athens was disallowed for offside with the score at 0-0, entered the field before extra time with a gun in his hand and threatened the referee. In the end, Fernando Varela’s goal was awarded two hours after the end of the match, and the championship was suspended. That episode made me leave Greece.”

When did you make the transition from coach to assistant?

“After my experience in Ukraine, at Dynamo Kiev. It was my last year as an assistant: I decided it was time. It was 2021, I already had an agreement to go to Saudi Arabia, but it fell through at the last minute. I risked missing the season, so I decided to go to Albania, to Kukësi.”

What is the Albanian league like?

“The most corrupt league in the world. The relationships between clubs and football institutions and others are very complicated. I’ve seen many unacceptable things, but there’s one episode that beats all the others.“

Can you tell us about it?

”In my first year with Kukësi, we were playing Partizani for the last place in Europe. They are one of the most important teams, the Albanian equivalent of Juventus, and they have incredible power. The day before the match, they took away our training ground, saying they had organized a game for their Under-16 team. But the worst happened the next day. During the match, the VAR was disconnected for 15 minutes, due to ‘technical problems’ according to the referee. During that time, we were denied two clear penalties and Partizani were awarded a made-up one, which they won and qualified for Europe. After the final whistle, I stormed into the locker room and told my president that he had to raise his voice, that the situation was unacceptable. He, who at the time was also mayor of an Albanian city, replied: “You mustn’t get angry, we’re fine with it.” He was arrested a year later.

Why?

“Sex scandal: they put a camera in his office, and the video ended up on YouTube. I think you can still find it. But his adventure in Albania continued. First at Flamurtari and then at Teuta. I took the team, which wasn’t doing well, to the playoffs for the top league, but we lost the play-off because of a goalkeeper’s mistake in the last minute. After Teuta, where there were no facilities or schools, I gave up and returned to Italy.”

In Serie C, at Sestri Levante.

“It was like returning to Albania: there was no desire to take that step forward.”

And then the move from Genoa to Georgia, to Dila.

“The city where Stalin was born: we have a museum named after him with various memorabilia. There are still busts of him around the city, but they are not objects of worship: there is no nostalgia for communism, tourists take selfies with them.“

And with Dila Gori came his first two trophies as a coach.

”We won the Georgian Cup and Super Cup. I coached the most diverse and youngest group of my career: thirteen Africans from thirteen different parts of Africa, Brazilians, Ukrainians, Georgians, all very young. The oldest player on the team was born in 2004.“

How do you train such a diverse group?

”Every coach has his own philosophy. I have a master’s degree in psychology and I bring what I’ve learned from my studies into the locker room. I told my players: ‘Discover your differences and work on them’. They did that and grew tremendously. Next year, we’ll be playing in the Conference preliminaries.“

What is your secret dream?

”I’m working on going somewhere, but I don’t know where yet. I’d like to have a chance to coach a European club.”