Antonio Renna was born on March 2, 1937, in Lecce.
He started playing for Juventina Lecce who, in 1954 when he was not even 18 years of age, loaned him to Campobasso in Serie D. After a year he joined the Fiorentina youth sector who after a year sent him on loan to Livorno. At the end of the 1956-57 season, Fiorentina sold him back to his hometown team, Lecce, in Serie C.
He stayed two years and in 1959 made the big jump to Serie A: he signed for Bologna. He remained in Rossoblu for five seasons with 94 appearances and 14 goals, winning a scudetto in 1963-64 and a Mitropa Cup in 1961. In 1964 he joined Lazio. The Biancocelesti were a rather modest team with the only ambition of not being relegated. He made 34 appearances with 9 goals in two seasons.
In 1966 he was sold to Varese in Serie B and contributed with 10 goals to their promotion to Serie A. He stayed in Lombardy three years and in 1969 he moved to Brindisi in Serie C for the last four years of his career, contributing to their return to Serie B in 1971-72.
Once he stopped playing, Renna had a long career as manager. He managed Brindisi in 1974-75 avoiding relegation to Serie C. He then managed Lecce in 1975 taking them first to Serie B and then almost getting a promotion to Serie A. They arrived 7th but were in contention for most of the season.
In 1977 he was called to Ascoli by the mythical president Costantino Rozzi. The Bianconeri reached Serie A with two months to spare, obtaining the record number of 61 points, in Serie B with 20 teams and 2 points per victory. He also managed them in their first year in Serie A, where Ascoli beat Juventus.
In 1979 he turned down offers from Bologna and Genoa, and went to manage Bari in Serie B. Built to get promotion, the Apulians managed to avoid relegation by just four points. He decided to stay, despite being tempted by Napoli, but resigned after 26 games.
In 1981 he became head coach of Palermo in Serie B. He stayed for two years and despite not achieving promotion, his team remains one of the most loved by the fans (and included former Lazio Antonio Lopez).
In the autumn of 1983 he was called to manage Catanzaro in Serie B in substitution of Mariolino Corso. The team had a number of problems and he was unable to avoid relegation. In 1984 he joined Catania. The Islanders had been relegated from Serie A the previous year and in the beginning they were fighting for promotion, but when the sporting director, Giacomo Bulgarelli, was sacked, Catania collapsed and narrowly managed to avoid relegation. The year after he coached Taranto and won a historic promotion to Serie B. The last teams he worked for were Casertana, Livorno, Giarre, plus another couple of teams in the minor leagues.
Antonio Renna was a great forward and manager. He was quite prolific even though he was not a classic centre-forward, had imagination and a good vision of play. At manager level he was successful even though almost always in Serie B. He was unlucky as a player to have come to Lazio probably in one of the worst moments.
He died on February 1, 2019, in Lecce.
Lazio Career
Season | Total games (goals) | Serie A | Coppa Italia |
1964-65 | 16 (5) | 15 (4) | 1 (1) |
1965-66 | 18 (4) | 17 (2) | 1 (2) |
Total | 34 (9) | 32 (6) | 2 (3) |
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