Rolando Maran is an Italian footballmanager who was last in charge of Serie A club Cagliari. His playing career as a defender was spent mostly with Chievo. He then managed several Serie B clubs, and after losing the promotion play-off final with Varese in 2012, had his first Serie A job with Catania. Maran led Catania to a best-ever 8th place in his first season. Also in the top-flight, he had four seasons in charge of Chievo before leading Cagliari from 2018 to 2020.
Playing career
Maran played for Benacense Riva, Chievo, Valdagno, Carrarese and Fano. He spent nine years at Chievo from 1986 to 1995.
Coaching career
Serie B
After retiring as a player in 1997, Maran started his coaching career in 1997 at his former side Chievo as a coach, he joined Brescia as a youth coach in 1998 and stayed there for two years before becoming the youth coach at Cittadella in 2000. Two years later, he became that club's first-team manager. Maran became manager of newly relegated Serie B club Brescia on 5 July 2005 on a one-year contract. The following 5 March, with the team in 5th, he was replaced by Zdenek Zeman. He joined Serie B club Bari in 2006, where he was sacked and replaced by Giuseppe Materazzi in February 2007 with the team in 13th. Maran joined Triestina in June 2007, and two years later he joined fellow Serie B sideVicenza. He helped them avoid relegation. On 15 June 2010, his contract was extended for a further two years, but he was dismissed just under a year later. In October 2011, Maran joined struggling Varese, replacing Benito Carbone as head coach. He led them to the playoffs; however they lost out on promotion to Serie A to Sampdoria, 4–2 on aggregate.
Serie A
On 11 June 2012, Maran joined Serie A club Catania. He took them to 8th place in a record-breaking season where they accrued 56 points from 38 matches. The season also saw Catania take a record amount of home wins in one season, its record number of victories overall in a single top flight campaign, as well as its record points total in Serie A for the fifth consecutive season. Maran was dismissed on 20 October 2013 after a 1–2 loss to Cagliari that left Catania in the relegation zone, and replaced by Luigi De Canio. He returned on 15 January, before being sacked for the second time later on 6 April, after five defeats in a row and with the team bottom of the league. On 19 October 2014, Maran was named new head coach of former club Chievo, replacing Eugenio Corini. He was sacked on 29 April 2018, weeks before the end of his contract; the team was on the brink of the relegation zone having taken 11 points from the last 21 games. On 7 June 2018, Maran was appointed manager of Cagliari on a two-year contract. His side won seven of their first 12 games to challenge for a Champions League place in November; the only time the Sardinians had started so well was when they won the league for the only time in 1969–70. This form did not continue into the second half of the season, and on 3 March 2020, he was fired by Cagliari after a run of 12 consecutive games without a league win.
