Bologna sack Domenico Tedesco after just four rounds, Raffaele Palladino takes over the team
Bologna FC 1909 made the first major move of the new Serie A season and, after just four league matches, dismissed Domenico Tedesco. The club officially announced the decision on 16 September 2026, a little more than three months after presenting the 41-year-old coach on 2 June as Vincenzo Italiano's successor. Tedesco collected only one point at the start of the league season: Bologna lost to Lazio, Atalanta and Napoli, while drawing 2:2 against Sassuolo. According to official Serie A data, after four rounds the team was in 16th place, without a win and with only two goals scored. The new coach is Raffaele Palladino, who signed a contract until 30 June 2029 and already held his first training session at the club's training centre on 16 September.
The decision was made at a time when Bologna were trying to stabilise their season after a very poor start and a run of matches in which the results did not match the club's ambitions. In its official statement, Bologna did not go into detail about the reasons for the dismissal, instead thanking Tedesco for his professionalism and expertise and wishing him, together with his staff, success in the continuation of his career. Nevertheless, the sporting context of the decision is fairly clear: the team remained winless in four league appearances, and three defeats and only one point quickly increased the pressure on the coaching staff. After the official confirmation, Sky Sport also reported that Tedesco stopped in front of journalists as he was leaving the training centre and expressed regret that he had not managed to give more in such a short period. His tenure therefore ended before the team even had the opportunity to play the fifth round.
One point from four matches and only two goals scored
Bologna's start to the league season was extremely difficult in terms of results. In the opening round, on 24 August, Lazio won 1:0 at the Renato Dall'Ara stadium, and a week later Atalanta won by the same score in Bergamo. The first and only point under Tedesco came on 6 September against Sassuolo, when the match ended 2:2. Bologna then lost 1:0 to Napoli on 13 September, leaving them on one point with a goal difference of 2:5. After the fourth round, Serie A's official website listed Bologna in 16th place, with four matches played, no wins and only two goals scored.
The defeat in Naples was Tedesco's final match in charge of the team, although he did not sit on the bench because of a suspension. Italian media reported that the coach had been suspended after being sent off against Sassuolo, so his assistant Andrea Tarozzi led the team at the Diego Armando Maradona stadium. Napoli won thanks to a Stanislav Lobotka goal in the second half, while Bologna once again failed to score. The day before the match, Tedesco spoke at a press conference about the need for his team to find a better balance between intensity, quality and concentration. After another defeat, there was no longer time for such an adjustment: a few days later, the management decided to change the coach.
The results also revealed a problem that went beyond the league table alone. Bologna failed to score in three of their four matches, with both of their league goals coming in the draw against Sassuolo. In the opening four rounds, they failed to win either in front of their own supporters or away from home. Although such a small sample of matches does not by itself provide a complete picture of the team's quality, the club evidently decided that an early change was necessary before the gap in results grew further. For Palladino, this means taking over the team in the middle of the competitive schedule, without a pre-season period and with very little time to introduce changes before the next league match.
Tedesco's tenure lasted just over three months
Domenico Tedesco arrived at Bologna on 2 June 2026 and signed a contract until 30 June 2028, with an option to extend it for another season. At the time, the club presented him as a coach with experience in several European leagues and international football. Before Bologna, he managed Erzgebirge Aue, Schalke 04, Spartak Moscow, RB Leipzig, the Belgium national team and Fenerbahçe. With RB Leipzig, he won the German Cup in the 2021/22 season, while with Fenerbahçe he won the Turkish Super Cup in 2025, something Bologna particularly highlighted when he arrived.
His arrival followed the end of Vincenzo Italiano's two-year cycle. On 28 May, Bologna announced that it had mutually terminated Italiano's contract, noting that the coach believed his cycle at the club had come to an end. The club specifically recalled the Coppa Italia triumph on 14 May 2025, one of the most important achievements in Bologna's recent history. In the 2025/26 season, the team also reached the Europa League quarter-finals, where they were eliminated by Aston Villa, further raising expectations about the continuation of the project. Tedesco therefore entered an environment that had grown accustomed in previous seasons to European matches and competing for high positions, but his tenure collapsed at the first serious results test of the new season.
The speed of the dismissal is particularly notable because Bologna offered him a multi-year contract when he was appointed. From his presentation at the beginning of June to his dismissal in mid-September, only a little more than one hundred days passed, and he was given just four league matches. Such an outcome shows how quickly the assessment of a sporting project can change when the start of the season does not meet the management's expectations. In its statement, the club did not specify individual sporting or tactical reasons for the decision, so it would be an exaggeration to reduce the dismissal to just one aspect of play. What is official and beyond doubt is that Tedesco left with one point, no wins and three defeats from the opening four Serie A rounds.
Palladino handed contract until summer 2029
Raffaele Palladino takes over Bologna on a contract valid until 30 June 2029, which shows that the club does not regard him merely as a short-term solution until the end of the season. Bologna announced his appointment at the same time as confirming Tedesco's dismissal, and the new coach held his first training session in Casteldebole at 16:00 that same day. According to the club's training report, the team completed an athletic activation, technical and tactical exercises and a final game. Nadir Zortea and Oussama El Azzouzi completed part of the training session with the team, while Ukko Happonen, Riccardo Orsolini and Artem Dovbyk worked separately.
The club also announced the composition of Palladino's coaching staff. His assistant is Stefano Citterio, Federico Peluso works as a technical collaborator, while goalkeeper coaches Giorgio Bianchi and Andrea Sentimenti are also part of the staff. Fabio Corabi, Nicola Riva, Paolo Aiello, Nicolò Prandelli and Francesco Granato are responsible for fitness preparation, while the analytical side of the work is led by Mattia Casella, Andrea Ramponi and Alfonso Lobascio, together with Marco Onnivello. Some of these collaborators have already worked with Palladino at previous clubs, so the new coach is not starting the job without a familiar working structure.
Bologna also announced Palladino's official presentation for 17 September at 17:30 in the press room of the Niccolò Galli training centre. His first league test will come very quickly, on 19 September against Torino at the Renato Dall'Ara stadium. According to the club schedule, the match kicks off at 15:00. That leaves the new staff only a few training sessions to assess the team, select the starting line-up and make possible tactical adjustments. Since Palladino is taking over the team in the middle of the season, his first decisions will necessarily be a combination of his own ideas and adaptation to the work the team completed during summer preparations under Tedesco.
The coach who reached Bologna through Monza, Fiorentina and Atalanta
Palladino was born on 17 April 1984 in Mugnano, in the metropolitan area of Naples, and as a player he also made three appearances for the Italy national team. He began his coaching career in Monza's youth system, after which he managed the club's Primavera team. He took charge of Monza's first team in September 2022 and finished 11th in Serie A in his first season, while the following year he once again secured safety well before the end of the campaign. Those results opened the way for him to Fiorentina.
According to the biography published by Bologna, Palladino reached the Conference League semi-finals with Fiorentina, while in Serie A he finished sixth with 65 points and secured another European qualification. He then took over Atalanta during the following season, in November, and competed with the club in the Champions League. Bologna states that Atalanta, under his leadership, progressed through the league phase and the play-offs before being eliminated by Bayern in the round of 16. In the domestic league, his team finished seventh and qualified for the Conference League. On 9 June 2026, Atalanta officially announced that Palladino was no longer the first-team coach, together with part of the coaching staff that has now joined him at Bologna.
His career so far therefore includes two different types of task that may now be relevant. At Monza, he worked in an environment where stability and team development were the priorities, while at Fiorentina and Atalanta he managed clubs with European commitments and greater pressure for results. Bologna find themselves somewhere between those experiences: they entered the current season with the ambition of maintaining the status of a club capable of competing for the upper part of the table and European places, but after four rounds they ended up near the relegation zone. Palladino is therefore not only taking over a team with a poor start, but also a project that has been trying in recent years to maintain a higher level of competitiveness.
The first task is to stabilise the team before the pressure increases
Palladino's immediate task will be to restore results stability to Bologna and improve their attacking efficiency. Two goals in four league rounds are too few for a team that wants to move away from the lower part of the table, and the fact that the side failed to score three times shows how little room there is for another run of failures. At the same time, five goals conceded in four matches do not point to a complete defensive collapse, so the first challenge will be to find a better balance between security without the ball and greater threat in the final third. Tedesco spoke about balance in the final days of his tenure, but the new coach will now try to solve that problem using his own methods.
The situation is further complicated by fitness problems affecting part of the squad. After Palladino's first training session, Bologna announced that Orsolini and Dovbyk trained individually, while Zortea and El Azzouzi had only partly returned to work with the team. Ahead of the previous match in Naples, several players were unavailable or not fully fit, reducing the coaching staff's options. Club reports have so far not provided a precise return date for all players, so the line-up against Torino will also depend on how much the fitness situation changes during the next training sessions. In such circumstances, Palladino will have to draw his first conclusions quickly, without the luxury of a long observation period.
The schedule also leaves little time. After Torino comes an international break linked to FIFA's new autumn calendar, and Bologna then visit Lecce on 11 October. Lega Serie A had previously announced that in the 2026/27 season the September and October international breaks would be combined into a single window with four international matches, meaning Serie A will not be played on the weekends of 27 September and 4 October. For Palladino, this means he will have his first competitive match almost immediately, followed by an unusually long period without a league fixture in which he will be able to work in greater detail with players who are not away with their national teams. That schedule could be important for the gradual introduction of his demands, but it will not change the fact that the first impression will already be formed against Torino.
A coaching change after just four rounds sends a clear message from the management
A dismissal after four league matches is one of the earliest possible responses by management to a poor start to the season. Sky Sport stated that this was the second coaching change in Serie A 2026/27, following an earlier change on the Fiorentina bench. Bologna also decided to appoint a successor immediately, without an interim solution and without a longer transitional period. Palladino's contract until 2029 suggests that the management sees the change as the beginning of a new cycle rather than merely an emergency measure for a few weeks.
For Tedesco, the ending is abrupt in relation to the initial expectations. He arrived as a coach with experience in the Bundesliga, Russian football, the Belgium national team and the Turkish league, and with a contract that was supposed to last at least two seasons. Instead, his league record at Bologna will remain limited to four rounds, one draw and three defeats. Sky Sport reported that, as he left, he said he was sorry that he had not managed to give more and that during his time in the city he had felt the strong support of the supporters and the atmosphere of the stadium. The club maintained a respectful tone in its official announcement, thanking him and his staff for the work they had done.
Attention now shifts entirely to Palladino and the match against Torino. Bologna enter the fifth round with one point and the need to stop the negative run of results as soon as possible, while the new coach takes over the team with almost no transition period. His presentation is scheduled for 17 September, and two days later comes his first official match. After the unsuccessful start under Tedesco, the management chose a rapid and long-term change: the coach was replaced after only four rounds, but his successor was immediately given a contract for almost three years.
Sources:
- Bologna FC 1909 – official announcement on the dismissal of Domenico Tedesco and appointment of Raffaele Palladino (link)
- Bologna FC 1909 – official announcement of Tedesco's appointment on 2 June 2026 and his contract (link)
- Bologna FC 1909 – Palladino's biography and announcement of his presentation on 17 September (link)
- Bologna FC 1909 – composition of Raffaele Palladino's coaching staff (link)
- Bologna FC 1909 – report from Palladino's first training session and the condition of several players (link)
- Lega Serie A – results, league position and Bologna's record after four rounds (link)
- Sky Sport Italia – circumstances of the dismissal, Tedesco's reaction and Palladino's arrival (link)
- Atalanta BC – official announcement of the end of Palladino's tenure at Atalanta on 9 June 2026 (link)
- Bologna FC 1909 – official announcement of Vincenzo Italiano's departure by mutual agreement on 28 May 2026 (link)
- UEFA – overview of Bologna's 2025/26 Europa League campaign and quarter-final against Aston Villa (link)
- Lega Serie A – official criteria and international-break calendar for the 2026/27 season (link)
- la Repubblica Bologna – pre-Napoli report on Tedesco's suspension and his statements (link)