Giuseppe Pillon

Giuseppe "Bepi" Pillon (born 8 February 1956 in Preganziol, Province of Treviso) is an Italian association football and manager of Padova.

Career

Player

Pillon moved his first footsteps into football with hometown team Pro Mogliano, before to join Juventus's youth ranks for three years. He then played mostly for Serie C1 and Serie C2 teams throughout his career, including a four-year spell at Padova and three seasons with Spezia. He spent his two last seasons as a player at Pro Mogliano.

Coach

Early years: from amateurs to Serie B

Pillon started his coaching career in 1992 with amateur Interregionale team Salvarosa. He went on to become Bassano coach the next season before to join Treviso in 1994, leading them through three consecutive promotion from Interregionale to Serie B. In 1997 he left Treviso to accept an offer from Padova of Serie B in 1997, only to be sacked in a few weeks. This was followed by another unsuccessful spell at Genoa in 1998, before being appointed as Lumezzane boss during the 1999–2000 Serie C1 season. He returned to coach in the Serie B in 2000–01 as Pistoiese boss. In 2001–02 he led Ascoli to win the Serie C1 title, heading the bianconeri also in their successive Serie B campaign.