Fabio Paratici (born 13 July 1972) is an Italian association football director and former footballer. He made his professional debut as a footballer with Piacenza in 1989, playing in Serie C1, the third tier of Italian football at the time. During his career, Paratici frequently moved throughout the lower divisions of Italian football, playing for various clubs in Serie C1 and Serie C2. He retired in 2004 at the age of 31, having played for 12 different clubs in 15 years. After his career ended, he remained involved in football through management. Paratici worked as chief observer and head of scouting of Italian club Sampdoria and established a successful partnership with Giuseppe Marotta that was repeated at Juventus, Italy's most renowned club, where he worked as chief football officer for about eleven years. In June 2021, Paratici joined English club Tottenham Hotspur as managing director of football, resigning on 21 April 2023 after his conviction for financial malpractice in the Italian Football Federation Plusvalenze investigation. The Plusvalenze sports trial also carried a 30-month ban from football, which FIFA has extended worldwide. Paratici has also been indicted in an Italian criminal investigation into the same instances of financial malpractice and is currently awaiting trial.
Early life and footballer career
Born in Borgonovo Val Tidone, in the province of Piacenza, Emilia Romagna, on 13 July 1972, Paratici began playing in Borgonovese, a club in his native town with which he won several youth championships. He was a right-back defender and midfielder; over the course of his career, he was deployed as a wild card in all roles in the defence and midfield. In 1986, he moved to Piacenza, where he became captain of the Campionato Nazionale Primavera team coached by that included future star Filippo Inzaghi. In the , he made his debut in the first team, playing 5 games in the season finale. At Piacenza, Paratici won the . In the following years, he was loaned to the lower divisions, first to Palazzolo and then to Fiorenzuola, where he remained for two seasons, and won a promotion to Serie C1.
At the end of the 1993–94 Serie C1 season, Paratici was involved in a car accident; he suffered numerous fractures that left him injured for a year. Paratici resumed activity in the season as a starter with Pavia. He was not confirmed and briefly joined the Serie D with Sassuolo, and then played for Marsala. In 1997, he was hired by Serie C2-demoted Novara, and signaled himself as one of the best players of the . At the end of the season, he joined the Palermo of Massimo Morgia, who had coached him in Marsala. In 1998, he moved to Lecco for the season. He then joined Savoia for the season, and then moved to Giugliano for the season. In 2002, he moved to Brindisi, with whom they won the Coppa Italia Serie C in 2003. He remained there until he ended his 15-year career at the age of 32 in 2004. On five occasions, he unsuccessfully reached the playoff finals in both Serie C1 and Serie C2.
Management
Upon retiring, Paratici was hired as the chief observer and head of scouting for Sampdoria in 2004. During his tenure at Sampdoria, Paratici worked closely with the club's sporting director and subsequently its CEO, Giuseppe Marotta; the press called him Marotta's "right-hand man". During this management, Sampdoria achieved important goals, such as the 2010–11 UEFA Champions League qualifying phase and play-off round with the first team and the first place for the youth team in the . Paratici described their work as "complementary". In August 2008, Paratici was allegedly approached by Urbano Cairo, owner and chairman of Torino, and offered the position of sporting director. Sampdoria and in particular Marotta were upset about these rumours, and accused Cairo of going behind their backs trying to lure Paratici, who was still under contract with Sampdoria until 2009.