PROFILE - Can Conte revive Tottenham to challenge top spots in Premier League?

By Can Erozden

ANKARA (AA) – Italian manager Antonio Conte, who was hired by Tottenham Hotspur on Tuesday, is one of the favorite figures on the football market as he is known for domestic success in Italy and England.

A longtime Juventus midfielder and a former Italy player, Conte, 52, retired from playing the game in 2004 to manage several clubs including Juventus, Chelsea and Inter Milan before he was appointed by Tottenham this week.

Conte is one of the big names for his skills and habit to win domestic titles with Juventus, Chelsea and Inter.

He is a four-time Italian champion, three with Juventus in 2012, 2013 and 2014, and won the top-tier Italian Serie A title with Inter in 2021.

Conte was appointed by Juventus in 2011, where he made fast career steps.

A long-term project for Juventus started when it signed Conte in 2011 to manage the senior team.

The Turin club was troubled by a "Calciopoli" match-fixing scandal in Serie A in 2006 as it faced serious sanctions afterward.

Juventus was stripped of the 2005 and 2006 titles when club executives were found to be involved in the scandal.

The club was relegated to the second-tier Serie B with point deductions but won there in 2007 to return to the top league.

Then Juventus entered a rebuilding process.

With Conte's leadership, Juventus pepped up to win consecutive Italian Serie A titles in 2012, 2013 and 2014. Then he left the club for a new challenge.

Juventus did not slow down in Italy, benefiting from Conte's heritage as the Turin club dominated the Italian league in 2012-2020, winning nine titles in a row.

- English champion with Chelsea, wins Italian league again

Conte then managed the Italian national team, and English club Chelsea.

The Italian manager led the London club to the 2017 English Premier League.

In 2019, Conte made his way back to the Italian league but this time he was hired by Inter, the fierce opponents of Juventus.

Conte was the man who ended Juventus' nine-season dynasty in the domestic league, leading Inter to a long-awaited Serie A title in 2021.

Before 2021, Inter last won the Italian league in 2010 under the helm of Portuguese manager Jose Mourinho, when the Nerazzurri completed a historic treble; the Serie A, UEFA Champions League and Italian Cup.

Now Conte will try to do his best in mid-table Tottenham, but it might be a quite difficult task, because the Spurs racked up 15 points in 10 Premier League matches.

Tottenham are now 10 points behind the leaders, Chelsea.

The Blues, which topped the league with 25 points, are battling second-place Liverpool, which bagged 22 points.

Manchester City, the other title contenders and the 2021 English champions, ranked third with 20 points in 10 weeks.

Meanwhile Tottenham have not won the English top-tier title often while the Spurs have won it twice in its history.

Tottenham last claimed it in 1961. They have been seeking the Premier League championship for at least 60 years.

The Premier League was called the Football League in 1888-1992.