Roma coaches who won both derbies in their debut season

Roma have won both of their derbies against Lazio in the 2025-26 season, Gian Piero Gasperini’s first at the helm.

He is only the fifth Roma coach in history to win both of his Serie A derbies in his debut season in charge, and sixth overall for the fixture considering only ex-Roma boss Sven-Göran Eriksson in 1997-98 has done a derby double for Lazio in his debut season.

Others have done the double, but not in their first season; furthermore, coaches who came in mid-season can count, but only if they were appointed before the first derby of that season.

Here are the five to have achieved the feat for Roma.

Herbert Burgess (1929-30)

Roma claimed the bragging rights from each of the first two derbies, which were staged in the 1929-30 season.

English manager Herbert Burgess, a former player for both Manchester City and United, stepped in to take charge from the eighth game of the season. The ninth was the derby.

Roma won thanks to a Rodolfo Volk goal at Lazio’s Stadio della Rondinella. Then, in the first derby at Campo Testaccio in May, Volk scored in between goals by Fulvio Bernardini and Arturo Chini Ludueña in a 3-1 win.

Roma finished eight points above Lazio by the end of the season. Both derbies the following season ended as draws, before Burgess was replaced partway into the next.

János Baar (1931-32)

Burgess’ replacement was the Austrian, Janos Baar, who had been his assistant and was only 36 years old at the time he took charge.

Curiously, like his predecessor, Baar’s first derby was only his second game in charge of the club. In another parallel, Volk opened the scoring, with Fernando Eusebio later wrapping up a 2-0 win.

The return fixture ended even more convincingly in Roma’s favour, with Chini and Volk scoring before a brace by Raffaele Costantino in a 4-1 win.

Baar lost his job directly after losing the first derby of the following season, which was Lazio’s first win against Roma.

Alfredo Foni (1959-60)

Foni actually played for Lazio in the second ever Derby Della Capitale, but would spend more of his career with Juventus.

As a manager, he joined Roma in 1959 after a year with Bologna, prior to which he’d been in charge of the Italian national team for four years.

Roma had done the double over Lazio in 1958-59 as well, but not under a coach in his debut season. Foni was able to preserve his new side’s superiority of the time, with a 3-0 win at home (courtesy of a Pedro Manfredini brace and a goal by Arne Selmosson against his former club) and a 1-0 win away after a Lazio own goal.

Foni would become the first coach to win a European trophy with Roma in his second season in charge by leading the team to the Inter-Cities Fairs Cup.

Claudio Ranieri (2009-10)

Ranieri was summoned for the first of three spells in charge of Roma in September 2009 after the departure of Luciano Spalletti.

Although he had played in six Serie A games for Roma in the 1970s, none had been a derby. Thus, his first involvement in the fixture was in December 2009, when a Marco Cassetti goal was all that separated the two rivals.

Roma completed the double in April 2010 thanks to a Mirko Vučinić brace in a 2-1 win.

During his third spell in charge, Ranieri ultimately became the first manager to win all of his first four derbies with Roma (securing a streak of five in all competitions). He drew his last one in April 2025.

Gian Piero Gasperini (2025-26)

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Gasperini took the Roma job in the summer of 2025 fresh from nine years with Atalanta, where there was no inter-city derby to oversee (their main rivalry is with Brescia, based in their neighbouring city, whom Gasperini only faced twice in the 2019-20 season).

He was tasked with preparing for a derby fairly early into his tenure, though, on the fourth day of the season. Lorenzo Pellegrini added another chapter to his successful derby history by scoring the only goal in a 1-0 win.

Then, Roma faced Lazio on the penultimate day of the season whilst pushing for Champions League qualification. A 2-0 win, secured via a pair of Gianluca Mancini headers from corners, got them the three points that were enough to break into the top four with one game left to play.

Before Gasperini, only Foni had won both of his first league derbies whilst his side also kept a clean sheet in each.