Soccer-Conte awarded fourth 'Panchina d'Oro' to equal record

(Reuters) - Antonio Conte has been awarded Italy's Panchina d'Oro award for the fourth time in his career after leading Inter Milan to their first Serie A title in 11 years last season, the Italian Football Federation (FIGC) said on Thursday.

The Panchina d'Oro (Golden Bench) is awarded to the best coach in each professional soccer league in Italy by a jury of peers. Juventus boss Massimiliano Allegri is the only coach to have won as many Panchina d'Oro awards as Conte.

But Conte, now managing Tottenham Hotspur, has won six Italian FA coaching awards in total -- a record.

He also received one Panchina d'Argento (Silver Bench) in 2008-09 when he was with Bari and a special award for leading Chelsea to their 2016-17 Premier League title win.

"Antonio Conte deserved this award because in a short time he was able to transfer his mentality and his philosophy to the players," Demetrio Albertini, president of the Technical Sector, said.

"He had the great satisfaction of finding his own ideas in the field."

Inter's last league title before the 2020-21 season came in 2010 when they became the first Italian club to win the treble when Jose Mourinho was at the helm.

Last season's Scudetto win also ended Juventus' nine-year reign as champions.

Conte, who terminated his Inter contract shortly after leading the club to the title last year, replaced Nuno Espirito Santo at Spurs in November.

(Reporting by Silvia Recchimuzzi in Gdansk, editing by Ed Osmond)