PROVACI ANCORA, MISTER CASCIONE

Cheeky and genuine, a dreamer and a rogue, determined to win but used to losing: this is Vanni Cascione. The most exonerated coach in history is finally back on the bench: after a couple of years of forced unemployment he will be the coach the Guardia Rovente Football Club in Calabria. There's just one, tiny, detail, which Vanni obviously has not picked up right away when he accepted the job: Guardia Rovente is a women's football team.

Determined to win but used to losing, Vanni Cascione has only one commandment: never give up. His wife, tired of always playing second fiddle to the ball, and his daughter Chiara, the only one who can stand up to him, know this well. After a couple of seasons of being unemployed, he receives an offer that cannot be refused: the football club the Red Hot Guard, has decided to bet on him. Cascione has no doubts: his tactical skills, combined with the club's money, will be a winning combination. So, he hastily stuffs a suitcase into his car and heads for a small town on the Calabrian coast. But as soon as he arrives, he discovers a detail that, aided by his excitement and eagerness to get back on the bench, had escaped him: the Red Hot Guard is a women's football team. Dismayed and taken aback, Cascione-who never thought women were capable of playing football accepts the assignment anyway. A beautiful and surreal football season begins, with the tragicomic vicissitudes involving Coach Cascione every time he takes the field. Marco Marsullo (Naples, 1985) teaches creative writing in an elementary school and writes for " Corriere del Mezzogiorno". He is the author of Atletico Minaccia Football Club (Einaudi Stile Libero, 2013; Feltrinelli Universale Economica, 2023), starring coach Vanni Cascione; L'audace colpo dei quattro di Rete Maria che sfuggirono alle miserabili monache (2014), I miei genitori non hanno figli (2015), Due come loro (2018), L'anno in cui imparai a leggere (2019), all for Einaudi Stile Libero, and Tutte le volte che mi sono innamorato (Feltrinelli, 2022). His novels have been translated in Spain (Altamarea Edición), the Netherlands (Thomas Rap) and Latin America.