Conte Hints At Napoli Exit After Season, Thanking De Laurentiis For Opportunity

Antonio Conte has hinted that the Napoli job may end after this Serie A season, even as Napoli secure next season’s Champions League place and celebrate a recent Scudetto, with Conte publicly thanking president Aurelio De Laurentiis for the trust shown since Conte arrived at Stadio Diego Armando Maradona.

Conte’s future has been widely discussed since Italy dismissed Gennaro Gattuso following the failure to reach the 2026 World Cup, with Conte again linked to the Azzurri role that Conte held from 2014 to 2016, raising questions about whether Conte will remain on the Napoli bench beyond the coming week.

Speaking after the 3-0 win at Pisa, Conte suggested the work in Naples might be complete, saying: "There is one more match to go. I have a friendly rapport with the president. The President has known my thoughts for a month already. We talked about the positive things, and the less positive things. The rapport with him is very calm, he always put his faith in me, regardless of what will happen next year. I will always be grateful to him for having been given the opportunity to coach a club like this. You really need to be on the Napoli bench to understand what that means. I always said, winning and celebrating at Napoli is the best thing in the world, it is worth 10 times as much as at any other club."

Conte emphasised how Napoli changed during Conte’s tenure, recalling the mood when Conte accepted the job and how the squad developed, stating: "I arrived at Napoli during a moment of extreme difficulty, after the team finished in 10th place with a sense of depression around the club. I had promised that, in the moment that my experience at Napoli was finished, I would leave behind a solid and ambitious group, capable of fighting and of always causing problems for its opponents. Remember I always said, we might not be the strongest team, but we must become the toughest. Napoli must cause problems every year for Juventus, Milan and Inter."

Napoli’s 3-0 victory away to Pisa on Sunday guaranteed a Champions League spot for the 2025-26 campaign, with one league fixture remaining against Udinese at home next week, and the result continued a strong European qualification record for Napoli in recent seasons under different coaches.

That victory confirmed qualification for the Champions League for the fourth time in five seasons, with 2023-24 the only failure during that spell, after Napoli had missed out in both 2019-20 and 2020-21, underlining how the club have largely stabilised their presence among Europe’s elite.

Conte’s tenure also included Napoli’s fourth Scudetto, secured in the 2024-25 season, less than a year after Napoli’s poor title defence in 2023-24 that ended with a 10th-place finish and heavy criticism around the squad, making the subsequent turnaround a central part of Conte’s legacy in Naples.

Across 75 Serie A matches in charge of Napoli, Conte has collected 46 wins, giving Conte a league win rate of 61 per cent with the club, a figure surpassed in Napoli’s top-flight history only by Maurizio Sarri, with 69 per cent, and Luciano Spalletti, with 68 per cent in Serie A.

The official club account celebrated the Pisa result and Champions League confirmation with a post, keeping focus on the scoreline and hashtags used by supporters.

As the final league match against Udinese approaches, Napoli supporters and observers in Italy await clarity on Conte’s plans, with speculation about a possible national team return continuing while Conte stresses gratitude toward De Laurentiis and highlights the resilient, competitive squad Napoli now carry into future seasons and European campaigns.