Watford have appointed Claudio Ranieri as their new head coach on a two-year contract after sacking Xisco Munoz.
The Italian, who guided Leicester City to the Premier League title in 2016, left his role as Sampdoria manager at the end of last season.
Watford, who are 15th in the Premier League with seven points from seven games, sacked head coach Munoz after less than 10 months in charge on Sunday morning.
Spaniard Munoz, 41, replaced Vladimir Ivic in December 2020 and guided the club to automatic promotion from the Championship last season.
Watford’s head coaches under Gino Pozzo
The Hornets’ next appointment will be their 15th permanent head coach in a decade
| Name | Hired | Left | Days in charge |
|---|---|---|---|
| Javi Gracia | January 21, 2018 | September 7, 2019 | 594594 |
| Gianfranco Zola | July 8, 2012 | December 16, 2013 | 526526 |
| Quique Sanchez Flores | June 5, 2015 | June 30, 2016 | 391391 |
| Sean Dyche* | June 21, 2011 | July 8, 2012 | 383383 |
| Walter Mazzarri | July 1, 2016 | May 21, 2017 | 324324 |
| Xisco Munoz | December 21, 2020 | October 3, 2021 | 286286 |
| Average | 265265 | ||
| Guiseppe Sannino | December 18, 2013 | August 31, 2014 | 256256 |
| Slavisa Jokanovic | October 7, 2014 | June 4, 2015 | 240240 |
| Marco Silva | May 27, 2017 | January 21, 2018 | 239239 |
| Nigel Pearson | December 6, 2019 | July 19, 2020 | 226226 |
| Vladimir Ivic | August 15, 2020 | December 21, 2020 | 128128 |
| Quique Sanchez Flores (2) | September 7, 2019 | December 1, 2019 | 8585 |
| Oscar Garcia | September 2, 2014 | September 29, 2014 | 2727 |
| Billy McKinlay | September 29, 2014 | October 7, 2014 | 88 |
Munoz’s last match in charge was a 1-0 defeat against Leeds at Elland Road on Saturday.
Ranieri is Watford’s 13th different permanent boss since the Pozzo family completed their takeover of Watford in 2012.
Ranieri, who will be 70 later this month and has also managed Chelsea and Fulham, is well-known by the Watford owners with it believed he has been a candidate for the role in the past.
His first game in charge will be against Liverpool in the Premier League at Vicarage Road after the international break on October 16.
Watford’s next eight games:
| Liverpool (h) | October 16 | |
| Everton (a) | October 23 | |
| Southampton (h) | October 30 | |
| Arsenal (a) | November 7 | |
| Manchester United (h) | November 20 | |
| Leicester (a) | November 28 | |
| Chelsea (h) | November 30 (fixture will move to a date later in the week) | |
| Manchester City (h) | December 4 |
Watford confirmed Ranieri will be joined by assistant coaches Paolo Benetti and Carlo Cornacchia, as well as fitness coach Carlo Spignoli.
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