He started his managerial career with Empoli in 1993 before going on to coach clubs in Italy including two spells with Roma where he won two consecutive Coppa Italia titles.

[5] He attended the FIGC coaching school, at the Centro Tecnico Federale di Coverciano in 1998–99, graduating with a maximum mark of 110 cum laude; his thesis was entitled "The 3–5–2 playing system".

During the 2004–05 season, Spalletti guided Udinese to a sensational fourth-placed finish in Serie A, exceeding expectations and securing a spot in the UEFA Champions League.

At the end of 2006, Spalletti was elected Serie A Coach of the Year[10] and, in the following months, led Roma until the Champions League quarter-final after a 2–0 victory over Lyon at the Stade Gerland in the first knockout round.

Roma would also win the 2007 Coppa Italia Final against Inter, with an aggregate result of 7–4; a resounding 6–2 in the first leg in Rome and followed by a narrow 2–1 defeat in Milan.

But he was yet to add another piece of silverware to his cabinet, as Roma would again defeat Inter 0–1 in Milan in the opening fixture of the 2007–08 season to steal their Supercoppa Italiana crown.

The new season saw Spalletti struggling with a limited squad that was weakened further by the sale of Alberto Aquilani to Liverpool and compounded by serious financial problems for the club.

However, another poor start in the 2009–10 Serie A season, with two consecutive defeats (2–3 to Genoa and 1–3, at home, to Juventus) prompted Spalletti to resign on 1 September 2009.

Zenit won the Russian Cup on 16 May 2010, defeating Sibir Novosibirsk in the final (having beaten Volga Tver in the quarter-final and Amkar Perm in the semi-final).

In the summer transfer window of 2010, Spalletti made his first signings: forward Aleksandr Bukharov and midfielder Sergei Semak both came from Rubin Kazan, while defenders Aleksandar Luković and Bruno Alves joined from Udinese and Porto respectively.

On 27 October 2010, Zenit suffered its first defeat of the season at the hands of rivals Spartak Moscow, seven matches short of finishing the championship undefeated.

On 6 December 2011, Zenit finished the group stage in second place and, for the first time in club history, qualified for the spring knockout phase of the Champions League.

[17] Spalletti was appointed manager of Roma for his second spell on 13 January 2016, after ex-manager Rudi Garcia was sacked due to poor team performances.

[26][27] On 29 July, Spalletti won the International Champions Cup friendly tournament in Singapore after defeating Lyon, Bayern Munich and Chelsea.

[40] To supplant their losses, the team in return brought in players such as Giacomo Raspadori, Khvicha Kvaratskhelia, Giovanni Simeone and Kim Min-jae.

[42] On 4 October 2022, Napoli routed Ajax 6–1 at the Johan Cruyff Arena, inflicting the worst defeat ever to the Dutch giant in European competitions.

[44] On 23 October, Napoli beat Roma 1–0, marking their eleventh straight victory across all competitions to match the club record set in 1986 with Maradona, also going three points clear on top of the Serie A table.

[47] On 15 March, Napoli defeated German side Eintracht Frankfurt 3–0 (5–0 on aggregate) to advance to the UEFA Champions League quarter-finals for the first time in the club's history.

[51][52] On 18 August 2023, following the unexpected resignation of Roberto Mancini, Spalletti was appointed manager of the Italy national team, formally effective from 1 September 2023, signing a three-year contract until 2026.

[59] Although Spalletti was criticised by managers and pundits for Italy's poor performance throughout the competition,[60] with rumours of dressing room tensions, lack of leadership, and disagreements over training, tactics, and squad selection also negatively impacting the squad according to La Repubblica,[61] Spalletti did not step down from his position following the tournament, and was later confirmed as Italy coach by the chief of the FIGC Gabriele Gravina.

[67] In this formation, he also used Simone Perrotta – normally a box-to-box midfielder – in the unorthodox role of an atypical false attacking midfielder, due to his energy and ability to make late runs, which complemented Totti's ability to provide throughballs to teammates; this decision also proved to be effective, with Perrotta scoring eight goals in the league during the 2006–07 season, while Totti finished as the golden boot winner with 26 goals.

[68][69][70] The team's offensive play was based on fluid movement and quick passing to build-attacks, centred around the distribution of midfielders David Pizarro and Alberto Aquilani.