He then spent four years at Chievo, helping the Verona neighbourhood club into Serie A for the first time and 5th place and UEFA Cup qualification in their first season at the top.

Born at Aquileia, Udine, Delneri made his professional debut as player at the age of 16 for SPAL, Ferrara's football team, for which he had worked as storer.

After his retirement as a player, Delneri stayed at Oderzo, appointed by chairman Ettore Setten (now owner of Treviso) as head coach.

It was the beginning of the so-called "Chievo miracle" in which the team was promoted for the first time to Serie A, where they topped the league for the first half of the season and then qualified for the UEFA Cup by coming 5th.

[10] Despite a strong start, he did not manage to save his side from relegation, losing a spot in the following season's Serie A with a 2–0 loss to Catania on the final matchday.

[17] On 20 January 2013, however, Delneri was himself sacked following a 0–2 home loss to Catania and a string of bad results for the team, which recorded only two wins in his 13 matches with the club.

[18] Delneri was hired at another of his former club's rivals, this time Chievo's adversaries Hellas Verona, replacing Andrea Mandorlini on 1 December 2015; the team had not won once all season.

[25] A tactically intelligent manager, his preferred formation is the 4–4–2, which relies on a high defensive line, although he has also been known to adopt other systems which better suit the characteristics of his players, including the 4–3–3.