Carlos Cuesta leaves Parma job after poor start to Serie A season

Parma announced on Sunday that Carlos Cuesta is no longer the club's head coach. The 31-year-old Spaniard leaves his role after both parties concluded that the sporting project launched last season had run its course. The decision comes on the back of a very poor start to the Serie A campaign, with the team collecting only four points from the opening five rounds.

• Carlos Cuesta leaves Parma by mutual agreement with the club.
• His league record this season was one win, one draw and three defeats.
• He was the youngest head coach in Serie A at 31.
• He joined Parma in June 2025 from Arsenal, where he had been Mikel Arteta's assistant.
• The club's coaching staff will lead Monday's training session while a replacement is found.

Why Parma and Carlos Cuesta ended their working relationship

In a statement, the Emilian club explained that following internal discussions, both sides agreed the conditions were no longer right to continue their professional relationship. The message placed particular emphasis on the development of the sporting project, which the board felt had stalled in a way that would be difficult to reverse.

Last season, Carlos Cuesta had led Parma to safety in Serie A and produced some attractive football, earning a contract renewal announced in June 2026. However, the current campaign started badly and the club's patience ran out before the end of the first month and a half of competition.

Carlos Cuesta's Serie A record as Parma head coach

So far this season, Cuesta oversaw five league matches with a very limited return. His team won one game, drew another and lost the remaining three. That run left Parma in an uncomfortable position in the table and accelerated the decision made official on Sunday.

The Mallorcan's time in the Parma dugout officially began in August 2025 with a debut against Juventus. A month later he earned his first victory in the Italian top flight against Torino. That same campaign he also guided the club to the round of 16 of the Coppa Italia, a mark that ultimately stood as the high point of his tenure.

From Arteta's coaching staff to his first senior management role

Cuesta arrived at Parma in June 2025 after five years as part of Arsenal's coaching team, where he worked under Mikel Arteta. That Premier League experience was the main credit on his CV when he took charge of a first team at professional level for the first time.

Before settling in London, the Spanish coach had worked in the youth systems of Atlético Madrid and Juventus. That mix of footballing schools helped him build a tactical outlook of his own which, during his first year in Italy, caught the eye for the personality his teams showed on the pitch.

What is at stake for Parma in the coming weeks of Serie A

The Parma board needs a quick reaction to avoid falling out of the relegation battle picture. The Italian top flight offers no breathing room and every week without three points complicates the goal of staying in the division after several years of moving between Serie A and Serie B.

The staff still at the club will run Monday's training session, but the search for a replacement is already underway. The new coach will find a young squad largely shaped by Cuesta's ideas, which means adaptation time will be another factor to manage.

Cuesta's legacy: survival, a contract renewal and fading momentum

Beyond this season's numbers, the Spaniard's spell at the Ennio Tardini leaves several notable chapters. He kept the team in Serie A at the first attempt, convinced the owners to extend his contract and proved that his methodology, learned alongside Arteta, could be applied successfully outside England.

Yet Italian football is defined by short-term results and patience is in short supply. Parma decided to cut ties now, before the situation became irreversible, and Cuesta departs with the door open to future opportunities elsewhere in European football.