New Delhi: If winning the Premier League title for Leicester City didn't fill the Italian's appetite, Claudio Ranieri has been further recognized as he is going to be awarded the third highest ranking of Italian Knights by president Sergio Mattarella for "merits acquired by the nation" in sports.
Ranieri, a native of Rome, was made a "Grand Officer of the Order of Merit of the Republic", a spokeswoman for the presidency said on Friday.
Earlier the Prime Minister of Italy, Matteo Renzi had called for him to be given a national honour.
Leicester, 5,000-1 outsiders at the start of the season, beat the likes of Manchester City, Chelsea and Arsenal to a win that stunned fans of the sport around the world.
When the English club sealed their victory, fans in Rome displayed a banner in Ranieri`s honour in the neighbourhood where his parents once ran a butcher`s shop.
The 64 year-old has also managed Italian teams Fiorentina, Napoli and Roma, Spain`s Atletico Madrid and Chelsea in England.
Sir Claudio has some admirable compatriots holding the title Grande Ufficiale dell'Ordine al Merito della Repubblica Italiana such as former USA president John F. Kennedy, opera singers Luciano Pavarotti and Andrea Bocelli, Argentine writer Jose Luis Borges, ex-New York mayor Rudolph Giuliani and film director and writer Federico Fellini all sharing the honour.
