Ficcadenti's first coaching experience came in 2001 as boss of
Serie C2 team
Fiorenzuola. Ficcadenti, at the helm of a club under serious financial struggles, ended the regular season in 17th place, but later lost the relegation play-offs to
Trento. Despite the
Serie D relegation, his work at Fiorenzuola was praised by a number of pundits, given the circumstances, and he was successively appointed by
Avellino of
Serie C1, being however fired before the beginning of the season due to poor performances in the
Coppa Italia Serie C and a number of friendly matches. However Verona did not give Ficcadenti permission to make the move, and on 27 June, the club announced on their website to have reappointed him as their head coach for the upcoming
2007–08 Serie C1 campaign. The issue finally came to an end on 1 July, when Ficcadenti rescinded his contract with Verona and Reggina announced on their website to have appointed him as coach. In February 2009, Ficcadenti returned to Hellas Verona, serving as transfer market consultant to new club owner and chairman Giovanni Martinelli. In November 2009, he returned into management, being appointed head coach of
Serie B side
Piacenza as a replacement for dismissed trainer
Fabrizio Castori. In June 2010, Ficcadenti signed for newly promoted
Serie A club
Cesena. After a hugely successful season which culminated with Cesena achieving 15th place in Serie A, 7 points clear of relegation, it was decided by mutual consent not to renew Ficcadenti's contract, thereby making him a free agent as of May 2011. On 16 August 2011 he was introduced as new head coach of Serie A club
Cagliari, taking over from dismissed predecessor
Roberto Donadoni. On 8 November 2011 he was sacked following a winless run in their past five matches in the season. On 11 March 2012, after sacking
Davide Ballardini, Cagliari Calcio recalled him to coach the team, struggling for remaining in Serie A. He left the club by mutual consent on 2 October 2012 after a dismal start to the new season that left Cagliari bottom-placed in the league table. In January 2014, he began an overseas career at
FC Tokyo replacing
Ranko Popovic. His two-years tenure ended in November 2015, after the team finished the
J1 League at the 4th place, which meant they missed the right to participate in both J1 final championships, and the
AFC Champions League 2016 playoff match. In 2016 season, he got a new job as manager of
Sagan Tosu, and served until October 2018. In the fall of 2019 Ficcadenti replaced
Yahiro Kazama as manager of
Nagoya Grampus. ==Managerial statistics==