Conte began his career with the youth team of his hometown club Lecce and made his Serie A debut with the first team on 6 April 1986, aged 16, in a 1–1 draw against Pisa. Under manager Carlo Mazzone, he became a fundamental player for the squad. In 1987, he fractured his tibia, running the risk of a career-ending injury. However, during the 1988–89 season, he was back in the pitch, and scored his first Serie A goal on 11 November 1989 in 3–2 loss to Napoli. He amassed a total of 99 appearances and 1 goal for Lecce.

Conte was signed by Juventus manager Giovanni Trapattoni in 1991 (Conte refers to Trapattoni as being his “second father”), debuting on 17 November 1991 against cross-city rivals Torino. Due to his consistent performances, work-rate, leadership and tenacious playing style, he became an important figure with the club’s fans, and was later named the team’s captain under Marcello Lippi in 1996, following the departure of the club’s previous captain Gianluca Vialli, and before the promotion of Alessandro Del Piero to the role. During the 1998–99 season, when Del Piero suffered a severe knee injury, Conte returned to the captaincy, a position which he maintained until the 2001–02 season. During his Juventus playing career, Conte won five Serie A titles, the 1994–95 Coppa Italia, the 1992–93 UEFA Cup and the 1995–96 UEFA Champions League, as well as four Supercoppa Italiana titles, the 1996 UEFA Super Cup, the 1996 Intercontinental Cup (which he missed due to injury) and the 1999 UEFA Intertoto Cup, winning all possible top tier club titles, aside from the UEFA Cup Winners’ Cup.

Conte also played for the Italy national team, making his debut on 27 May 1994, in a 2–0 friendly win over Finland at age 24, under Arrigo Sacchi. He was a member of the Italian squads for both the 1994 FIFA World Cup under Sacchi, and UEFA Euro 2000 under Dino Zoff, achieving runners-up medals in both tournaments. However, he missed out on the Euro 1996 squad after sustaining an injury in the 1996 Champions League final. Conte scored a bicycle kick in Italy’s opening match of Euro 2000, which ended in a 2–1 win against Turkey, although he later suffered an injury in a 2–0 win against Romania in the quarter-finals of the competition, following a challenge from Gheorghe Hagi, which ruled him out for the remainder of the competition. In total, he made 20 international appearances for Italy between 1994 and 2000, scoring twice.

Along with his team, Conte also finished as runner-up in the Champions League on three other occasions, as Juventus lost the Champions League finals of 1997, 1998 and 2003. In the latter final, against A.C. Milan, he came on as a substitute in the second half and produced Juventus’ best chance of the match, hitting the crossbar with a header, although Juventus eventually lost the match on penalties following a 0–0 draw after extra time. Conte also finished runner-up in the 1995 UEFA Cup Final with the club. He remained with the Turin-based club until his retirement in 2004. During his 13 seasons with Juventus, he made a total of 295 appearances and 29 goals in Serie A, and 418 appearances and 43 goals in all competitions.

After retiring from playing, Conte worked as an assistant manager for Siena alongside Luigi De Canio in the 2005–06 season. In July 2006, he was appointed coach of Serie B side Arezzo. However, after a series of disappointing results, he was sacked on 31 October 2006.

On 13 March 2007, Conte was reinstated as Arezzo head coach as his predecessor Maurizio Sarri failed to gain any significant improvement with the club mired in a relegation struggle. He subsequently led the team to five consecutive wins, securing 19 points from 7 matches, which allowed the Tuscan side to close the points gap between them and safety. In spite of this turnaround in form, Arezzo was relegated to Serie C1 on the final day of the league season, finishing one point behind Spezia.

On 27 December 2007, Conte was appointed by Bari to replace Giuseppe Materazzi for the second half of their 2007–08 Serie B campaign. He oversaw a considerable upturn in form, leading the team out of the relegation battle and placing them comfortably mid-table. The following season, 2008–09, Bari were crowned Serie B champions, being promoted to Serie A for the 2009–10 season, Conte’s first major honour as a manager.

In June 2009, after weeks of rumours linking Conte to the vacant managerial role at Juventus, he agreed in principle for a contract extension to keep him at Bari for the new season. However, on 23 June, Bari announced they had rescinded the contract with Conte by mutual consent.

On 21 September 2009, Conte replaced Angelo Gregucci as manager of Atalanta. Despite a good start at the helm of the Orobici, the club found itself struggling by November, leading to protests from local supporters and friction between Conte and the club’s ultra supporters.

On 6 January 2010, Conte was repeatedly confronted by Atalanta fans during a home game against Napoli which ended in a 0–2 defeat for the Nerazzurri. The match ended with Conte receiving police protection to avoid an altercation with the Atalanta ultras. The next day, Conte tended his resignation to the club, leaving them in 19th place.

On 9 May 2010, Conte was announced as new head coach of Siena, with the aim of leading the Tuscan side back to the top flight after relegation to the 2010–11 Serie B. Conte successfully secured promotion for Siena, which would be competing in the 2011–12 Serie A season.

On 22 May 2011, Juventus sporting director Giuseppe Marotta announced Juventus had appointed Conte as its new head coach, replacing Luigi Delneri. Conte arrived amid high expectations that he, a former fan favourite as a midfielder for the club, would lead them back to the summit of the Italian and European game.

His first ten months as manager saw the club reach a number of landmarks such as, following a 5–0 win over rivals Fiorentina, equalling Fabio Capello’s run of 28 unbeaten matches between November 2005 and May 2006. On 20 March 2012, Conte became the first coach to lead Juventus to a Coppa Italia final since Marcello Lippi in the 2004 Coppa Italia Final. On 25 March, following a 2–0 victory at the Juventus Stadium, he became the first coach to complete the league double in the Derby d’Italia against rivals Inter Milan since Capello in 2005–06. In November 2012, Conte was awarded the Trofeo Maestrelli, an award honouring the three best Italian coaches working in the professional league, the country’s youth coaching system and outside Italy, respectively. Despite drawing a large number of matches during the season, on 6 May 2012 Conte led Juventus to their 28th league title with one match remaining by beating Cagliari 2–0. After beating Atalanta 3–1, Juventus finished the league unbeaten, the first team to do so since Serie A expanded to 20 teams and 38 rounds.

Conte’s lawyer, Antonio De Rencis, reported his client strenuously denied the accusations and maintained he had no knowledge of any attempts to fix the matches in which he was involved. To date, none of the 23 other Siena players have supported Carobbio’s accusations. Conte took the advice of his lawyers and attempted to strike a plea bargain which would have seen him served with a three-month ban and fine of €200,000, under Article 23 of Italian law without admission of guilt. On 1 August 2012, this plea bargain was rejected. On 10 August, the FIGC suspended him from football for the following ten months for failing to report match-fixing in the Novara–Siena and AlbinoLeffe–Siena fixtures. Conte again maintained his innocence and appealed the verdict.

On 22 August 2012, the Federal Court of Justice dropped the accusation about the Novara–Siena fixture. Federal Court member Pietro Sandulli commented, “[I]t seemed illogical that such a senior and experienced coach would say in the locker room ‘we’re drawing this one’ in front of 25 players.” However, the Court confirmed the ten-month ban for the AlbinoLeffe match would be upheld as there was no way he could not have known of the actions of his assistant manager Cristian Stellini, with the presiding judge adding that Conte was “lucky” not to have been handed a longer sentence. On 23 August 2012, Juventus announced an appeal to Italy’s sports arbitration panel against the ban. Following the appeal, Conte’s touchline ban was reduced to four months.

Conte’s Juventus won the 2012–13 Serie A title as they accumulated 87 points, three more than the previous season, nine more than second-placed Napoli and 15 more than third-placed Milan. Despite their dominance, Juventus’ top goalscorers in the league were midfielder Arturo Vidal and forward Mirko Vučinić, both with just ten goals, making them joint 23rd in the goal-scoring chart. In his first Champions League campaign, Juventus was eliminated by eventual winners Bayern Munich in the quarter-finals, losing 4–0 on aggregate. After winning a second consecutive Supercoppa Italiana in 2013, Juventus won their third consecutive Serie A title under Conte during the 2013–14 season, winning the league with a Serie A record of 102 points. This was also the club’s 30th league title. However, Juventus continued to disappoint in Europe and were eliminated from the group stage of the Champions League that season, although they subsequently managed to reach the semi-finals of the UEFA Europa League. On 15 July 2014, Conte resigned as manager. During his three seasons as Juventus manager, he won the Panchina d’Oro for each one, for best Serie A coach of the season.

Conte and his wife Elisabetta have a daughter, Vittoria. The couple had been together for 15 years before marrying in June 2013. Conte has expressed his gratitude to his family for their support during the Scommessopoli match-fixing scandal investigations in 2011–12: “I have a great woman by my side, one who always tries to understand me. As for my daughter, she is the other woman in my life. She is beginning to understand that her dad gets nervous when he does not win [a match].”

On 14 August 2014, following Italy national team manager Cesare Prandelli’s resignation, the Italian Football Federation (FIGC) announced to have agreed a two-year deal with Conte as new head coach of the national team until Euro 2016. With the national side, Conte continued to field formations which he had employed during his successful spell with Juventus, varying between the 4–3–3, 4–2–4, 3–3–4, and the 3–5–2 in particular, with the latter being the tactical choice that ultimately replaced Prandelli’s 4–3–1–2 midfield diamond formation. His first match as Italy manager was a 2–0 win over Netherlands, during which Ciro Immobile and Daniele De Rossi scored the goals for Gli Azzurri. Conte won his first competitive match on 9 September 2014, defeating Norway 2–0 in their opening Euro 2016 qualifying match in Oslo, with goals by Simone Zaza and Leonardo Bonucci. This was the first time Italy had managed to defeat the Norwegians in Norway since 1937.

In 2014, Trapattoni attributed Conte’s success and tactical intelligence as a manager to his time playing in midfield throughout his playing career, which allowed him to understand both the offensive and defensive phases of the game.

Despite Conte’s success at Juventus, there were indications that his departure from the club in May 2014 was not as amicable as had been portrayed, with observers pointing to a comment he made in the immediate aftermath of the club’s 2014 title success. When asked what plans were in place for the following season Conte responded, “Well, you cannot go to eat at a €100 restaurant with just €10 in your pocket, can you?”, which was interpreted as a veiled criticism of the lack of funds made available for transfers by the Juventus executive. In addition to this remark, Conte had chosen to resign on the second day of pre-season training, something that took fans by surprise.

After ten matches as Italy manager, Conte suffered his first defeat on 16 June 2015, in a 1–0 international friendly loss against Portugal. He sealed Euro 2016 qualification for Italy on 10 October 2015, as Italy defeated Azerbaijan 3–1 in Baku. The result meant Italy had managed to go 50 matches unbeaten in European qualifiers.

There was much controversy surrounding Italy’s Euro 2016 qualifying match on 28 March 2015 against Bulgaria, as Conte called up Brazilian-born Éder and Argentine-born Franco Vázquez. Both players hold an Italian citizenship as they have relatives that are Italian, allowing them to be eligible to play for Italy. Speaking at a Serie A meeting on 23 March 2015, Roberto Mancini said, “The Italian national team should be Italian. An Italian player deserves to play for the national team while someone who wasn’t born in Italy, even if they have relatives, I don’t think they deserve to.” Conte’s response to the use of foreign-born players was, “If Mauro Camoranesi [who was born in Argentina] was allowed to help Italy win the 2006 World Cup, then why can’t Éder and Franco Vázquez lead the Azzurri to glory in next year’s European Championship?”

On 15 March 2016, the FIGC confirmed Conte would step down as manager after Euro 2016. Although many fans and members of the media were initially critical of Conte’s tactics and the level of the Italian squad chosen for the competition, Italy opened the tournament with a promising 2–0 victory over the number-one ranked European team Belgium on 13 June. Following the win, Conte drew praise from the media for the team’s unity, defensive strength, and for his tactical approach to the match, which impeded Belgium from creating many goalscoring opportunities. Conte led Italy out of the group to the Round of 16 with one match to spare on 17 June after a 1–0 victory against Sweden. Italy had not won the second group match in a major international tournament since Euro 2000, in which Conte had coincidentally appeared as a player. Conte also led Italy to the top of the group, the first time in a major tournament since the 2006 World Cup. After the 2–0 round of 16 win over defending champions Spain, Conte’s Italy then faced off against rivals and reigning world champions Germany in the quarter-final, which ended 1–1 after extra time and 6–5 in favour of Germany after the resulting penalty shoot-out, ending his time as Italy manager. Speaking after the match, Conte said, “[T]he decision to leave the national team after two years was taken early,” and that the reason for leaving was because he “wanted to return to the cut and thrust of club football”.

On 4 April 2016, it was confirmed Conte had signed a three-year contract, which would keep him at the club until 2019, and would officially become the new first-team head coach of English side Chelsea from the 2016–17 season.

In his first season as Chelsea manager, Conte started with a 4–1–4–1 formation, but after two comprehensive defeats to Arsenal and Liverpool early in the season, he changed the system to a fluid 3–4–2–1, with his trademark three-man defence consisting of David Luiz, César Azpilicueta and Gary Cahill, two defensive-minded midfielders in N’Golo Kante and Nemanja Matić, two wing-backs equally capable at also playing as wingers (Victor Moses and Marcos Alonso), and a three-man attack spearheaded by striker Diego Costa and crucially assisted by outside forwards Eden Hazard and Pedro or Willian. This system depends on the constant positional movement of attacking players, with the two wide forwards moving inside when the full-backs make overlapping forward runs, thus effectively forming a 3–4–3 and at times a 3–4–1–2. When losing the ball, players’ quick defensive transitions make the system easily transform into a compact 5–4–1. Chelsea’s performances improved dramatically after the tactical change, with 13 consecutive wins in the Premier League, and the club eventually went on to win the league title that season. Conte drew praise for his role in revitalising the team in the media, with BBC pundit John Motson describing Chelsea’s 5–0 home win against Everton on 5 November 2016 as the best 90-minute performance he had ever seen in the Premier League.

Juventus’ management and players dedicated their Supercoppa Italiana win to Conte. In May 2016, the preliminary hearing judge of the court of Cremona acquitted Conte of all charges in regard to his alleged involvement in the match-fixing scandal from the 2010–11 season, during his time with Siena in Serie B.

On 23 October 2016, while his team were leading 4–0 against José Mourinho’s Manchester United, Conte waved up the home crowd, asking them to make more noise to support Chelsea. However, media reports claimed his actions were meant to antagonise Mourinho and humiliate the visiting team. Conte refuted these claims, saying, “I’ve been a player too and I know how to behave. I always show great respect for everyone, including Manchester United. There was no incident, it was just a normal thing to do. I wasn’t mocking anyone, I wouldn’t do that. Today it was right to call our fans in a moment when I was listening to only the supporters of Manchester United at 4–0. The players, after a 4–0 win, deserved a great clap. It’s very normal. If we want to cut the emotion we can go home and change our job.” Although Conte was criticised for his behaviour by Mourinho, Chelsea winger Pedro supported Conte’s actions.

On 15 August, Chelsea started off the season with a 2–1 win over West Ham United. On 17 December, Conte set a new club record with 11 consecutive league victories in a single season, following a 1–0 away triumph over Crystal Palace. After securing a 4–2 home win over Stoke City on 31 December, Chelsea recorded a 13th consecutive league victory, equalling Arsenal’s 2002 record for most consecutive league wins in a single season. The team’s league winning streak came to an end in the following match, on 4 January 2017, in a 2–0 away loss to Tottenham Hotspur.

On 13 January 2017, Conte became the first manager in history to win three consecutive Premier League Manager of the Month awards (October, November and December).

On 12 May 2017, Conte’s Chelsea side defeated West Bromwich Albion 1–0 away, with a late goal from substitute Michy Batshuayi, and secured the points required to win the 2016–17 Premier League title with two matches to spare. Following a 5–1 home win over Sunderland on 21 May, Chelsea also set a new Premier League record for the most wins in a single season, with 30 league victories out of 38 league matches.

On 18 July 2017, Conte signed a new two-year contract with Chelsea, keeping him at the club until 2019.

Conte was sent to the stands for the first time in his Chelsea career during the first half of a home match against Swansea City on 29 November 2017. He argued with fourth official Lee Mason over referee Neil Swarbrick’s decision to award a goal kick rather than a corner for Chelsea, after which the referee dismissed him. Conte apologised afterwards but was nonetheless charged with misconduct by the FA.

On 19 May 2018, Conte led Chelsea to a 1–0 victory over Manchester United in the 2018 FA Cup Final.

Chelsea finished fifth in the league at the end of the season, missing out on Champions League qualification. Conte was sacked as Chelsea manager on 13 July 2018 and was replaced by Maurizio Sarri. During this period, the club is said to have lost £26.6m only in paying off compensation to Conte, his team, and legal fees, as per the Chelsea’s latest accounts.

On 31 May 2019, Conte was appointed head coach of Serie A club Inter Milan. On 26 August 2019, Inter Milan won their first league match of the season with a 4–0 win against Lecce. Inter finished second behind Juventus in the Serie A title race. Inter also reached the final of the Europa League, but suffered a 3–2 defeat to Sevilla in Cologne on 21 August 2020.