Claudio Ranieri guided Cagliari to promotion to Serie A with a 1-0 victory over Bari in the Serie B play-offs.
Leonardo Pavoletti's 94th minute strike secured a 2-1 aggregate win in dramatic circumstances - resulting in an instant return to Italy's top-flight.
It was 71-year-old Ranieri's third promotion with the club, having guided them to Serie C success in 1989 and following it up with another Serie B triumph in 1990.
Cagliari finished fifth, leading to their involvement in the preliminary round of the promotion play-offs.
They beat Venezia 2-1 in their first contest and followed it up with a 3-2 aggregate success over Parma, a scoreline secured in the first leg of that tie.
In the final, they were held 1-1 by Bari at home, but returned a 1-0 victory on the road thanks to Pavoletti's late winner.
Ranieri took over at the halfway stage of the campaign with Cagliari sitting ninth in the table. They would gain 35 points from a possible 57, losing just twice. Only two teams returned a higher amount of points across that period.
“A great relief. Cagliari means everything to me," Ranieri told DAZN after the game, as quoted by Football Italia.
"33 years ago I became a coach here and this club allowed me to travel around Europe, I will always be grateful to this area and its people.
"I was afraid to come back, to tarnish the beautiful memories I had here, then a sentence from Gigi Riva struck me and something more important clicked in my mind.
"It would have been selfish not to accept Cagliari’s proposal, given that the club was going through a difficult period."
