Annibale Frossi

Annibale Frossi (; 6 July 1911 – 26 February 1999) was an Italian football manager and player, who played as a forward.

Frossi is perhaps best known for wearing correctional glasses during his playing years after suffering from myopia from when he was a child. As a footballer, he was a member of the Italy national team, which won the gold medal in the football tournament at the 1936 Summer Olympics, finishing the tournament as top-scorer. As a manager, he is also known for his developments of the theory of catenaccio, which emphasises a defensive style of football.

Club career

Born in Muzzana del Turgnano, Frossi began his career as a professional footballer with Udinese, and, after a long stay in Serie B (with Padova, Bari, and L’Aquila), he was acquired by Ambrosiana Inter, where he made his debut on 21 June 1936, in Mitropa Cup. After that, Frossi was called up for the 1936 Summer Olympics by Vittorio Pozzo, the coach of the Italian national side, leading the team to the victory of the tournament with his prolific performances. In the following years, Frossi played with Inter from 1936 until 1942, winning the “Scudetto” or league championship, twice in 1938 and 1940, as well as the Coppa Italia in 1939. He scored 49 goals in 147 matches with Inter, 40 of which came in the league, in 125 appearances. During World War II, he later also played with Pro Patria between 1942 and 1943, and Como in 1945, before retiring.

International career

Frossi made five appearances for the Italy national football team between 1936 and 1937, scoring eight goals. He was called up by the national team manager Vittorio Pozzo for the 1936 Summer Olympics in Berlin, where he made his international debut along with the other members of the Olympic team, scoring a goal in a 1–0 victory over the United States on 3 August; he helped Italy win the gold medal, scoring in all four matches in the competition including the final, finishing the tournament as top-scorer with seven goals. He also made one appearance for the Italy B-side in 1937, in a 3–2 win over Austria on 21 March. He made his final and only other appearance with Italy in a 2–0 win against Hungary on 25 April 1936, scoring a goal.

Style of play

Frossi was an extremely fast right winger both with and without the ball, who possessed a keen eye for goal, which also made him capable of playing as a centre-forward. According to Gianni Brera, he was known in particular for his pace, energy, and coordination; he was not the most technically gifted footballer, however, and was also not particularly good in the air or acrobatically, as he needed to play with glasses due to his myopia. Vittorio Pozzo Described him as an excellent opportunist in the penalty area. Frossi was also known for his accurate shot and striking ability from outside the area, as well as his tactical intelligence, which made him an excellent executor of his team's set-plays.

Managerial career

Shortly after hanging up his boots, Frossi became a coach, and became manager of a series of Italian clubs – Lumezzane, Genoa, Napoli, Monza, Torino, Modena, Triestina, and also Internazionale, without however producing any outstanding results. He was the creator of the 5–4–1 line up, and is associated (with others) with the development of the catenaccio or "lock-out" tactic in football. Frossi often declared that "the perfect result to a football game is 0–0. That is because it is an expression of the balance between the attacks and defences out on the field", with neither side evidently having made a mistake.

For his short (12 matches) tenure as coach at Internazionale, Frossi did the job jointly with manager Luigi Ferrero, a strong advocate of attacking football. Despite an 11 match unbeaten record, Inter dispensed with his services because of dissatisfaction with his tactical style and it seemed that Ferrero had won the battle of ideas, together with influential players such as Enzo Bearzot. Despite this, it was the defensive footballing theories of Frossi, Nereo Rocco and later Helenio Herrera which became dominant in Italian football for the 25 years or so after his time at Inter.

Like many intellectual struggles in Italy, the dispute between advocates of attacking and defensive football continued for years. In international terms, it is probably true that the advocates of a more balanced, attacking football have achieved more success, notably the all-conquering A.C. Milan team of the early 1990s, managed by Arrigo Sacchi, and the 1982 FIFA World Cup winners of Enzo Bearzot.

Beyond football

Frossi was a graduate of law. He later worked as a general manager for Alfa Romeo in the industrial sector, and then, in the last years of his life, he was a columnist for Italian newspaper ''Il Corriere della Sera'' in Milan. Frossi died on 27 February 1999, at the age of 87, at the San Raffaele Hospital in Milan, after contracting pneumonia. Following his death, in his home town of Udine, a city street near the local Friuli Stadium was named after him in his honour.

Honours

Player

Club

;Inter
*Serie A: 1937–38, 1939–40
*Coppa Italia: 1938–39

International

;Italy
* Summer Olympic Gold Medal: 1936

Individual

* Olympic Golden Boot: 1936

References

External links

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{{DEFAULTSORT:Frossi, Annibale
1911 births
1999 deaths
Italian footballers
Italy international footballers
Footballers at the 1936 Summer Olympics
Olympic gold medalists for Italy
Olympic footballers of Italy
Italian football managers
Udinese Calcio players
Inter Milan players
L'Aquila Calcio 1927 players
Serie A players
Serie B players
F.C. Lumezzane V.G.Z. A.S.D. managers
Genoa C.F.C. managers
S.S.C. Napoli managers
A.C. Monza managers
Modena F.C. managers
Inter Milan managers
Serie A managers
S.S.C. Bari players
Olympic medalists in football
Medalists at the 1936 Summer Olympics
Association football forwards