Angelo Benedicto Miguel Sormani (; born 3 July 1939) is a former

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kicking a ball to score a goal. Unqualified, the word ''football'' normally means the form of football that is the most popular where the word is used. Sports commonly c ...

manager and player, who played as a

forward Forward is a relative direction, the opposite of backward. Forward may also refer to: People * Forward (surname) Sports * Forward (association football) * Forward (basketball), including: ** Point forward ** Power forward (basketball) ** Sm ...

; he was capable of playing anywhere along the front-line, as a

centre-forward Forwards (also known as attackers) are outfield positions in an association football team who play the furthest up the pitch and are therefore most responsible for scoring goals as well as assisting them. As with any attacking player, the role ...

, as well as in an

attacking midfield A midfielder is an outfield position in association football. Midfielders may play an exclusively defensive role, breaking up attacks, and are in that case known as defensive midfielders. As central midfielders often go across boundarie ...

role, or also as a winger on the right flank. Born in Brazil, he represented the Italy national team at the

1962 FIFA World Cup The 1962 FIFA World Cup was the seventh edition of the FIFA World Cup, the quadrennial international football championship for senior men's national teams. It was held from 30 May to 17 June 1962 in Chile. The qualification rounds took place bet ...

. While lacking pace, he was a physically strong, creative and intelligent player with excellent technical ability; throughout his career, he was known for his tactical versatility, power and determination, as well as his capability to take part in and initiate attacking plays due to his passing ability. Following his retirement, he also worked as a

manager Management (or managing) is the administration of an organization, whether it is a business, a nonprofit organization, or a government body. It is the art and science of managing resources of the business. Management includes the activities o ...

, coaching two clubs for which he formerly played:

Roma Roma or ROMA may refer to: Places Australia * Roma, Queensland, a town ** Roma Airport ** Roma Courthouse ** Electoral district of Roma, defunct ** Town of Roma, defunct town, now part of the Maranoa Regional Council *Roma Street, Brisbane, a ...

, and

Napoli Naples (; it, Napoli ; nap, Napule ), from grc, Νεάπολις, Neápolis, lit=new city. is the regional capital of Campania and the third-largest city of Italy, after Rome and Milan, with a population of 909,048 within the city's adminis ...

Club career

Before moving to Italy to play in

Serie A The Serie A (), also called Serie A TIM for national sponsorship with TIM, is a professional league competition for football clubs located at the top of the Italian football league system and the winner is awarded the Scudetto and the Coppa ...

, where he would spend most of his professional life, Sormani began his club career in his home country of Brazil, where he initially played for

Santos FC Santos Futebol Clube (), commonly known simply as Santos or Santos FC and nicknamed the ''Peixe'' (; "fish"), is a Brazilian sports club based in Vila Belmiro, a '' bairro'' in the city of Santos. It is also the team with the most goals i ...

; he was initially used as a backup striker to

Pelé Edson Arantes do Nascimento (; born 23 October 1940), known as Pelé (), is a Brazilian former professional footballer who played as a forward. Widely regarded as one of the greatest players of all time and labelled "the greatest" by FIFA, ...

, but despite this limitation, he was able to move into the starting line-up due to his versatility, and his ability to adapt to any position along the front line. After moving to Italy, Sormani made his Serie A debut with

A.C. Mantova Mantova 1911 Società a Responsabilità Limitata (Mantova 1911 s.r.l.), commonly referred to as Mantova, is an Italian football club based in Mantua ( it, Mantova), Lombardy. Mantova had played consecutively in the Italian Serie B from the 20 ...

1961 Events January * January 3 ** United States President Dwight D. Eisenhower announces that the United States has severed diplomatic and consular relations with Cuba ( Cuba–United States relations are restored in 2015). ** Aero Flight 311 ...

, spending two seasons with the club (1961–63), where he displayed his talent and potential, earning the nickname "the white Pelé". He subsequently attracted the attention of larger clubs, and he moved to

A.S. Roma ' (''Rome Sport Association''), commonly referred to as Roma (), is a professional football club based in Rome, Italy. Founded by a merger in 1927, Roma has participated in the top tier of Italian football for all of its existence, except for ...

for the 1963–64 season, for an at the time

world record A world record is usually the best global and most important performance that is ever recorded and officially verified in a specific skill, sport, or other kind of activity. The book ''Guinness World Records'' and other world records organization ...

of 500 million Lire in 1963, in addition to 250 million more, including the value of the three players Mantova received from Roma in exchange: Torbjörn Jonsson,

Elvio Salvori Elvio Salvori (born 3 June 1944 in Noventa di Piave) is an Italian professional football coach and a former player who played as a defender. He currently manages the youth team of U.S. Triestina Calcio. Career Throughout his career, Salvori p ...

, and

Karl-Heinz Schnellinger Karl-Heinz Schnellinger (born 31 March 1939) is a German former footballer who played as a defender. An athletic and hard-tackling player, with a strong physique, he was nicknamed the "Volkswagen" for his continuity of performance, both in qu ...

. During the single season he spent with the capital club, he won the

Coppa Italia The ("Italy Cup") is an annual knockout cup competition in Italian football organized by the FIGC until the 2009–10 season and the Lega Serie A ever since. History The beginning of the tournament was turbulent, due to the complexity of ...

, although he was unable to display consistently the talent he had demonstrated whilst playing at Mantova. After a difficult season, Sormani spent the 1964–65 season with

U.C. Sampdoria Unione Calcio Sampdoria, commonly referred to as Sampdoria (), is an Italian professional football club based in Genoa. The club was formed in 1946 from the merger of two existing sports clubs whose roots can be traced back to the 1890s, ...

, where he also struggled, before moving to

A.C. Milan Associazione Calcio Milan (), commonly referred to as AC Milan or simply Milan, is a professional Association football, football club in Milan, Italy, founded in 1899. The club has spent its entire history, with the exception of the 1980–81 ...

in 1965, where he flourished, and achieved notable domestic and international success. During his time at Milan, he finally fulfilled his potential and established himself as one of the league's top players, winning the

1967–68 Serie A The 1967–68 Serie A season was won by Milan. Teams Sampdoria and Varese had been promoted from Serie B. Six out of the sixteen clubs came from Lombardy, a record for a single region of Italy. Final classification Results Top goalscorers ...

title, the

during the 1966–67 season, the

1967–68 European Cup Winners' Cup The 1967–68 season of the European Cup Winners' Cup club football tournament was won by Milan following their final victory against Hamburg, the fourth West German finalist in four years. Milan beat defending champions Bayern Munich en route to ...

, the

1968–69 European Cup The 1968–69 season of the European Cup football club tournament was won by Milan, who beat Ajax 4–1 in the final, giving Milan its first European Cup title since 1963, and its second overall. A number of Eastern Bloc clubs withdrew from the f ...

, and the 1969 Intercontinental Cup. After his successful time with Milan, in 1970, he moved to

S.S.C. Napoli Società Sportiva Calcio Napoli, commonly referred to as Napoli (), is an Football in Italy, Italian professional Association football, football List of football clubs in Italy, club based in the city of Naples ( it, Napoli, nap, Napule), Camp ...

for two seasons, before spending the 1972–73 season with

Fiorentina ACF Fiorentina, commonly referred to as Fiorentina (), is an Italian professional football club based in Florence, Tuscany, Italy. The original team was founded by a merger in August 1926, while the actual club was refounded in August 2002 fo ...

. He moved to

Vicenza Calcio L.R. Vicenza, commonly referred to as Vicenza, is an Football in Italy, Italian football club based in Vicenza, Veneto. Founded in 1902 as Associazione del Calcio in Vicenza, they became Lanerossi Vicenza in 1953, then Vicenza Calcio from 1990 ...

in 1973, where he spent three seasons, before ending his career in 1976.

International career

Born in Brazil, Sormani made seven appearances and scored two goals for the Italy national team between 1962 and 1963, after obtaining Italian citizenship due to his Italian origins (grandson of emigrants from

Garfagnana The Garfagnana () is a historical and geographical region of central Italy, today part of the province of Lucca, in Tuscany. It is the upper valley or basin of the river Serchio, and thus lies between the main ridge of the Northern Apennines to ...

(paternal grandparents) and the

Polesine Polesine (; vec, label=unified Venetian script, Połéxine ) is a geographic and historic area in the north-east of Italy whose limits varied through centuries; it had also been known as Polesine of Rovigo for some time. Nowadays it corresponds ...

(maternal grandparents)); he represented Italy at the

in Chile, where they were eliminated in the first round.

Honours

Roma *

: 1963–64 Milan *

: 1967–68 *Coppa Italia: 1966–67 *

European Cup The UEFA Champions League (abbreviated as UCL, or sometimes, UEFA CL) is an annual club football competition organised by the Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) and contested by top-division European clubs, deciding the competit ...

: 1968–69 *

European Cup Winners' Cup The UEFA Cup Winners' Cup was a European football club competition contested annually by the winners of domestic cup competitions. The cup was, chronologically, the second seasonal inter-European club competition organised by UEFA. The tournam ...

: 1967–68 * Intercontinental Cup:

1969 This year is notable for Apollo 11's first landing on the moon. Events January * January 4 – The Government of Spain hands over Ifni to Morocco. * January 5 **Ariana Afghan Airlines Flight 701 crashes into a house on its approach to ...

Individual *A.C. Milan Hall of Fame

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Sormani, Angelo 1939 births Living people Italian footballers Italy international footballers 1962 FIFA World Cup players Serie A players Serie B players Santos FC players Mantova 1911 players A.S. Roma players U.C. Sampdoria players A.C. Milan players S.S.C. Napoli players ACF Fiorentina players L.R. Vicenza players Italian people of Brazilian descent People of Tuscan descent Brazilian people of Venetian descent Italian football managers S.S.C. Napoli managers A.S. Roma managers Association football forwards UEFA Champions League winning players