Bruno Bolchi (; 21 February 1940 – 27 September 2022) was an Italian

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 midfielder. Throughout his playing career, he played for Inter, Verona, Atalanta, and Torino, as well as the Italy national team. Bolchi was depicted in the first ever Panini sticker to be printed in 1961.

Club career

Born in Milan, Bolchi made his debut at the age of 18 with

F.C. Internazionale Milano Football Club Internazionale Milano, commonly referred to as Internazionale () or simply Inter, and colloquially known as Inter Milan in English-speaking countries, is an Italian professional football club based in Milan, Lombardy. Inter is t ...

in a Serie A away match lost 1–0 to S.S.C. Napoli on 18 May 1958. He played six seasons with the ''nerazzurri'', with 109 caps and ten goals, gaining the nickname '' Maciste'', due to his imposing physique, strength, and hard-tackling style of play. He captained the side between 1961 and 1962 and obtained notable success during his spell with the club, winning the Serie A title in 1963, and the

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 ...

in 1964. He then played for Serie B side Verona, and returned to play in the top division for Atalanta and Torino, where he ended his playing career in 1970, also winning the Coppa Italia with the latter club in 1968.

International career

Bolchi appeared for the Italy national team on four occasions, all in 1961.

Managerial career

Bolchi started his coaching career in 1971 with Pro Patria, then a '' Seconda Categoria'' club (at the time, Seconda Categoria was the sixth level of Italian football). In 1974, he had his first professional coaching job at Sorrento. He also coached Pistoiese, winning the

1976–77 Serie C The 1976–77 Serie C was the thirty-ninth edition of Serie C, the third highest league in the Italian football league system. Girone A Girone B Girone C References and sources *''Almanacco Illustrato del Calcio – La Storia 1898–2004 ...

title, earning promotion into Serie B. He first coached a Serie A team, Cesena, in 1982, but did not manage to save it from relegation. Since then, Bolchi made just two appearances as Serie A coach, despite his long career all over the country: in 1985–86, his third season as

Bari Bari ( , ; nap, label= Barese, Bare ; lat, Barium) is the capital city of the Metropolitan City of Bari and of the Apulia region, on the Adriatic Sea, southern Italy. It is the second most important economic centre of mainland Southern Italy a ...

's boss which followed two consecutive promotions from

Serie C1 Lega Pro Prima Divisione was the third highest football (soccer), football league in Italy. It consisted of 33 teams, divided geographically into two divisions of 16 and 17 teams for group A and B respectively. Until 2008 it was known as Serie C1 ...

(winning the 1983–84 Serie C1 title) to the top tier of Italian football; however, Bolchi was not able to save the ''biancorossi''. In 1988–89, he had his last Serie A job before 2007, as

Pisa Pisa ( , or ) is a city and ''comune'' in Tuscany, central Italy, straddling the Arno just before it empties into the Ligurian Sea. It is the capital city of the Province of Pisa. Although Pisa is known worldwide for its leaning tower, the cit ...

head coach, but he was sacked after the 22nd matchday. On 23 April 2007, with just five matches remaining before the end of the league, Bolchi was appointed head coach of

Messina Messina (, also , ) is a harbour city and the capital of the Italian Metropolitan City of Messina. It is the third largest city on the island of Sicily, and the 13th largest city in Italy, with a population of more than 219,000 inhabitants in ...

, a team he already coached in their 1975–76 Serie C campaign and, for six matches, at the end of the 2002–03 season, in Serie B. He did not manage to avoid relegation, also due to Messina's poor league table well before his appointment, and finally retired from football after the end of the season.

Death

Bolchi died in Florence on 27 September 2022, at the age of 82.

Honours

Player

Inter * Serie A: 1962–63 *

: 1963–64 Torino * Coppa Italia: 1967–68

Manager

Pistoiese * Serie C2, Girone B: 1976–77 Bari *

: 1983–84

References

External links

MessinaStory
{{DEFAULTSORT:Bolchi, Bruno 1940 births 2022 deaths Footballers from Milan Association football midfielders Italian footballers Italian football managers Italy international footballers Serie A players Serie B players Inter Milan players Hellas Verona F.C. players Atalanta B.C. players Torino F.C. players U.S. Pistoiese 1921 managers A.C.R. Messina managers Atalanta B.C. managers A.C. Cesena managers S.S.C. Bari managers S.S. Arezzo managers Pisa S.C. managers Reggina 1914 managers Brescia Calcio managers U.S. Avellino 1912 managers U.S. Lecce managers Genoa C.F.C. managers Ternana Calcio managers A.S.D. Sorrento managers U.S. Catanzaro 1929 managers A.C. Monza managers