Bruno Giordano (; born 13 August 1956) is 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 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 ...

and former player, who was deployed 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 ...

and is mostly remembered for winning the title of Serie A capocannoniere (top goalscorer) achieved with

Lazio it, Laziale , population_note = , population_blank1_title = , population_blank1 = , demographics_type1 = , demographics1_footnotes = , demographics1_title1 = , demographics1_info1 = , demographics1_title2 ...

as well as for his successful time at

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 ...

. Giordano was a prolific striker with good technique and

dribbling In sports, dribbling is maneuvering a ball by one player while moving in a given direction, avoiding defenders' attempts to intercept the ball. A successful dribble will bring the ball past defenders legally and create opportunities to score. A ...

ability, and also possessed an accurate and powerful shot with either foot; due to his characteristics, he was regarded as the heir of

Giorgio Chinaglia Giorgio Chinaglia (; 24 January 1947 – 1 April 2012) was an Italian footballer who played as a striker. He grew up and played his early football in Cardiff, Wales, and began his career with Swansea Town in 1964. He later returned to Italy to ...

Club career

Born in

Rome , established_title = Founded , established_date = 753 BC , founder = King Romulus (legendary) , image_map = Map of comune of Rome (metropolitan city of Capital Rome, region Lazio, Italy).svg , map_caption ...

, Giordano played for most of his career with

, debuting 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 ...

on 5 October 1975. He soon established himself as one of the most effective Italian strikers, winning the Serie A capocannoniere title during the 1978–79 season, scoring 19 goals. In 1980, he was arrested under the charge of participating in the national footballing betting scandal, and he was banned from the Italian championship until 1982. Lazio had been demoted to the

Serie B The Serie B (), currently named Serie Balkrishna Industries, BKT for sponsorship reasons, is the second-highest division in the Italian football league system after the Serie A. It has been operating for over ninety years since the 1929–30 ...

following their involvement in the scandal, and upon his return to competitive football, Giordano became the Serie B top goalscorer during the 1982–83 season, helping his team to finish in second place behind

Milan Milan ( , , Lombard: ; it, Milano ) is a city in northern Italy, capital of Lombardy, and the second-most populous city proper in Italy after Rome. The city proper has a population of about 1.4 million, while its metropolitan city h ...

to re-gain promotion to Serie A the following season. He is currently Lazio's all-time top goalscorer in 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 ...

. In 1985, Giordano was sold to

for 5 billion lire. In

Naples 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 ...

, along with

Diego Maradona Diego Armando Maradona (; 30 October 196025 November 2020) was an Argentine professional football player and manager. Widely regarded as one of the greatest players in the history of the sport, he was one of the two joint winners of the FI ...

and later

Careca Antônio de Oliveira Filho (born 5 October 1960), better known as Careca (), is a Brazilian former footballer, who was deployed as a forward. During his career, Careca played for several clubs, most notably with Italian side Napoli. He also re ...

, he formed the famed "Ma-Gi-Ca" front line. Giordano was instrumental in Napoli's first historical ''

scudetto The ''scudetto'' (Italian language, Italian for: "little shield") is a decoration having the colors of the flag of Italy which is sewn onto the jersey of the Italian sports clubs that won the highest level championship of their respective sport in ...

'' win of

1987 File:1987 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: The MS Herald of Free Enterprise capsizes after leaving the Port of Zeebrugge in Belgium, killing 193; Northwest Airlines Flight 255 crashes after takeoff from Detroit Metropolitan Airport, k ...

; he also helped the team to win a rare domestic double that season by capturing the 1987 Coppa Italia that year, finishing as the top scorer of the competition with ten goals. He later played for

Bologna Bologna (, , ; egl, label= Emilian, Bulåggna ; lat, Bononia) is the capital and largest city of the Emilia-Romagna region in Northern Italy. It is the seventh most populous city in Italy with about 400,000 inhabitants and 150 different nat ...

and

Ascoli Ascoli may refer to: Places in Italy *Ascoli Satriano, a town and ''comune'' in the province of Foggia in the Apulia region *Province of Ascoli Piceno, a province of the Marche region **Ascoli Piceno, a city which is the seat of the province above ...

, before turning to a coaching career.

International career

Giordano represented Italy at U-21 level, scoring eight goals in 16 appearances level, and under manager

Azeglio Vicini Azeglio Vicini (; 20 March 1933 – 30 January 2018) was an Italian football coach and player, who also served as the President of the Technical Sector of the Italian Football Federation (FIGC). One of Italy's most important coaches during ...

, he was called up as an over-aged member of the team in the 1978 European Under-21 Championship (where the squad reached the quarter finals). He also made three appearances for Italy's Olympic squad, scoring twice. Giordano made his

Italian national team The Italy national football team ( it, Nazionale di calcio dell'Italia) has represented Italy in international football since its first match in 1910. The national team is controlled by the Italian Football Federation (FIGC), the governing bo ...

senior debut on 5 December 1978, coming on as a substitute for

Francesco Graziani Francesco "Ciccio" Graziani (; born 16 December 1952) is an Italian football manager and former football player who played as a forward. He began his career with Arezzo in 1970, and later joined Torino in 1973, where he remained until 1981, win ...

in a 1–0 friendly victory over

Spain , image_flag = Bandera de España.svg , image_coat = Escudo de España (mazonado).svg , national_motto = ''Plus ultra'' (Latin)(English: "Further Beyond") , national_anthem = (English: "Royal March") , i ...

, and playing alongside

Paolo Rossi Paolo Rossi (; 23 September 1956 – 9 December 2020) was an Italian professional footballer who played as a forward. He led Italy to the 1982 FIFA World Cup title, scoring six goals to win the Golden Boot as top goalscorer, and the Golden B ...

. He was capped 13 times for Italy in total, scoring one goal in a 3–0 friendly win over

Greece Greece,, or , romanized: ', officially the Hellenic Republic, is a country in Southeast Europe. It is situated on the southern tip of the Balkans, and is located at the crossroads of Europe, Asia, and Africa. Greece shares land borders with ...

; despite his success at club level, he never represented Italy at a major tournament, and only two of his international appearances came in competitive matches, with both being

UEFA Euro 1984 qualifying The qualifying round for the 1984 European Football Championship consisted of 32 teams divided into seven groups; three of four teams and four of five teams. The qualifying round was played at various times between May 1982 and December 1983, wi ...

matches.

Managerial career

Giordano's managing career before coaching Messina was somewhat modest, starting in 1993–94 with

Monterotondo Monterotondo is a town and ''comune'' in the Metropolitan City of Rome, central Italy. History According to some historians, Monterotondo is the heir of the ancient Sabine town of Eretum, although the modern settlement appeared in the 10th-11th ce ...

Serie D The Serie D () is the top level of semi-professional football in the country. The fourth tier of the Italian league system, the competition sits beneath the third professional league, Serie C. It is administered by the Lega Nazionale Dilettant ...

, where he obtained his first (and only) promotion in 1996–97 to coach

Crotone Crotone (, ; nap, label= Crotonese, Cutrone or ) is a city and ''comune'' in Calabria, Italy. Founded as the Achaean colony of Kroton ( grc, Κρότων or ; la, Crotona) in Magna Graecia, it was known as Cotrone from the Middle Ages until ...

(from Serie D to

Serie C The Serie C () is the third-highest division in the Italian football league system after the Serie B and Serie A. The Lega Italiana Calcio Professionistico (Lega Pro) is the governing body that runs the Serie C. The unification of the Lega Pro ...

2). Sacked six times in his career, he remained unemployed. After a good season with Reggiana in 2004–05, he ended in fifth place despite his club's serious financial troubles, which then led to its cancellation. In January 2006, he was called to coach the last-place

team

Catanzaro Catanzaro (, or ; scn, label= Catanzarese, Catanzaru ; , or , ''Katastaríoi Lokrói''; ; la, Catacium), also known as the "City of the two Seas", is an Italian city of 86,183 inhabitants (2020), the capital of the Calabria region and of its p ...

, in a situation widely similar to Reggiana's. Notably, Catanzaro was relegated to Serie C in that season, and declared bankruptcy soon after. In the summer of 2006, Giordano was announced as the new 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 ...

, just relegated to Serie B. However, following the

2006 Serie A scandal 6 (six) is the natural number following 5 and preceding 7. It is a composite number and the smallest perfect number. In mathematics Six is the smallest positive integer which is neither a square number nor a prime number; it is the second small ...

, Messina was readmitted to Serie A, therefore allowing Giordano to finally coach a top division side. On 30 January 2007, following a series of poor results including a home loss to last-place

, Giordano was sacked, but then reappointed by Messina chairman Pietro Franza on 2 April, following the firing of the replacement coach

Alberto Cavasin Alberto Cavasin (born 9 January 1956) is an Italian football manager and former player. Playing career Cavasin, a right back, started his professional career in 1973 for Treviso; he then played for a number of Serie A, B and C clubs, with s ...

. In his second tenure at Messina, Giordano lost all four matches before being sacked again on 23 April, only 21 days after his reappointment. He was replaced by

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

. In April 2009 he was appointed by

club

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 ...

to replace

Giampiero Ventura Gian Piero Ventura (; born 14 January 1948) is an Italian football manager. His playing career as a midfielder was spent in the lower leagues, having not made the grade at Sampdoria, where he began his coaching career with the youth team in 1976 ...

as head coach of the ''nerazzurri''. He then briefly served as head coach of

Lega Pro Prima Divisione Lega Pro Prima Divisione was the third highest 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. Before the 1978� ...

club

Ternana Ternana Calcio, commonly referred to as Ternana, is an Italian football club based in Terni, Umbria. The club was founded in 1925 and refounded in 1993. In its history, Ternana has twice played in Serie A (in the 1972–73 and 1974–75 seas ...

in 2011. From the end of October 2013 he was the coach of

, departing in 2014.

Honours

Napoli *

: 1986–87 *

: 1986–87 Individual * Serie A top scorer: 1978–79 *

top scorer: 1986–87 *

top scorer: 1982–83

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Giordano, Bruno 1956 births Living people Footballers from Rome Italian footballers Italy international footballers Italy under-21 international footballers S.S.C. Napoli players S.S. Lazio players Bologna F.C. 1909 players Ascoli Calcio 1898 F.C. players Serie A players Serie B players Italian football managers A.C.R. Messina managers Pisa S.C. managers Calcio Lecco 1912 managers Serie A managers Association football forwards U.S. Catanzaro 1929 managers