Carlo "Carletto" Mazzone (born 19 March 1937 in Rome) is an Italian retired professional

association footballer A football player or footballer is a sportsperson who plays one of the different types of football. The main types of football are association football, American football, Canadian football, Australian rules football, Gaelic football, rugby ...

and

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 ...

, who played as a

centre-back In the sport of association football, a defender is an outfield position whose primary role is to stop attacks during the game and prevent the opposition from scoring. Centre-backs are usually positioned in pairs, with one full-back on either s ...

Playing career

Mazzone played several seasons for

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 ...

, as well as for

SPAL Società Polisportiva Ars et Labor, commonly known as S.P.A.L. (), is a professional football club based in Ferrara, Emilia-Romagna, Italy. The team plays in Serie B, the second tier of the Italian football league system. Founded in 1907, since ...

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 ...

. He spent nine seasons with Ascoli, retiring during the 1968–69 season to become the club's manager, in

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 ...

, helping the team to win the Serie C title in 1972.

Managerial career

Already popular with the Ascoli fans because of his history as a former player for the club, Mazzone gained even more popularity by leading the team for twelve years, up to their historic first ever

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 ...

appearance. Successively, Mazzone coached several Serie A and

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 ...

teams, such as

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 ...

, achieving his personal best result in Serie A, a third-place finish during the

1976–77 Serie A The 1976–77 Serie A season was won by Juventus. Teams Genoa, Catanzaro and Foggia had been promoted from Serie B. Final classification Results Top goalscorers References and sources *''Almanacco Illustrato del Calcio - La Storia 1898- ...

season, also winning the

Anglo-Italian League Cup The Anglo-Italian League Cup ( it, Coppa di Lega Italo-Inglese, also known as the Anglo-Italian League Cup Winners' Cup) was a short-lived football competition between teams from England and Italy – an English cup-winning team (League Cup or FA C ...

in 1975. He subsequently coached

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 ...

Bologna F.C. 1909 Bologna Football Club 1909, commonly referred to as Bologna (), is an Italian professional football club based in Bologna, Emilia-Romagna that plays in Serie A, the top flight of Italian football. The club have won seven top-flight titles, two Co ...

Lecce Lecce ( ); el, label=Griko, Luppìu, script=Latn; la, Lupiae; grc, Λουπίαι, translit=Loupíai), group=pron is a historic city of 95,766 inhabitants (2015) in southern Italy. It is the capital of the province of Lecce, the province ...

Pescara Pescara (; nap, label= Abruzzese, Pescàrë; nap, label= Pescarese, Piscàrë) is the capital city of the Province of Pescara, in the Abruzzo region of Italy. It is the most populated city in Abruzzo, with 119,217 (2018) residents (and approxim ...

, and

Cagliari Cagliari (, also , , ; sc, Casteddu ; lat, Caralis) is an Italian municipality and the capital of the island of Sardinia, an autonomous region of Italy. Cagliari's Sardinian name ''Casteddu'' means ''castle''. It has about 155,000 inhabitant ...

(1991–93), leading the team to its first appearance in a European competition since the times of

Gigi Riva Luigi "Gigi" Riva (; born 7 November 1944) is an Italian former professional footballer who played as a centre-forward. Considered to be one of the best players of his generation, as well as one of the greatest strikers of all time, Riva enjoyed ...

. After his successes at Cagliari, Mazzone fulfilled his dream, being called to manage his hometown club A.S. Roma for the

1993–94 Serie A The 1993–94 Serie A was won by Milan, being the 14th title for the ''rossoneri'' and their third in succession, complemented by glory in the UEFA Champions League. It was a disappointing season in the league for Internazionale, whose 13th-plac ...

season, where he coached a young

Francesco Totti Francesco Totti (; born 27 September 1976) is an Italian former professional Association football, footballer who played solely for A.S. Roma, Roma and the Italy national football team, Italy national team. He is often referred to as ''Er Bim ...

. He remained at the helm of A.S. Roma for three seasons, without being able to obtain any notable triumph, however. Mazzone returned to Cagliari in 1996, and later also briefly coached

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 ...

( 1997–98) the following season, before being sacked. He took charge of Bologna again in

1998 1998 was designated as the ''International Year of the Ocean''. Events January * January 6 – The '' Lunar Prospector'' spacecraft is launched into orbit around the Moon, and later finds evidence for frozen water, in soil in permanently ...

, winning the

1998 UEFA Intertoto Cup The 1998 UEFA Intertoto Cup finals were won by Valencia, Werder Bremen, and Bologna. All three teams advanced to the UEFA Cup. The 1998 tournament saw Spanish clubs debut in the competition and also the return of English clubs, since the controve ...

, and reaching the semi-final of both the

1998–99 UEFA Cup The 1998–99 UEFA Cup was won by Parma in the final against Marseille. It was their second title in the competition. It was the last edition of the old format UEFA Cup, before the Cup Winners' Cup was merged into it to include domestic cup winn ...

and the

1998–99 Coppa Italia The 1998–99 Coppa Italia was the 52nd edition of the tournament, which began on August 23, 1998 and ended on May 5, 1999. Parma won the 1998–99 Coppa Italia tournament for the 2nd time in club history and first since the 1991–92 competition. ...

, also qualifying for the

1999–2000 UEFA Cup The 1999–2000 UEFA Cup season was the 29th edition of the UEFA Cup competition. The final took place at Parken Stadium in Copenhagen and was won by Galatasaray, who defeated Arsenal in the final. The game was scoreless through the first ninety ...

. He spent the following season with

Perugia Perugia (, , ; lat, Perusia) is the capital city of Umbria in central Italy, crossed by the River Tiber, and of the province of Perugia. The city is located about north of Rome and southeast of Florence. It covers a high hilltop and part o ...

( 1999–2000). In 2000, he took charge of Serie A newcomers

Brescia Brescia (, locally ; lmo, link=no, label= Lombard, Brèsa ; lat, Brixia; vec, Bressa) is a city and ''comune'' in the region of Lombardy, Northern Italy. It is situated at the foot of the Alps, a few kilometers from the lakes Garda and Iseo. ...

in 2000, where he had the opportunity to coach

Roberto Baggio Roberto Baggio (; born 18 February 1967) is an Italian former professional footballer who mainly played as a second striker, or as an attacking midfielder, although he was capable of playing in several offensive positions. He is the former pre ...

, and subsequently also

Andrea Pirlo Andrea Pirlo (; born 19 May 1979) is an Italian professional football coach and former player who is head coach of Süper Lig club Fatih Karagümrük. Considered one of the best deep-lying playmakers ever, Pirlo was renowned for his visio ...

Luca Toni Luca Toni (; born 26 May 1977) is an Italian former professional footballer who played as a striker. A prolific goalscorer, Toni scored over 300 goals throughout his career, and is one of the top-five highest scoring Italians in all competition ...

, and

Pep Guardiola Josep "Pep" Guardiola Sala (; born 18 January 1971) is a Spanish professional football manager and former player, who is the current manager of club Manchester City. He is considered one of the greatest managers of all time and holds the re ...

. During his first season with the club, he helped the club to avoid relegation for the first time in 40 years, leading them to their best ever

finish to qualify for the

2001 UEFA Intertoto Cup The 2001 UEFA Intertoto Cup finals were won by Aston Villa, Paris Saint-Germain and Troyes. All three teams advanced to the UEFA Cup. First round First leg ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ...

, where they reached the final. At Brescia, Mazzone is also remembered for making a ground-breaking decision, becoming the first coach to deploy Pirlo in a deeper creative role, as a

deep-lying playmaker 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 ...

, rather than as an offensive midfielder (the role which Baggio occupied; Pirlo particularly excelled in this new role, due to his technique, vision, and long passing ability, and went on to have a highly successful career, earning a reputation as one of the best ever players in his position. The following season, Mazzone was at the centre of controversy, however, when, on 30 September 2001, during a league match against rivals

Atalanta Atalanta (; grc-gre, Ἀταλάντη, Atalantē) meaning "equal in weight", is a heroine in Greek mythology. There are two versions of the huntress Atalanta: one from Arcadia, whose parents were Iasus and Clymene and who is primarily known ...

, he ran for about 70 meters and screamed towards the Atalanta supporters, guilty of having offended him for the entire match long with personal insults, after his team tied the score in the final minutes. That season, Brescia once again managed to avoid relegation, and also reached the semi-finals of 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 ...

, their best ever result in the competition. In 2002, Mazzone was awarded the

Panchina d'Oro Panchina d'Oro ( en, Golden Bench) is a yearly award given to the best Italian association football coaches of the Serie A. The Golden Bench is also awarded to the best men's Serie C and women's Serie A coaches as well as the best coaches in men's ...

award, in honour of his career. After helping the team avoid relegation for the third consecutive season, Mazzone left Brescia in 2003 in order to coach Bologna for the third time in his long career. However, his adventure lasted only two seasons, as the team was surprisingly relegated to

at the end of the

2004–05 Serie A The 2004–05 Serie A (known as the Serie A TIM for sponsorship reasons) was the 103rd season of top-tier Italian football, the 73rd in a round-robin tournament. It was expanded to contain 20 clubs, which played 38 matches against each other, ra ...

season. It was the first relegation ever in Mazzone's career, and it convinced him to take a break from coaching for a while. However, on 7 February 2006, at the age of 68 years and 11 months, Mazzone accepted an offer of

Livorno Livorno () is a port city on the Ligurian Sea on the western coast of Tuscany, Italy. It is the capital of the Province of Livorno, having a population of 158,493 residents in December 2017. It is traditionally known in English as Leghorn (pronou ...

, filling the coaching position which had been left vacant by

Roberto Donadoni Roberto Donadoni (; born 9 September 1963) is an Italian football manager and former midfielder. Donadoni was capable of playing on either flank, or in the centre. He began his career with Atalanta, and he later became a pillar of the powerhous ...

, who resigned the day before; he resigned at the end of the season.

Trivia

*Mazzone is the most experienced coach in the Italian football panorama, having coached more than 1,000 professional matches. On 18 March 2006, Mazzone became the Italian manager with the most Serie A matches coached ever, equalling and then overcoming the past record held by

Nereo Rocco Nereo Rocco (; 20 May 1912 – 20 February 1979) was an Italian association football player and manager. Regarded as one of the greatest managers of all time, he is famous for having been one of the most successful head coaches in Italy, winning s ...

. His record currently stands at 792 Serie A appearances (excluding five appearances in play-off matches) *Roberto Baggio often defined several times Mazzone as one of the best coaches he met in his playing career. Baggio himself, in a radio interview on 18 February 2006, declared that Mazzone asked him to join him in a playing football comeback in Livorno; however, Baggio claimed that, even if he would have given him an affirmative answer because of his gratitude for what Mazzone did for him, he was forced to refuse because of his physical troubles. *

said that he learnt a lot from Mazzone during his Brescia years. *He is often nicknamed ''Sor Carletto'' because of his Roman origins, and the strong accent typical of the inhabitants of the Italian capital city. *Despite having coached around the whole country for 35 years and more, Mazzone has always held his residence in

Ascoli Piceno Ascoli Piceno (; la, Asculum; dialetto ascolano: Ascule) is a town and ''comune'' in the Marche region of Italy, capital of the province of the same name. Its population is around 46,000 but the urban area of the city has more than 93,000. Geo ...

, home of Ascoli Calcio, the team in which he started his long managing career.

Honours

Ascoli *

(Girone B): 1971–72 *Torneo di Capodanno: 1981 Fiorentina *

: 1975 Lecce *

(Promotion to Serie A): 1987–88 Bologna *

UEFA Intertoto Cup The UEFA Intertoto Cup (from la, Inter, 'between' + german: toto, 'betting pool'),Most precisely, from (football pool); cf. often abbreviated and more known in the German-speaking world as UI Cup and originally called the International Foot ...

Individual *

(Career Award): 2002 *

Italian Football Hall of Fame The Italian Football Hall of Fame ( it, Hall of Fame del calcio italiano) is the hall of fame for association football players that have had a significant impact on Italian football. It is housed at the '' Museo del Calcio'' in Coverciano, Ital ...

: 2019

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Mazzone, Carlo 1937 births Living people Footballers from Rome Italian footballers Association football defenders Serie A players Serie C players A.S. Roma players Latina Calcio 1932 players S.P.A.L. players A.C.N. Siena 1904 players Ascoli Calcio 1898 F.C. players Italian football managers Serie A managers Serie B managers Serie C managers Ascoli Calcio 1898 F.C. managers ACF Fiorentina managers U.S. Catanzaro 1929 managers Bologna F.C. 1909 managers U.S. Lecce managers Delfino Pescara 1936 managers Cagliari Calcio managers A.S. Roma managers S.S.C. Napoli managers A.C. Perugia Calcio managers Brescia Calcio managers U.S. Livorno 1915 managers