Emiliano Mondonico (9 March 1947 – 29 March 2018) was an Italian professional
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
coach
Coach may refer to:
Guidance/instruction
* Coach (sport), a director of athletes' training and activities
* Coaching, the practice of guiding an individual through a process
** Acting coach, a teacher who trains performers
Transportation
* Co ...
. He played as a
winger.
His playing career was spent mostly with
Cremonese, where it began and ended. Mondonico's 31-year-long managerial career included two spells each at Cremonese,
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 (region), Arcadia, whose parents were Iasus and Clymene (mythology ...
,
Torino
Turin ( , Piedmontese: ; it, Torino ) is a city and an important business and cultural centre in Northern Italy. It is the capital city of Piedmont and of the Metropolitan City of Turin, and was the first Italian capital from 1861 to 1865. T ...
and
AlbinoLeffe. With Torino, he reached the final of the
1991–92 UEFA Cup
The 1991–92 UEFA Cup was the 21st season of Europe's then-tertiary club football tournament organised by UEFA. It was won by Dutch club Ajax on away goals over Torino of Italy. The victory made Ajax only the second team – after Torino's cit ...
and won the
1992–93 Coppa Italia
The 1992–93 Coppa Italia, the 46th Coppa Italia was an Italian Football Federation domestic cup competition won by Torino.
First round
''p=after penalty kicks.''
Second round
Round of 16
Quarter-finals
First leg
Second leg
Se ...
.
Club career
Mondonico grew up playing in the youth team of Rivoltana, an amateur team in his hometown of
Rivolta d'Adda in the
Province of Cremona. In 1966 he was signed by
Cremonese, with whom he played one season in
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 ...
and one season 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 ...
.
In the 1968–69 season, he made his
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 Cop ...
debut with
Torino
Turin ( , Piedmontese: ; it, Torino ) is a city and an important business and cultural centre in Northern Italy. It is the capital city of Piedmont and of the Metropolitan City of Turin, and was the first Italian capital from 1861 to 1865. T ...
. After two seasons with the ''Granata'', he moved to
Monza in
Serie B
The Serie B (), currently named Serie 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 season. It had been ...
, before returning to Serie A with
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 (region), Arcadia, whose parents were Iasus and Clymene (mythology ...
in the 1971–72 season.
He later returned to Cremonese where he ended his playing career after seven seasons disputed between Serie B and Serie C in 1979.
Managerial career
Mondonico began his managerial career with the Cremonese youth team in 1979. In 1982, he became manager of the senior team, and in 1984, achieved a historic promotion to Serie A with Cremonese.
In 1987, he moved to
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 (region), Arcadia, whose parents were Iasus and Clymene (mythology ...
, and guided them to the semi-finals of the
1987–88 European Cup Winners' Cup
The 1987–88 season of the UEFA Cup Winners' Cup, European Cup Winners' Cup finished with a shock victory by KV Mechelen, Mechelen in the final against defending champions AFC Ajax, Ajax. This led to their 1988 European Super Cup title in the clu ...
.
In 1990, he joined
Torino
Turin ( , Piedmontese: ; it, Torino ) is a city and an important business and cultural centre in Northern Italy. It is the capital city of Piedmont and of the Metropolitan City of Turin, and was the first Italian capital from 1861 to 1865. T ...
, where he won the
Mitropa Cup
The Mitropa Cup, officially called the La Coupe de l'Europe Centrale or Central European Cup, was one of the first international major European football cups for club sides. It was conducted among the successor states of the former Austria-Hunga ...
over
Pisa and finished in fifth-place in the league during the
1990–91 season.
The following year, he led Torino to a historic
UEFA Cup
A cup is an open-top used to hold hot or cold liquids for pouring or drinking; while mainly used for drinking, it also can be used to store solids for pouring (e.g., sugar, flour, grains, salt). Cups may be made of glass, metal, china, clay ...
final during the
1991–92 season, lost on aggregate to
AFC Ajax
Amsterdamsche Football Club Ajax (), also known as AFC Ajax, Ajax Amsterdam, or simply Ajax, is a Dutch professional football club based in Amsterdam, that plays in the , the top tier in Dutch football. Historically, Ajax (named after the l ...
. After Torino were disallowed a penalty, Mondonico famously lifted up a chair into the air in a sign of protest against the referee. In the
1992–93 season, he won the
1993 Coppa Italia Final against
Roma.
In 1994, he returned to Atalanta for a second time, and later had a second spell with Torino as well between 1998 and 2000, before coaching
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 ...
during the 2000–01 season, although he was unable to help the club avoid relegation to Serie B.
After a two-year spell with
Cosenza, he later joined
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 fol ...
in 2003, and the following year, he led the club back into Serie A for the first time since their demotion to
Serie C2, following their bankruptcy in 2002; he subsequently had a stint with
AlbinoLeffe in Serie B in 2006, before returning to Cremonese the following year for a third time.
In September 2009, Mondonico was appointed as head coach of AlbinoLeffe once again to replace
Armando Madonna
Armando Madonna (born 5 July 1963 in Alzano Lombardo, Province of Bergamo) is an Italian football manager and former player.
Career Playing
A midfielder, Madonna made his professional debut in 1981 for Atalanta; he then spent five seasons with ...
.
[ ] He stepped down as head coach of AlbinoLeffe on 29 January 2011 due to "serious health issues", with his assistant
Daniele Fortunato taking over on an interim basis. Two days later, his club confirmed he had undergone abdominal surgery, expecting him to recover in a few weeks time. On 15 February, after a full recovery, Mondonico officially returned to his coaching duties at AlbinoLeffe. He guided AlbinoLeffe to narrowly escape relegation after defeating
Piacenza
Piacenza (; egl, label= Piacentino, Piaṡëinsa ; ) is a city and in the Emilia-Romagna region of northern Italy, and the capital of the eponymous province. As of 2022, Piacenza is the ninth largest city in the region by population, with over ...
in the playoffs, but on 13 June he held an emotional press conference to announce that the illness had returned during the final period of the season and that he was seriously considering stepping down as a consequence. On 17 June 2011 Mondonico was confirmed to have resigned from AlbinoLeffe in order to focus solely on cancer treatment; he was replaced by his assistant Daniele Fortunato, who had already undertaken the first team coaching duties during his previous sick leave.
On 30 January 2012, Mondonico marked his Serie A comeback, replacing
Attilio Tesser
Attilio Tesser (born 10 June 1958) is an Italian association football manager and former defender, who is currently the head coach of Modena.
Playing career
Tesser, a defender, started his playing career with Treviso. He moved to Napoli in 19 ...
as head coach of
Novara
Novara (, Novarese: ) is the capital city of the province of Novara in the Piedmont region in northwest Italy, to the west of Milan. With 101,916 inhabitants (on 1 January 2021), it is the second most populous city in Piedmont after Turin. It i ...
, who were last-placed in the Italian top flight and seven points shy of relegation safety after the first half of the season.
On 6 March 2012 he was sacked.
Death
Mondonico died at the age of 71 on 29 March 2018, from
stomach cancer.
Honours
Manager
; Torino
*
Mitropa Cup
The Mitropa Cup, officially called the La Coupe de l'Europe Centrale or Central European Cup, was one of the first international major European football cups for club sides. It was conducted among the successor states of the former Austria-Hunga ...
: 1991
*
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 ...
:
1992–93
Year 199 ( CXCIX) was a common year starting on Monday (link will display the full calendar) of the Julian calendar. At the time, it was sometimes known as year 952 '' Ab urbe condita''. The denomination 199 for this year has been used since t ...
Individual
*
Torino F.C. Hall of Fame: 2018
Bibliography
*
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Mondonico, Emiliano
1947 births
2018 deaths
Sportspeople from the Province of Cremona
Association football wingers
Italian footballers
U.S. Cremonese players
Torino F.C. players
A.C. Monza players
Atalanta B.C. players
Serie A players
Serie B players
Serie C players
Serie D players
Italian football managers
U.S. Cremonese managers
Como 1907 managers
Atalanta B.C. managers
Torino F.C. managers
S.S.C. Napoli managers
Cosenza Calcio managers
ACF Fiorentina managers
U.C. AlbinoLeffe managers
Novara F.C. managers
Serie A managers
Deaths from cancer in Lombardy
Deaths from stomach cancer
People from Rivolta d'Adda
Footballers from Lombardy