Ferruccio Valcareggi (; 12 February 1919 – 2 November 2005) 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 ...
player 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 ...
, who played as a
midfielder
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 ...
.
Playing career
Valcareggi was born in
Trieste
Trieste ( , ; sl, Trst ; german: Triest ) is a city and seaport in northeastern Italy. It is the capital city, and largest city, of the autonomous region of Friuli Venezia Giulia, one of two autonomous regions which are not subdivided into provi ...
, on 12 February 1919. A
right–sided,
offensive–minded,
central midfielder
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 ...
– known as a ''
mezzala
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 ...
'' in Italian football jargon –, he had a successful playing career, playing for nine different teams, including clubs 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 ...
,
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 ...
,
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 his home-town club
Triestina
Unione Sportiva Triestina Calcio 1918, commonly referred to as Triestina, is an Italian football club based in Trieste, Friuli-Venezia Giulia. Originally founded in 1918, the club has been re-established several times in its history. As of the ...
, with whom he began his career in 1937, ending his playing career in 1954 with
Piombino
Piombino is an Italian town and ''comune'' of about 35,000 inhabitants in the province of Livorno (Tuscany). It lies on the border between the Ligurian Sea and the Tyrrhenian Sea, in front of Elba Island and at the northern side of Maremma.
Ove ...
. He won the Coppa Alta Italia with Bologna in 1946. He scored 73 goals in 403 matches, 59 of which came 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 ...
, in 270 appearances. He was never capped at international level, however.
Managerial career
Valcareggi is widely remembered for his success as a coach, in particular with
Italy national football 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 ...
. He began his coaching career as a player–manager with Piombino in 1952; after managing several Italian club sides (including
Prato
Prato ( , ) is a city and ''comune'' in Tuscany, Italy, the capital of the Province of Prato. The city lies in the north east of Tuscany, at the foot of Monte Retaia, elevation , the last peak in the Calvana chain. With more than 200,000 i ...
, helping the club to the
1956–57 Serie C The 1956–57 Serie C was the nineteenth edition of Serie C, the third highest league in the Italian football league system.
There were only three relegations because of the reform of the IV Serie. Final classification
{{DEFAULTSORT:1956-57 Ser ...
title 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 ...
promotion, as well as
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 ...
and
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 was named the Italian team's coach, replacing manager
Edmondo Fabbri
Edmondo Fabbri (16 November 1921 – 8 July 1995) was an Italian football player and coach; a fast player, he mainly played as a winger.
Playing career
Fabbri was born in Castel Bolognese. During his club career, he played for several teams. He ...
– under whom he served as an assistant – initially alongside
Helenio Herrera
Helenio Herrera Gavilán (; 10 April 1910 – 9 November 1997) was an Argentine, naturalized French, football player and manager. He is best remembered for his success with the Inter Milan team known as ''Grande Inter'' in the 1960s.
During ...
, and later independently. He was in charge of the Italian national side between 1966 and 1974, guiding them to victory in the
1968 European Championship on home soil, and to the final in the
1970 FIFA World Cup
The 1970 FIFA World Cup was the ninth edition of the FIFA World Cup, the quadrennial international Association football, football championship for List of men's national association football teams, men's senior national teams. Held from 31 May t ...
in Mexico. Under Valcareggi, Italy lost only six games in eight years.
Despite his success with the national side, Valcareggi is also remembered for devising the infamous "staffetta" (
relay
A relay
Electromechanical relay schematic showing a control coil, four pairs of normally open and one pair of normally closed contacts
An automotive-style miniature relay with the dust cover taken off
A relay is an electrically operated switch ...
) match strategy during the 1970 World Cup. Due to his focus on defensive stability, as well as the presence of two pure, prolific goalscoring strikers,
Riva
Riva may refer to:
People
* Riva (surname)
* Riva Castleman (1930–2014), American art historian, art curator and author
* Riva Ganguly Das (born 1961), Indian diplomat
* Riva (footballer), Brazilian former footballer Rivadávio Alves Pereira ...
and
Boninsegna, Valcareggi felt that it would not be possible to field Italy's two most revered advanced playmakers at the time,
Gianni Rivera
Giovanni "Gianni" Rivera (; born 18 August 1943) is an Italian politician and former footballer who played as a midfielder. During his career as a footballer he was mostly utilised as an attacking midfielder.
Dubbed Italy's "Golden Boy" by the ...
, and
Sandro Mazzola
Alessandro "Sandro" Mazzola (; born 8 November 1942) is an Italian former professional footballer, who played as a forward or attacking midfielder for Internazionale and the Italy national team. He currently works as a football analyst and com ...
, alongside each other. He believed the two creative players to be incompatible with each other, due to the
rivalry between their respective clubs, and as he felt that deploying both players alongside the forwards would offset the balance within the starting line-up, in particular as Rivera, unlike Mazzola, was not renowned for his athleticism or defensive work-rate. When Mazzola had come down with a stomach flu, which affected his fitness, he therefore conceived the plan, which essentially consisted of Mazzola playing the first half of each match, whilst Rivera would play the second half when the opponents would begin to tire and offer him more space. Despite Italy's victory at the
1968 European Championship and their second-place finish at the
1970 World Cup, the tactic was widely criticised by the media, in particular due to Italy's negative performance during the group-stage and in the
final
Final, Finals or The Final may refer to:
*Final (competition), the last or championship round of a sporting competition, match, game, or other contest which decides a winner for an event
** Another term for playoffs, describing a sequence of cont ...
defeat to
Brazil
Brazil ( pt, Brasil; ), officially the Federative Republic of Brazil (Portuguese: ), is the largest country in both South America and Latin America. At and with over 217 million people, Brazil is the world's fifth-largest country by area ...
, despite demonstrating their ability to successfully apply a more offensive, exciting style of play with Rivera in the
semi-final
A single-elimination, knockout, or sudden death tournament is a type of elimination tournament where the loser of each match-up is immediately eliminated from the tournament. Each winner will play another in the next round, until the final matc ...
against
West Germany
West Germany is the colloquial term used to indicate the Federal Republic of Germany (FRG; german: Bundesrepublik Deutschland , BRD) between its formation on 23 May 1949 and the German reunification through the accession of East Germany on 3 O ...
. The two players only played together briefly in the final, when Rivera came on for
Boninsegna for the last six minutes of the match.
Valcareggi also helped Italy to qualify for the
1974 FIFA World Cup
The 1974 FIFA World Cup was the tenth FIFA World Cup, a quadrennial football tournament for men's senior national teams, and was played in West Germany (and West Berlin) between 13 June and 7 July. The tournament marked the first time that the ...
; although they were considered among the favourites to win the title, they were knocked out in the first round of the tournament, which led to Valcareggi stepping down from his position as Italy's head coach; during the tournament, he had an infamous falling out with
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 ...
, who insulted Valcareggi upon being substituted. Following his international career, Valcareggi worked as a club coach in Italy with
Hellas Verona
Hellas Verona Football Club, commonly referred to as Hellas Verona or simply Verona, is a professional Italian football club based in Verona, Italy, that currently plays in Serie A. The team won the Serie A Championship in 1984–85.
His ...
and
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 ...
, as well as the Italian youth B Team; he also briefly served as a pundit. He later also worked for Fiorentina's technical sector; he was inducted into the Fiorentina Hall of Fame in 2013.
Style of management
With the Italian national team, Valcareggi's rigid tactics were largely inspired by the Italian ''
catenaccio
''Catenaccio'' () or The Chain is a tactical system in football with a strong emphasis on defence. In Italian, ''catenaccio'' means "door-bolt", which implies a highly organised and effective backline defence focused on nullifying opponents' ...
'' system that had been popularised by
Inter
Inter may refer to:
Association football clubs
* Inter Milan, an Italian club
* SC Internacional, a Brazilian club
* Inter Miami CF, an American club
* FC Inter Sibiu, a Romanian club
* FC Inter Turku, a Finnish club
* FK Inter Bratislava, a forme ...
manager Herrera during the 1960s, as demonstrated by his use of a
sweeper behind two
man–marking central defenders and a full-back, and his use of a strategy based on heavy defending and stability. Italy were known for their ability to grind out results successfully under his tenure, and defend narrow leads after scoring, due their ability to concede few goals, which led to criticism in the Italian media over the team's lack of goals and dull gameplay, but also proved to be an effective strategy. Despite the team's more defensive playing style, they also demonstrated their offensive capabilities under Valcareggi during the 1970 World Cup; due to the altitude, his team favoured a slower gameplay, avoiding excessive sprints, which highlighted the technical ability of his players. Valcareggi was also known for this infamous ''staffetta'' policy, which involved him using his two star, talented, and skilful playmakers – Mazzola and Rivera – for one half each during matches, so as not to offset the balance within the team. The more athletic, dynamic, and direct Mazzola would start matches, while the more creative but less mobile and hard-working Rivera would come on when the opponents would begin to tire, which would allow him to dictate the game in midfield with his passing.
His team adopted a more attractive playing style leading up to the 1974 World Cup, but struggled in the final tournament, and suffered a disappointing first–round elimination, which Valcareggi attributed to a lack of a united team in the dressing room, and his own inability to manage the group of players he was coaching at the time effectively.
In addition to his tactical intelligence and coaching ability, he was known for his ability to instill a sense of calm in his team, and for developing a close relationship with his players, despite his reserved character; he was also known for his fair-play approach and honesty, as well as his elegant attire.
Personal life
In September 1943, Valcareggi married Anna Peruzzi, with whom he had three children.
Death
Valcareggi died in
Florence
Florence ( ; it, Firenze ) is a city in Central Italy and the capital city of the Tuscany region. It is the most populated city in Tuscany, with 383,083 inhabitants in 2016, and over 1,520,000 in its metropolitan area.Bilancio demografico an ...
on 2 November 2005, at the age of 86.
Honours
Player
Bologna
*Coppa Alta Italia: 1945–46
Coach
Prato
*
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 ...
:
1956–57
Italy
*
UEFA European Championship
The UEFA European Football Championship, less formally the European Championship and informally the Euro, is the primary association football tournament organised by the Union of European Football Associations (UEFA). The competition is contes ...
:
1968
The year was highlighted by protests and other unrests that occurred worldwide.
Events January–February
* January 5 – "Prague Spring": Alexander Dubček is chosen as leader of the Communist Party of Czechoslovakia.
* Januar ...
*
FIFA World Cup
The FIFA World Cup, often simply called the World Cup, is an international association football competition contested by the senior men's national teams of the members of the ' ( FIFA), the sport's global governing body. The tournament ha ...
runner-up:
1970
Events
January
* January 1 – Unix time epoch reached at 00:00:00 UTC.
* January 5 – The 7.1 Tonghai earthquake shakes Tonghai County, Yunnan province, China, with a maximum Mercalli intensity scale, Mercalli intensity of X (''Extrem ...
Individual
*Seminatore d'oro: 1956–57, 1972–73
*
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 ...
: 2011
*Fiorentina Hall of Fame
References
External links
UEFA news of Valcareggi's death
{{DEFAULTSORT:Valcareggi, Ferruccio
1919 births
2005 deaths
Footballers from Trieste
Italian footballers
Italian football managers
Italy national football team managers
L.R. Vicenza players
Bologna F.C. 1909 players
ACF Fiorentina players
A.C. Milan players
U.S. Triestina Calcio 1918 players
Brescia Calcio players
S.S.D. Lucchese 1905 players
Serie A players
Serie B players
UEFA Euro 1968 managers
1970 FIFA World Cup managers
1974 FIFA World Cup managers
UEFA European Championship-winning managers
Hellas Verona F.C. managers
A.S. Roma managers
Atalanta B.C. managers
Serie A managers
Association football midfielders