Francesco Zagatti (18 April 1932 – 7 March 2009) 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 le ...

who played as a defender. He usually played as an attacking full-back on either flank, and was known to be a generous, tenacious, and hard-working player, with an ability to make runs down the flank and get on the end of his teammates' passes.

Playing career

Zagatti started his career at

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 ...

. He played in their

youth team In sporting terminology, a youth system (or youth academy) is a youth investment program within a particular team or league, which develops and nurtures young talent in farm teams, with the vision of using them in the first team in the future if t ...

, before making his senior debut in a

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 ...

game against

S.S. Lazio Società Sportiva Lazio (; ; ''Lazio Sport Club''), commonly referred to as Lazio, is an Italian professional sports club based in Rome, most known for its football activity. The society, founded in 1900, plays in the Serie A and have spent ...

, on 1 June 1952. He went on to spend his whole career with the ''Rossoneri'', later captaining the squad, and winning four '' Scudetti'', one

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 ...

and one

Latin Cup The Latin Cup was an international football tournament for club sides from the Southwest European nations of France, Italy, Spain, and Portugal. In 1949 the football federations came together and requested FIFA to launch the competition. Europ ...

After retirement

After his retirement, Zagatti stayed at Milan as the coach of the youth team and later as a scout. During the 1981–82 season, he also served as head coach for a couple of games.

Death

Zagatti died on 7 March 2009, aged 76, due to a serious form of

Hepatitis Hepatitis is inflammation of the liver tissue. Some people or animals with hepatitis have no symptoms, whereas others develop yellow discoloration of the skin and whites of the eyes (jaundice), poor appetite, vomiting, tiredness, abdominal pa ...

Honours

A.C. Milan *

: 1954–55, 1956–57, 1958–59, 1961–62 *

: 1962–63 *

: 1956 Individual * A.C. Milan Hall of Fame

References

External links

Profile
at MagliaRossonera.it 1932 births 2009 deaths Italian footballers Association football defenders Serie A players A.C. Milan players A.C. Milan non-playing staff {{Italy-footy-defender-1930s-stub