Franco Bertoli (born 29 April 1959 in

Udine Udine ( , ; fur, Udin; la, Utinum) is a city and ''comune'' in north-eastern Italy, in the middle of the Friuli Venezia Giulia region, between the Adriatic Sea and the Alps (''Alpi Carniche''). Its population was 100,514 in 2012, 176,000 with t ...

) is an Italian former

volleyball Volleyball is a team sport in which two teams of six players are separated by a net. Each team tries to score points by grounding a ball on the other team's court under organized rules. It has been a part of the official program of the Summ ...

player who competed in the 1980 Summer Olympics in Moscow and in the 1984 Summer Olympics in Los Angeles. As a volleyball player, he gained the nickname of ''

mano Mano may refer to: People * Mano people, an ethnic group in Liberia * Mano (name), a list of people with either the given name or surname * Mano (Mozambican footballer) (born 1984), real name Celso Halilo de Abdul * Mano (Portuguese footballer) ...

di pietra'' (stone-hand) for his attack skills. In 1980 he was part of the Italian team which finished ninth in the Olympic tournament. He played four matches. Four years later he won the bronze medal with the Italian team in the 1984 Olympic tournament. He played all six matches. In total he gained 219 caps with the

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 ...

and was also appointed captain of the national team. He was declared best overall player in the 1983 European Championships in

Berlin Berlin ( , ) is the capital and largest city of Germany by both area and population. Its 3.7 million inhabitants make it the European Union's most populous city, according to population within city limits. One of Germany's sixteen constitue ...

. In his club career, Bertoli was a mainstay of Klippan Torino (1977-1983) first and then of

Panini Modena Modena Volley is a professional volleyball team based in Modena, Italy. It has played in the highest level of the Italian Volleyball League without interruption since 1968. It is the most successful Italian club, having won the national league t ...

(1984-1990), two of the most successful Italian teams in the 1980s; later he moved to Milan Volley, a short-lived volley companion of

Silvio Berlusconi Silvio Berlusconi ( ; ; born 29 September 1936) is an Italian media tycoon and politician who served as Prime Minister of Italy in four governments from 1994 to 1995, 2001 to 2006 and 2008 to 2011. He was a member of the Chamber of Deputies ...

's AC Milan, where he won two World Cups in 1990 and 1992. Subsequently, he worked as a coach for the Modena's volleyball team (He won Italian and European Championship in 1998) them in Rome and Genova. He was a TV commentator for Sky Sports Italia for about eleven years, until the London Olympic Games in 2012. Now Franco Bertoli works as professional coach, he is member of the ICF, International Coach Federation. He is also an accredited Teacher in Numerology, Dip. CSN. AIN. and an Aura-Soma Colour-Care System Coach. Website: www.francobertoli.com

External links

Franco Bertoli's WebsiteDetailed club career
* 1959 births Living people Sportspeople from Udine Italian men's volleyball players Italian volleyball coaches Olympic volleyball players of Italy Volleyball players at the 1980 Summer Olympics Volleyball players at the 1984 Summer Olympics Olympic bronze medalists for Italy Olympic medalists in volleyball Medalists at the 1984 Summer Olympics {{italy-volleyball-bio-stub