Franco Bergamaschi (born 9 February 1951 in

Verona Verona ( , ; vec, Verona or ) is a city on the Adige River in Veneto, Italy, with 258,031 inhabitants. It is one of the seven provincial capitals of the region. It is the largest city municipality in the region and the second largest in nor ...

Italy Italy ( it, Italia ), officially the Italian Republic, ) or the Republic of Italy, is a country in Southern Europe. It is located in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea, and its territory largely coincides with the homonymous geographical ...

) is a former football player 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 ...

for several Italian clubs in the 1970s and early 1980s.

Club career

Bergamaschi began his football career at his home town club of

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 ...

. He soon established himself in the first eleven and was regarded as one of the best midfielders of the time, gaining an invitation to the Under-21 national side managed by

Vicini The Vicini family is the wealthiest family in the Dominican Republic and is best known for their vast holdings in the sugar industry. The family business was started by Juan Bautista Vicini Canepa, who migrated to the Dominican Republic from Italy ...

and later the Under-23 under Bearzot. For the 1973–74 season, he transferred to

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 ...

who had signed him after his great performance in their historic 3–5 defeat when Verona crushed Milan's scudetto hopes on the last day of the championship the season before. With Milan, however, the midfielder was not able to excel in the generally mediocre Rossoneri team who had a disappointing league season and whose positive displays in the

European Cup Winners' Cup The UEFA Cup Winners' Cup was a European football club competition contested annually by the winners of domestic cup competitions. The cup was, chronologically, the second seasonal inter-European club competition organised by UEFA. The tournam ...

ended in a bitter final defeat against 1. FC Magdeburg in

Rotterdam Rotterdam ( , , , lit. ''The Dam on the River Rotte'') is the second largest city and municipality in the Netherlands. It is in the province of South Holland, part of the North Sea mouth of the Rhine–Meuse–Scheldt delta, via the ''"Ne ...

. Bergamaschi played for

Genoa Genoa ( ; it, Genova ; lij, Zêna ). is the capital of the Italian region of Liguria and the sixth-largest city in Italy. In 2015, 594,733 people lived within the city's administrative limits. As of the 2011 Italian census, the Province of ...

the following season and returned to Milan to spend the 1975–76 season largely in the reserves, with only six appearances 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 Cop ...

. For the 1976–77 season, the midfielder was sold to Foggia and with the club he returned to his usual form, helping the Apulian team win promotion to Serie A. His return to Verona for the 1978–79 season coincided with one of the most negative performances of the club in Serie A that resulted in relegation to the second-tier Serie B. Bergamaschi stayed with the club for another season despite the relegation, but then moved to

A.C. Cesena A.C. Cesena, commonly referred to as Cesena (), was an Italian football club based in Cesena, Emilia-Romagna. The club spent most of its history in professional leagues such as Serie A and Serie B, but went bankrupt and folded in 2018. Another ...

in 1980. After securing promotion to

with his new club in 1981, he played one more season for Rimini Calcio F.C. and ended his playing career in 1982.

International career

Although Bergamaschi was never capped for Italy at senior level, he received three call-ups for Italy U21 under manager Azeglio Vicini, and later received two call-ups for Italy U23 under manager Enzo Bearzot.

Playing style

Both as a playmaker and winger, Bergamaschi displayed great tactical instinct and a feeling for the game. His best technical qualities were a clear vision of the game and a rapid execution of plays characterized by his precise long passing enabling a quick counter-attacking play.

References

*''L'Intrepido'' (1973) *''Figurine Gialloblù'' (Raffaele Tomelleri – Ed. Liederform – 2001) {{DEFAULTSORT:Bergamaschi, Franco 1951 births Italian footballers Serie A players A.C. Milan players A.C. Cesena players Genoa C.F.C. players Calcio Foggia 1920 players Hellas Verona F.C. players Rimini F.C. 1912 players Living people Footballers from Verona Men's association football midfielders