Gaetano Troja (25 July 1944 – 19 June 2023) was an Italian footballer who played as a forward for

Palermo Palermo ( , ; scn, Palermu , locally also or ) is a city in southern Italy, the capital (political), capital of both the autonomous area, autonomous region of Sicily and the Metropolitan City of Palermo, the city's surrounding metropolitan ...

, Brescia, Napoli,

Bari Bari ( , ; nap, label= Barese, Bare ; lat, Barium) is the capital city of the Metropolitan City of Bari and of the Apulia region, on the Adriatic Sea, southern Italy. It is the second most important economic centre of mainland Southern Italy a ...

and

Catania Catania (, , Sicilian and ) is the second largest municipality in Sicily, after Palermo. Despite its reputation as the second city of the island, Catania is the largest Sicilian conurbation, among the largest in Italy, as evidenced also by ...

. He played seven seasons with Palermo, three in Serie A and four in Serie B, scoring 43 goals and becoming one of the most beloved players in the team history.

Biography

Football career

Described as an individual with a rocky physique, Troja began his life of football playing for Faldese, a

Palermitan Palermo ( , ; scn, Palermu , locally also or ) is a city in southern Italy, the capital of both the autonomous region of Sicily and the Metropolitan City of Palermo, the city's surrounding metropolitan province. The city is noted for its hi ...

team based at the foot of Mount Pellegrino. Beginning at age 16, he played as a starter in Promozione, with which he became the top scorer of the group. The following year he moved to Paternò in Serie D, where played a great season and after which, was bought by

in 1964 for 80 million lire. Troja made his league debut on 13 September 1964 against

Trani Trani () is a seaport of Apulia, in southern Italy, on the Adriatic Sea, by railway west-northwest of Bari. It is one of the capital cities of the Province of Barletta-Andria-Trani. History Overview The city of ''Turenum'' appears for the fir ...

, a match in which he immediately made a major score for the 3–0 aggregate. He closed the first season with 8 overall goals, 6 of which in the first round. In the return he only scored in the match against

Modena Modena (, , ; egl, label=Emilian language#Dialects, Modenese, Mòdna ; ett, Mutna; la, Mutina) is a city and ''comune'' (municipality) on the south side of the Po Valley, in the Province of Modena in the Emilia-Romagna region of northern I ...

(2–0), making a brace. In the following season he scored 2 goals in 2 matches in the Italian Cup, against Reggiana and Fiorentina respectively. While in the league he scored 12 times, making him the season's top scorer for the Rosanero team. He went on to make memorable braces against:

Monza Monza (, ; lmo, label=Lombard language, Lombard, Monça, locally ; lat, Modoetia) is a city and ''comune'' on the River Lambro, a tributary of the Po River, Po in the Lombardy region of Italy, about north-northeast of Milan. It is the capit ...

(4–0) and Padova (1–3). Troja has been dubbed as one of the best Palermo players of all time. In 1966, he was sold to Brescia for budgetary reasons. He then returned to Palermo in 1968 and was promoted to Serie A. In the 1969–1970 championship against Gigi Riva's

Cagliari Cagliari (, also , , ; sc, Casteddu ; lat, Caralis) is an Italian municipality and the capital of the island of Sardinia, an autonomous region of Italy. Cagliari's Sardinian name ''Casteddu'' means ''castle''. It has about 155,000 inhabitant ...

, Troja scored a memorable diving header. In 1973, after Palermo's relegation to Serie B, he moved to Napoli, where he failed to establish himself despite playing 4 games in the league. A year later he went to

, being downgraded to Serie C. In 1976, while he was negotiating with Udinese who always played in Serie C, coach Carmelo Di Bella, Troja's coach during his time at Palermo, went to see him in his boutique in Lignano Sabbiadoro, where

was having their summer training camp, and in just three hours he convinced him to wear the rossazzurri (red and blue) colors for the 1976–1977 season in Serie B. He went on to play in the

Derby di Sicilia The Derby di Sicilia or Sicilian Derby in English, is a local derby between Italian football clubs Calcio Catania and S.S.D. Palermo. Catania and Palermo are the two main cities on the island of Sicily, and the teams are fierce rivals. However, t ...

; in the first game played at Cibali, he was replaced, and in the second game played at Favoritahe, he refused to take the field, watching the whole game (which ended 0–0) from the grandstand. In his career he had a total of 133 appearances and 21 goals in Serie A and 119 appearances and 36 goals in Serie B.

Futsal career

After retiring from football, he devoted himself to futsal, and led Pro Ficuzza to the championship finals.

As manager

He was chief observer of Palermo F.C. when the team was owned by the Roman businessman Franco Sensi from 2000 to 2001. In that year, the Sicilian team was playing in

Serie C1 Lega Pro Prima Divisione was the third highest football (soccer), football league in Italy. It consisted of 33 teams, divided geographically into two divisions of 16 and 17 teams for group A and B respectively. Until 2008 it was known as Serie C1 ...

and at the end they obtained promotion to Serie B in the 2001 to 2002 season.

Death

Troja died from complications of diabetes in Palermo on 19 June 2023. He was 78.E' morto Tanino Troja: il Palermo perde uno dei suoi simboli

References

External links

{{DEFAULTSORT:Troja, Gaetano 1944 births 2023 deaths Italian men's footballers Footballers from Palermo Men's association football forwards Serie A players Serie B players ASD Paternò Calcio players Palermo FC players Brescia Calcio players SSC Napoli players SSC Bari players Catania FC players Deaths from diabetes