Julio Velasco (born 9 February 1952) is an Argentine former professional

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 and coach. He's had

Italian Italian(s) may refer to: * Anything of, from, or related to the people of Italy over the centuries ** Italians, an ethnic group or simply a citizen of the Italian Republic or Italian Kingdom ** Italian language, a Romance language *** Regional Ita ...

citizenship obtained in 1992. Velasco was inducted into the

Volleyball Hall of Fame The International Volleyball Hall of Fame (IVHF) was founded to honor extraordinary players, coaches, officials, and leaders who have made significant contributions to the game of volleyball. The Hall of Fame is located in Holyoke, Massachusetts, ...

in 2005. Velasco currently serves as a sports director for the

Italian Volleyball Federation The Italian Volleyball Federation ( it, Federazione Italiana Pallavolo, FIPAV), is the governing body for Volleyball in Italy since 1946. The FIPAV has reported a significant increase in its membership numbers, with over 300,000 registered member ...

Career

Player

Julio Velasco began playing volleyball at the age of 15 for

National University of La Plata The La Plata National University ( es, Universidad Nacional de La Plata, UNLP) is one of the most important Argentine national universities and the biggest one situated in the city of La Plata, capital of Buenos Aires Province. It has over 9 ...

Club.

Coach

Velasco became assistant coach on the Argentina national men's team from 1981 to 1983. In 1983 he was invited to coach for Tre Valli Jesi in Italy, staying until 1985. He coached at Panini Modena 1985-1989 and led them to four Italian national championships in 1986-1989. In 1989 he was appointed head coach of the Italy men's national team leading them to unprecedented successes. His first trophy with the Italian team was at the 1989 Men's European Volleyball Championship in

Sweden Sweden, formally the Kingdom of Sweden,The United Nations Group of Experts on Geographical Names states that the country's formal name is the Kingdom of SwedenUNGEGN World Geographical Names, Sweden./ref> is a Nordic country located on ...

, where they topped their preliminary group with only one loss and went through the knockout stage up to the final where they beat 3–1 the host side to win their first ever official tournament. But it was in 1990 that Velasco helped Italy to reach the top the world, leading them to win the

World Championship A world championship is generally an international competition open to elite competitors from around the world, representing their nations, and winning such an event will be considered the highest or near highest achievement in the sport, game, ...

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 ...

: in the knockout stage Italy beat

Argentina Argentina (), officially the Argentine Republic ( es, link=no, República Argentina), is a country in the southern half of South America. Argentina covers an area of , making it the second-largest country in South America after Brazil, th ...

3–0 in the quarterfinals, the host

3-2 in the semifinals and eventually

Cuba Cuba ( , ), officially the Republic of Cuba ( es, República de Cuba, links=no ), is an island country comprising the island of Cuba, as well as Isla de la Juventud and several minor archipelagos. Cuba is located where the northern Caribbea ...

3–1 in the championship final to win their first ever title as world champions. During his tenure as Italy's coach Velasco won two more

European Championships The European Championships is a multi-sport tournament which brings together the existing European Championships of some of the continent's leading sports every four years. The inaugural edition in 2018 was staged by the host cities of Berlin, ...

, another

and five World Leagues, in addition to other minor trophies like the

FIVB World Grand Champions Cup The FIVB Volleyball World Grand Champions Cup is an international volleyball competition contested by the senior men's and women's national teams of the members of ' (FIVB), the sport's global governing body. The tournament was created in 1993 af ...

Mediterranean Games The Mediterranean Games is a multi-sport event organised by the International Committee of Mediterranean Games (CIJM). It is held every four years among athletes from countries bordering the Mediterranean Sea in Africa, Asia and Europe. The fir ...

, FIVB World Cup and World Super Challenge. Velasco also took the Italian men’s team to win its first silver medal history FIPAV in the

1996 Summer Olympics The 1996 Summer Olympics (officially the Games of the XXVI Olympiad, also known as Atlanta 1996 and commonly referred to as the Centennial Olympic Games) were an international multi-sport event held from July 19 to August 4, 1996, in Atlanta, ...

. After the

, where the Italians won silver, he switched to the Italy women's team, from 1996 to 1997, coaching them to a Gold Medal at the

. He coached the

Czech Republic men's national team Czech may refer to: * Anything from or related to the Czech Republic, a country in Europe ** Czech language ** Czechs, the people of the area ** Czech culture Czech culture has been shaped by its geographical position in the middle of Europe. Infl ...

in 2001. He returned to Italy to coach the Copra Piacenza club in 2002. In 2008 he was selected to coach the Spain men's national team, winning with them the 2009 European Volleyball League. In 2011, Velasco was signed as the head coach of the Iran men's national team. He became coach of the Argentina men's national team before his contract with the Iranian national team expired on 1 March 2014, after winning two

Asian Championships An Asian Championship is a top level international sports competition between Asian athletes or sports teams representing their respective countries or professional sports clubs. List of Championships (Summer Olympic Sports) ;Aquatics * Asia ...

. This change of teams was due to the request of the people and the

president of Argentina The president of Argentina ( es, Presidente de Argentina), officially known as the president of the Argentine Nation ( es, Presidente de la Nación Argentina), is both head of state and head of government of Argentina. Under Constitution of Ar ...

, and was approved by the Iranian volleyball confederation because of Iranians’ respect for their coach. He led the Argentinian team to win the

2015 Pan American Games Fifteen or 15 may refer to: *15 (number), the natural number following 14 and preceding 16 *one of the years 15 BC, AD 15, 1915, 2015 Music *Fifteen (band), a punk rock band Albums * ''15'' (Buckcherry album), 2005 * ''15'' (Ani Lorak alb ...

. Velasco was appointed head coach of

Modena Volley 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 tw ...

for the 2018/2019 season.

Administrator

During the season 1998–99 Velasco was General Director of

UEFA Cup A cup is an open-top used to hold hot or cold liquids for pouring or drinking; while mainly used for drinking, it also can be used to store Solid, solids for pouring (e.g., sugar, flour, grains, salt). Cups may be made of glass, metal, porcela ...

winner S.S. Lazio, and in 2000 he moved to

Massimo Moratti Massimo Moratti (born 16 May 1945) is an Italian billionaire petroleum businessman, the former owner of Inter Milan and chairman of the Saras Group, founded in 1962 by his father, industrialist Angelo Moratti. The main production site of the Sara ...

Inter Milan Football Club Internazionale Milano, commonly referred to as Internazionale () or simply Inter, and colloquially known as Inter Milan in English-speaking countries, is an Football in Italy, Italian professional Association football, football ...

Honours

Ferro: * 4 Serie A1: 1979, 1980, 1981, 1982 Modena: * 4 SuperLega: 1986, 1987, 1988, 1989 * 3 Coppe Italia: 1986, 1988, 1989 * 1 Coppa delle Coppe: 1986 * 1 Supercoppa italia: 2018

Individual awards

* 1990 FIVB World Championship - Best Coach * 1991 Medal of Merit Sport Organization

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 re ...

* 1993

- Best Coach * 1995 FIVB World Cup - Best Coach * 2000

Konex Award Konex Foundation Awards, or simply Konex Awards, are cultural awards from the Konex Foundation honouring Argentine cultural personalities. History and purpose Konex Awards are granted by the Konex Foundation, created in 1980 in Argentina. The pur ...

- Technical Director * 2012 Società Italiana Medici Manager - Technical Award * 2014 Coach of the Year in

Iran Iran, officially the Islamic Republic of Iran, and also called Persia, is a country located in Western Asia. It is bordered by Iraq and Turkey to the west, by Azerbaijan and Armenia to the northwest, by the Caspian Sea and Turkmeni ...

* 2022 CEV - Lifetime Achievement Award

Orders

CONI The Italian National Olympic Committee ( it, Comitato Olimpico Nazionale Italiano, CONI), founded in 1914 and a member of the International Olympic Committee (IOC), is responsible for the development and management of sports activity in Italy. ...

: Golden Palm of Technical Merit: ''Palma d'oro al Merito Tecnico'': 2018 :*

President of Italy The president of Italy, officially denoted as president of the Italian Republic ( it, Presidente della Repubblica Italiana) is the head of state of Italy. In that role, the president represents national unity, and guarantees that Italian poli ...

: Grand Cross of the

Order of Merit of the Italian Republic The Order of Merit of the Italian Republic ( it, Ordine al Merito della Repubblica Italiana) is the senior Italian order of merit. It was established in 1951 by the second President of the Italian Republic, Luigi Einaudi. The highest-ranking ...

: 2019

About him

He has discussed coaching with football mastermind

Pep Guardiola Josep "Pep" Guardiola Sala (; born 18 January 1971) is a Spanish professional football manager and former player, who is the current manager of club Manchester City. He is considered one of the greatest managers of all time and holds the re ...

multiple times. When he lived in Italy, Guardiola once travelled hundreds of kilometres so that he could meet Argentinian volleyball coach Julio Velasco personally, simply because he had seen him in a TV interview and wanted to learn from him.FIVB - Julio Velasco
/ref>

References

External links

*

at ''Volleyhall.org'' *
Coach profile
at ''LegaVolley.it''
Coach profile
at ''Volleybox.net'' {{DEFAULTSORT:Velasco, Julio 1952 births Living people Naturalised citizens of Italy Sportspeople from La Plata Argentine men's volleyball players Argentine volleyball coaches Argentine expatriate sportspeople in Italy Argentine expatriate sportspeople in the Czech Republic Argentine expatriate sportspeople in Spain Argentine expatriate sportspeople in Iran