Marzio Innocenti (born 4 September 1958, in

Livorno Livorno () is a port city on the Ligurian Sea on the western coast of Tuscany, Italy. It is the capital of the Province of Livorno, having a population of 158,493 residents in December 2017. It is traditionally known in English as Leghorn (pronou ...

) is a former

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 ...

rugby union Rugby union, commonly known simply as rugby, is a close-contact team sport that originated at Rugby School in the first half of the 19th century. One of the two codes of rugby football, it is based on running with the ball in hand. In its m ...

player and coach and current sports director. He played as a flanker and a number 8. Since 21 March 2021 he's the president of the Italian rugby federation. He works as physician.

Playing career

He grew up playing for

but spent most of his career in

Padua Padua ( ; it, Padova ; vec, Pàdova) is a city and ''comune'' in Veneto, northern Italy. Padua is on the river Bacchiglione, west of Venice. It is the capital of the province of Padua. It is also the economic and communications hub of the ...

playing for

Petrarca Francesco Petrarca (; 20 July 1304 – 18/19 July 1374), commonly anglicized as Petrarch (), was a scholar and poet of early Renaissance Italy, and one of the earliest humanists. Petrarch's rediscovery of Cicero's letters is often credited w ...

, team with which he won four league titles (the last one as the

captain Captain is a title, an appellative for the commanding officer of a military unit; the supreme leader of a navy ship, merchant ship, aeroplane, spacecraft, or other vessel; or the commander of a port, fire or police department, election precinct, e ...

of the side). He made his international debut for

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 ...

in 1981 in the FIRA Trophy (a predecessor of the present-day

European Nations Cup European Nations Cup may refer to: *UEFA European Championship, formerly known as European Nations' Cup * Europcar Cup, a European Tour golf tournament * European Nations Cup (golf), a European Ladies Tour golf tournament * European Nations Cup (fi ...

) in a 23-0 win against

Western Germany The old states of Germany (german: die alten Länder) is a jargon referring to the ten of the sixteen states of the Federal Republic of Germany (FRG) that were part of West Germany and that unified with the eastern German Democratic Republic' ...

proceeding to win a total of 42 caps (20 as a captain) until his international retirement in 1988. He was the captain of Italy in the 1987 World Cup in which he played all the three games and scored one of his two international tries.

Coaching career

After his retirement and after having obtained a degree in medicine at the

Padua University The University of Padua ( it, Università degli Studi di Padova, UNIPD) is an Italian university located in the city of Padua, region of Veneto, northern Italy. The University of Padua was founded in 1222 by a group of students and teachers from B ...

and started a practice as an

otorhinolaryngologist Otorhinolaryngology ( , abbreviated ORL and also known as otolaryngology, otolaryngology–head and neck surgery (ORL–H&N or OHNS), or ear, nose, and throat (ENT)) is a surgical subspeciality within medicine that deals with the surgical a ...

, Innocenti started his coaching career by being part of

Bertrand Fourcade Bertrand Fourcade (born Laloubère, 27 December 1942) is a former French rugby union player, a current coach and a sports director. He played as a fullback. Fourcade has an average career as a player for FC Lourdes, where he won the French Champio ...

's staff at the

1991 Rugby World Cup The 1991 Rugby World Cup was the second edition of the Rugby World Cup, and was jointly hosted by England, Scotland, Wales, Ireland and France: at the time, the five European countries who participated in the Five Nations Championship. This was ...

and at the same time being in charge of the Italian "A" team alongside

Massimo Mascioletti Massimo Mascioletti (born 4 March 1958 in L'Aquila) is an Italian rugby union coach and a former player. He used to play as a wing and as a centre. Mascioletti had 54 caps for Italy Italy ( it, Italia ), officially the Italian Republic, ) ...

and

Stefano Romagnoli Stefano Romagnoli (born Bologna, 5 February 1955) is a former Italian rugby union player and currently, coach. He played as a prop. Career Born and grown in the Emilian capital. Bologna, He debuted at 16 years with Bologna in 1971; then, he move ...

. In 1991, after the World Cup, he took charge of CUS Padova, that he led until 1996 when the club, after having won its third promotion under Innocenti's guide, was admitted for the first and only time in its history to Serie A1 (now

Top12 The Top10, known as the Peroni Top10 for sponsorship reasons, and formerly Top 12, is Italy's top level professional men's rugby union competition. The Top 10 is run by Federazione Italiana Rugby (FIR) and is contested by 10 teams as of the 2019� ...

), the highest tier of Italian rugby. During his tenure, Innocenti unearthed such talents as internationals Nicola Mazzucato and

Gianluca Faliva Gianluca Faliva (born 26 December 1973) is a retired Italian rugby union player. He played as a loosehead prop forward. Early career Gianluca Faliva was born in Camposampiero, Padua, Italy, and did not start playing rugby until he was 20, when ...

. In 1996 he left the coaching role to become the club's Director of Rugby. In 2000 he was elected to the board of the

Federazione Italiana Rugby The Italian Rugby Federation ( it, Federazione Italiana Rugby) or FIR is the governing body for the sport of rugby union in Italy. The FIR has one seat on the 28-member World Rugby Council, the governing body of World Rugby. (All other members of ...

(FIR), role in which he was confirmed in 2004 after having been defeated by Giancarlo Dondi in his bid for presidency of the same organization. In 2005 Innocenti accepted to return to coaching for Valsugana Rugby, in Padua, leading the club to an immediate promotion. In 2008 he took charge of Rugby Riviera, in

Mira Mira (), designation Omicron Ceti (ο Ceti, abbreviated Omicron Cet, ο Cet), is a red-giant star estimated to be 200–400 light-years from the Sun in the constellation Cetus. ο Ceti is a binary stellar system, consisting of a varia ...

, also being promoted at the first attempt to

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 ...

, the national second tier league. In 2009 Marzio Innocenti made his debut as a first division coach with Casino di Venezia. The team, though, didn't perform as expected, and Innocenti was sacked at the end of October. In November he was re-hired by Rugby Riviera.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Innocenti, Marzio 1958 births Living people Italian rugby union players Italian rugby union coaches Sportspeople from Livorno Sportspeople from Padua Rugby union flankers Rugby union number eights Italy international rugby union players Petrarca Rugby players Italian physicians