Massimo Mauro (born 24 May 1962) is an Italian politician and a former professional

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kicking a ball to score a goal. Unqualified, the word ''football'' normally means the form of football that is the most popular where the word is used. Sports commonly c ...

player, who played as a midfielder. A hard working and tactically intelligent team-player, throughout his career, he was known in particular for his technique and crossing ability on the right-flank. Despite not being particularly quick, due to his stocky physique, he was able to excel in this position due to his vision and positional sense, as well as his control and strength, which allowed him to hold up the ball for teammates. His brother Gregorio also played football professionally.

Club career

Born in Catanzaro, Mauro began his playing with local side Catanzaro in 1979. He made his Serie A debut with Catanzaro on 27 April 1980, in a 3–0 home defeat to A.C. Milan; he remained there until 1982. He then went on to play with Udinese (1982–85),

Juventus Juventus Football Club (from la, iuventūs, 'youth'; ), colloquially known as Juve (), is a professional Association football, football club based in Turin, Piedmont, Italy, that competes in the Serie A, the top tier of the Italian football leagu ...

(1985–1989), and Napoli (1989–1993), before retiring from professional football in 1993 due to back problems at the age of 31. During his club career he won the ''

scudetto The ''scudetto'' (Italian language, Italian for: "little shield") is a decoration having the colors of the flag of Italy which is sewn onto the jersey of the Italian sports clubs that won the highest level championship of their respective sport in ...

'' twice, once with Juventus in

1986 The year 1986 was designated as the International Year of Peace by the United Nations. Events January * January 1 ** Aruba gains increased autonomy from the Netherlands by separating from the Netherlands Antilles. **Spain and Portugal ente ...

, and once with Napoli in

1990 File:1990 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The 1990 FIFA World Cup is played in Italy; The Human Genome Project is launched; Voyager I takes the famous Pale Blue Dot image- speaking on the fragility of Humankind, humanity on Earth, Astroph ...

, as well as an Intercontinental Cup with Juventus in

1985 The year 1985 was designated as the International Youth Year by the United Nations. Events January * January 1 ** The Internet's Domain Name System is created. ** Greenland withdraws from the European Economic Community as a result of a ...

, and the

Supercoppa Italiana The Supercoppa Italiana ( en, Italian Super Cup) is an annual football match contested by the winners of the Serie A and the Coppa Italia in the previous season. If the same team wins both the Serie A and Coppa Italia titles in the previous seaso ...

with Napoli in

. During his club career, Mauro was able to play alongside three of the greatest footballers of the 80s: Zico (with Udinese), Michel Platini (with Juventus), and

Diego Armando Maradona Diego Armando Maradona (; 30 October 196025 November 2020) was an Argentine professional football player and manager. Widely regarded as one of the greatest players in the history of the sport, he was one of the two joint winners of the FI ...

(with Napoli).

International career

Although he was never capped for Italy at senior level during his career, he represented the

Italy national under-21 football team The Italy national under-21 football team is the national under-21 football team of Italy and is controlled by the Italian Football Federation. The team competes in the UEFA European Under-21 Championship, held every two years. Italy (along with ...

on 17 occasions between 1980 and 1984, scoring a goal; he took part at the

1982 Events January * January 1 – In Malaysia and Singapore, clocks are adjusted to the same time zone, UTC+8 (GMT+8.00). * January 13 – Air Florida Flight 90 crashes shortly after takeoff into the 14th Street bridges, 14th Street Bridge in ...

and

1984 Events January * January 1 – The Bornean Sultanate of Brunei gains full independence from the United Kingdom, having become a British protectorate in 1888. * January 7 – Brunei becomes the sixth member of the Association of Southeast A ...

UEFA European Under-21 Championships with the under-21 side, reaching the semi-final of the tournament in 1984. He also represented Italy at the 1988 Summer Olympics, where they finished in fourth place after reaching the semi-final.

Post-playing career

In 1996, he entered into politics, being elected in

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to Italian Chamber of Deputies as The Olive Tree coalition candidate. From 1997 to 1999 he also served as chairman of football club Genoa. In May 2006 he was elected city councillor of Turin, and is currently a registered member of the centre-left Democratic Party. He is currently working as a football commentator for Sky Sport in Italy, and collaborates with the Italian newspaper '' La Repubblica''. Mauro also founded a charitable foundation together with

Gianluca Vialli Gianluca Vialli (; born 9 July 1964) is an Italian former football manager and player who played as a striker. Since retiring, he has gone into management, punditry and worked previously as a commentator for Sky Sport Italia. He is currently ...

in order to raise funds for research into cancer and amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS).

Controversy

On 23 November 2014, after Napoli-Cagliari 3-3, Mauro poked Cagliari's manager

Zdeněk Zeman Zdeněk Zeman (; born 12 May 1947) is a Czech-Italian football coach. Known for his exciting, offensive footballing tactics and use of the 4–3–3 formation, Zeman has managed numerous teams over the years, mostly in Italian football. He has ...

, insinuating that his teams lack balance, something that clashes with the fact that, in Italy, winning teams are those which concede less goals. Zeman, largely known for his hyper-attacking style of play, silenced Mauro, on the one hand, stating that "if you score one goal more than the opponent, you don't care about conceded goals", on the other, reminding the journalist of his Lazio side finishing second with the best defence in the Serie A 1994–1995. Funnily enough, in spite of a speechless Mauro, Lazio conceded 34 goals in the aforementioned Serie A campaign, as many as Inter, and more than Roma (25), Parma (31), Juventus (32) and Milan (32).

Honours

Player

Club

Juventus * Serie A: 1985–86 * Intercontinental Cup:

Napoli *Serie A: 1989–90 *

References

External links

{{DEFAULTSORT:Mauro, Massimo 1962 births Living people People from Catanzaro Democratic Party of the Left politicians Democrats of the Left politicians Democratic Party (Italy) politicians Deputies of Legislature XIII of Italy Men's association football midfielders Italian footballers Serie A players U.S. Catanzaro 1929 players Udinese Calcio players Juventus F.C. players S.S.C. Napoli players Italy men's under-21 international footballers Olympic footballers of Italy Footballers at the 1988 Summer Olympics Italian football chairmen and investors Politicians of Calabria Footballers from Calabria Sportspeople from the Province of Catanzaro