Antonello Cuccureddu (, ; 4 October 1949) is an Italian

association football Association football, more commonly known as football or soccer, is a team sport played between two teams of 11 players who primarily use their feet to propel the ball around a rectangular field called a pitch. The objective of the game is ...

coach Coach may refer to: Guidance/instruction * Coach (sport), a director of athletes' training and activities * Coaching, the practice of guiding an individual through a process ** Acting coach, a teacher who trains performers Transportation * Co ...

and former player who played as a defender. He last managed

Lega Pro Prima Divisione Lega Pro Prima Divisione was the third highest 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. Before the 1978 ...

club

Grosseto Grosseto () is a city and ''comune'' in the central Italian region of Tuscany, the capital of the Province of Grosseto. The city lies from the Tyrrhenian Sea, in the Maremma, at the centre of an alluvial plain on the Ombrone river. It is the ...

in 2014.

Club career

central defender In the sport of association football, a defender is an outfield position whose primary role is to stop attacks during the game and prevent the opposition from scoring. Centre-backs are usually positioned in pairs, with one full-back on either s ...

, Cuccureddu spent his club playing career with

Brescia Brescia (, locally ; lmo, link=no, label= Lombard, Brèsa ; lat, Brixia; vec, Bressa) is a city and ''comune'' in the region of Lombardy, Northern Italy. It is situated at the foot of the Alps, a few kilometers from the lakes Garda and Iseo ...

(1968–69), Juventus (1969–81, winning six

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 ...

titles), and

Fiorentina ACF Fiorentina, commonly referred to as Fiorentina (), is an Italian professional football club based in Florence, Tuscany, Italy. The original team was founded by a merger in August 1926, while the actual club was refounded in August 2002 fol ...

(1981–83). Rather prolific for being a defender (he had a very strong long distance shot), in one league season he managed to score 12 goals (during the 1973–74 Italian

season), although in that season he 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 ...

. His most famous goal in the league was scored at the Stadio Olimpico in

Rome , established_title = Founded , established_date = 753 BC , founder = King Romulus (legendary) , image_map = Map of comune of Rome (metropolitan city of Capital Rome, region Lazio, Italy).svg , map_caption ...

, facing

A.S. Roma ' (''Rome Sport Association''), commonly referred to as Roma (), is a professional football club based in Rome, Italy. Founded by a merger in 1927, Roma has participated in the top tier of Italian football for all of its existence, except for ...

in the last match of the

1972–73 Serie A The 1972–73 Serie A season was won by Juventus. Teams Ternana, Lazio and Palermo had been promoted from Serie B while Mantova, Catanzaro and Varese was relegated to Serie B. That was the last season for Mantova in Serie A. Final classific ...

season: with that goal Juventus beat Roma 2–1 and won their 15th domestic title by 1 point over

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 were leading the league until the final match of the season, and finished 2 points over S.S. Lazio.

International career

At international level, Cuccureddu earned 13 caps for the

Italy national football team The Italy national football team ( it, Nazionale di calcio dell'Italia) has represented Italy in international football since its first match in 1910. The national team is controlled by the Italian Football Federation (FIGC), the governing bo ...

, and played in the 1978 FIFA World Cup (where he featured in 5 fixtures, including the match against

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 ...

, which Italy won 1–0, and the 3rd place final against

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 ...

, which Italy lost 1–2).

Style of play

Cuccureddu was a hard-working and tactically versatile footballer, who was capable of aiding his team both offensively and defensively, and of playing anywhere in

defence Defense or defence may refer to: Tactical, martial, and political acts or groups * Defense (military), forces primarily intended for warfare * Civil defense, the organizing of civilians to deal with emergencies or enemy attacks * Defense indus ...

midfield Midfield is the part of a sports field that lies approximately in the center. In American football, association football (soccer) and field hockey, it is the area in and around the center circle, as well as the players who occupy that region. In ...

. Throughout his career, he was primarily deployed as a defender, and was capable of playing as an offensive wing-back, as a full-back, or as a centre-back, which was his usual position. He also played in midfield on occasion, which was his initial position at the beginning of his career, and was deployed as a mezzala, as a central,

box-to-box 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 ...

defensive 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 boundari ...

, or

attacking 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 ...

on occasion. 1973–74 Serie A - Juventus FC v AS Roma - Cuccureddu's goal

As a footballer, he was known in particular for his dynamism, stamina, his ability to read the game, vision, and tactical intelligence. Although he was primarily a defensive-minded player, he was quite prolific in front of goal throughout his career, as he possessed an accurate and powerful shot with his right foot from outside the area, which also made him a dangerous goal threat; due to his striking ability, he was an accurate set-piece and

penalty kick A penalty shot or penalty kick is a play used in several sports whereby a goal is attempted during untimed play. Depending on the sport, when a player commits certain types of penalties, the opposition is awarded a penalty shot or kick attempt. ...

taker.

Managerial career

As a coach, he won both the

Torneo di Viareggio The Torneo di Viareggio ( en, Viareggio Tournament), officially named the Viareggio Cup World Football Tournament Coppa Carnevale, is a youth association football tournament held annually in the commune of Viareggio, Italy and its surrounding are ...

and the Campionato Nazionale Primavera in 1994 with the Juventus Primavera side. During the 1999–2000 Serie C1 season, he led Crotone to the Girone B title, helping the club to

Serie B The Serie B (), currently named Serie BKT for sponsorship reasons, is the second-highest division in the Italian football league system after the Serie A. It has been operating for over ninety years since the 1929–30 season. It had been ...

promotion. In the 2006–07 season he led

to become

Serie C1/A Lega Pro Prima Divisione was the third highest 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. Before the 1978� ...

winners and gain a historical first-ever promotion to

. Cuccureddu left Grosseto soon after the end of the season to join Serie C1 club

Perugia Perugia (, , ; lat, Perusia) is the capital city of Umbria in central Italy, crossed by the River Tiber, and of the province of Perugia. The city is located about north of Rome and southeast of Florence. It covers a high hilltop and pa ...

, where he did not manage to repeat his successes at Grosseto. From March 2009 he was the new head coach of

side

Pescara Pescara (; nap, label= Abruzzese, Pescàrë; nap, label= Pescarese, Piscàrë) is the capital city of the Province of Pescara, in the Abruzzo region of Italy. It is the most populated city in Abruzzo, with 119,217 (2018) residents (and approxim ...

; this adventure ended in January 2010, when he was replaced by

Eusebio Di Francesco Eusebio Di Francesco (; born 8 September 1969) is an Italian manager, and former professional footballer who played as a midfielder. Club career Di Francesco started his career with Tuscan teams Empoli and Lucchese. In 1995, he joined Piacenza ...

, former coach of Lanciano. In 2013, he returned to Grosseto in Lega Pro Prima Divisione, where he remained until January 2014, after being sacked, due to the club's negative results.

Coaching tactics

As a coach, Cuccureddu built his teams on tactically traditional formations, based on defensive stability, favouring a four-man defensive line in either a

4–4–2 In association football, the formation of a team refers to the position players take in relation to each other on a pitch. As association football is a fluid and fast-moving game, a player's position (with the exception of the goalkeeper) in a ...

, or a 4–3–1–2 formation.

Honours

Player

;Juventus * 6

: 1971–72, 1972–73, 1974–75, 1976–77, 1977–78, 1980–81 * 1

Coppa Italia The ("Italy Cup") is an annual knockout cup competition in Italian football organized by the FIGC until the 2009–10 season and the Lega Serie A ever since. History The beginning of the tournament was turbulent, due to the complexity of ...

: 1978–79 * 1

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 solids for pouring (e.g., sugar, flour, grains, salt). Cups may be made of glass, metal, china, clay ...

: 1976–77

Manager

;Juventus Primavera *

1994 File:1994 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The 1994 Winter Olympics are held in Lillehammer, Norway; The Kaiser Permanente building after the 1994 Northridge earthquake; A model of the MS Estonia, which sank in the Baltic Sea; Nelson ...

* Campionato Nazionale Primavera: 1993–94 ;Crotone * Serie C1 (Girone B): 1999–2000 ;Grosseto * Serie C1 (Girone A): 2006–07

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Cuccureddu, Antonello 1949 births Living people Footballers from Sardinia Association football defenders Association football midfielders Italian footballers Italian football managers Italy international footballers Italy under-21 international footballers 1978 FIFA World Cup players Serie A players Serie B players Serie C players Brescia Calcio players Juventus F.C. players ACF Fiorentina players Novara F.C. players People from Alghero U.S. Avellino 1912 managers F.C. Crotone managers F.C. Grosseto S.S.D. managers Ternana Calcio managers A.C. Perugia Calcio managers Delfino Pescara 1936 managers UEFA Cup winning players S.E.F. Torres 1903 players Pol. Alghero players