Lorenzo Minotti (; born 8 February 1967) is an Italian former professional

footballer A football player or footballer is a sportsperson who plays one of the different types of football. The main types of football are association football, American football, Canadian football, Australian rules football, Gaelic football, rugby le ...

who played as a defender. Throughout his club career, he played for Italian sides

Cesena Cesena (; rgn, Cisêna) is a city and ''comune'' in the Emilia-Romagna region of Italy, served by Autostrada A14, and located near the Apennine Mountains, about from the Adriatic Sea. The total population is 97,137. History Cesena was o ...

Parma Parma (; egl, Pärma, ) is a city in the northern Italian region of Emilia-Romagna known for its architecture, Giuseppe Verdi, music, art, prosciutto (ham), Parmigiano-Reggiano, cheese and surrounding countryside. With a population of 198,292 ...

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 ...

Torino Turin ( , Piedmontese: ; it, Torino ) is a city and an important business and cultural centre in Northern Italy. It is the capital city of Piedmont and of the Metropolitan City of Turin, and was the first Italian capital from 1861 to 1865. T ...

, and

Treviso Treviso ( , ; vec, Trevixo) is a city and ''comune'' in the Veneto region of northern Italy. It is the capital of the province of Treviso and the municipality has 84,669 inhabitants (as of September 2017). Some 3,000 live within the Veneti ...

; he is mostly remembered for his successful stint with Parma, where he won several domestic and international titles as the club's

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 ...

. At international level, he represented

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 ...

on eight occasions between 1994 and 1995, and was a non-playing member of the team that reached the 1994 FIFA World Cup Final.

Personal life

Born in

Emilia-Romagna egl, Emigliàn (man) egl, Emiglièna (woman) rgn, Rumagnòl (man) rgn, Rumagnòla (woman) it, Emiliano (man) it, Emiliana (woman) or it, Romagnolo (man) it, Romagnola (woman) , population_note = , population_blank1_title ...

, in 1967, Minotti later grew up in San Giorgio, where he began to play football as a youth in the town's polisportiva, also competing in judo and athletics. He later joined the

Youth squad at the age of 8, later making his professional debut with the senior side. Minotti and his wife Debora have two children: Alex, who plays football for the

Bologna Bologna (, , ; egl, label= Emilian, Bulåggna ; lat, Bononia) is the capital and largest city of the Emilia-Romagna region in Northern Italy. It is the seventh most populous city in Italy with about 400,000 inhabitants and 150 different nat ...

youth side, and Andrea.

Club career

Minotti started his professional career his in 1985 with his hometown club

Serie B The Serie B (), currently named Serie Balkrishna Industries, 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 ...

, at the age of 18, and he subsequently played in

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 ...

with

(1987–1996) for most of his career, followed by spells with

(1996–97),

(1997–2000), and

(2000–2001). In total, he played 201 matches and scored 19 goals in Serie A, and during his successful time with Parma under manager

Nevio Scala Nevio Scala (; born 22 November 1947) is an Italian football sporting director, coach and former player. Throughout his footballing career, he played as a midfielder for several Italian clubs, and won several titles during his time with A.C. Mil ...

, he won two

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 ...

titles, one

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 ...

, an

UEFA Super Cup The UEFA Super Cup is an annual super cup football match organised by UEFA and contested by the winners of the two main European club competitions; the UEFA Champions League and UEFA Europa League. The competition's official name was originall ...

, and one

UEFA Cup Winners' Cup The UEFA Cup Winners' Cup was a European football club competition contested annually by the winners of domestic cup competitions. The cup was, chronologically, the second seasonal inter-European club competition organised by UEFA. The tournam ...

in 1993, also receiving Runners-up medals in the

1995 Supercoppa Italiana The 1995 Supercoppa Italiana was a match contested by Juventus, the 1994–95 Serie A winner, Parma, the 1994–95 Coppa Italia runner-up, since Juventus had won both trophies in the 1994–95 season. It was the second appearance for both teams, ...

, and the

1996–97 Serie A The 1996–97 Serie A title was won by Juventus, under head coach Marcello Lippi. Cagliari, Perugia, Hellas Verona and Reggiana were relegated. Teams Bologna, Hellas Verona, Perugia and Reggiana had been promoted from Serie B. Events Follow ...

. The victorious

1993 European Cup Winners' Cup Final The 1993 European Cup Winners' Cup Final was a football match contested between Parma of Italy and Royal Antwerp of Belgium. The final was held at Wembley Stadium in London, England on 12 May 1993. It was the final match of the 1992–93 European ...

game over

Royal Antwerp F.C. Royal Antwerp Football Club, often referred to as Royal Antwerp or simply Antwerp, is a Belgian football club based in the city of Antwerp. Founded around 1880 as ''Antwerp Cricket Club'' by English students residing in Antwerp, 15 years before ...

was played at the

Wembley Stadium Wembley Stadium (branded as Wembley Stadium connected by EE for sponsorship reasons) is a football stadium in Wembley, London. It opened in 2007 on the site of the Wembley Stadium (1923), original Wembley Stadium, which was demolished from 200 ...

, and Minotti opened the scoring with a notable volley as the Italians went on to win 3–1. Minotti is regarded as one of the best players in Parma's history, and he served as the club's captain for many years.

International career

Minotti won 8 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 ...

between 1994 and 1995. He received his first international call-up for Italy's match against

Switzerland ). Swiss law does not designate a ''capital'' as such, but the federal parliament and government are installed in Bern, while other federal institutions, such as the federal courts, are in other cities (Bellinzona, Lausanne, Luzern, Neuchâtel ...

on 14 October 1992, although he only made his first appearance for Italy on 16 February 1994, in a 1–0 home defeat to

France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of Overseas France, overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic, Pacific Ocean, Pac ...

. He was also chosen by manager

Arrigo Sacchi Arrigo Sacchi (born 1 April 1946) is an Italian former professional football coach. He has twice managed AC Milan (1987–1991, 1996–1997), with great success. He won the Serie A title in his 1987–88 debut season and then dominated European ...

for Italy's roster at the

1994 FIFA World Cup The 1994 FIFA World Cup was the 15th FIFA World Cup, the world championship for men's national soccer teams. It was hosted by the United States and took place from June 17 to July 17, 1994, at nine venues across the country. The United States ...

, without playing any games in the final tournament, as Italy reached the 1994 FIFA World Cup final.1994 FIFA World Cup: Italy Squad
''

FIFA FIFA (; stands for ''Fédération Internationale de Football Association'' ( French), meaning International Association Football Federation ) is the international governing body of association football, beach football and futsal. It was found ...

''. Retrieved 22 January 2010.

Style of play

A fast, powerful, modern, and tactically versatile left-footed defender, Minotti was capable of playing anywhere along the defensive line, both as a

centre-back 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 ...

, or on occasion as a full-back, although his main role was that of a

sweeper Sweepers are small, tropical marine (occasionally brackish) perciform fish of the family Pempheridae. Found in the western Atlantic Ocean and Indo-Pacific region, the family contains about 26 species in two genera. One species (''Pempheris xanth ...

. A correct, consistent, hard-working, and intelligent player, he was known for his marking and the timing of his challenges, as well as his leadership, and his ability to read the game, which made him an important member of Parma's starting line-up in the 90s, leading him to become the club's captain and to be called up for the Italian national side. Minotti was also known for his excellent ability in the air and for his adeptness at making attacking runs, which allowed him to contribute to his team's offensive play with several goals throughout his career, despite being a defender; a powerful and accurate striker of the ball, he was also capable of scoring from volleys and

curling Curling is a sport in which players slide stones on a sheet of ice toward a target area which is segmented into four concentric circles. It is related to bowls, boules, and shuffleboard. Two teams, each with four players, take turns sliding ...

free-kicks.

Post-playing career

After retiring from football, he became team manager of his former club

from 2002 to 2004. He then became director of football of

from 2007 to 2009, and again from June 2010 to May 2012. In 2015, he worked as a football commentator for

Sky Italia Sky Italia S.r.l. is an Italian satellite television platform owned by the American media conglomerate Comcast. Sky Italia also broadcasts three national free-to-air television channels: TV8, Cielo and Sky TG24. As of 2018, following an agree ...

. Later that year, he was named the head of the technical sector of Parma, following the club's relegation to Serie D due to bankruptcy.

Honours

Club

Parma *

: 1991–92 *

: 1992–93 *

1993 File:1993 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The Oslo I Accord is signed in an attempt to resolve the Israeli–Palestinian conflict; The Russian White House is shelled during the 1993 Russian constitutional crisis; Czechoslovakia is peace ...

: 1994–95

International

Italy *

FIFA World Cup The FIFA World Cup, often simply called the World Cup, is an international association football competition contested by the senior men's national teams of the members of the ' ( FIFA), the sport's global governing body. The tournament ha ...

: Runner-up

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 Sinking of the MS Estonia, sank in ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Minotti, Lorenzo 1967 births Living people Footballers from Cesena Italian men's footballers Italy men's international footballers Men's association football defenders AC Cesena players Parma Calcio 1913 players Cagliari Calcio players Torino FC players Treviso FBC 1993 players Serie A players Serie B players 1994 FIFA World Cup players UEFA Cup winning players