Luciano Castellini (; born 12 December 1945) is an Italian former football

manager Management (or managing) is the administration of an organization, whether it is a business, a nonprofit organization, or a government body. It is the art and science of managing resources of the business. Management includes the activities ...

and former football player who played as a

goalkeeper In many team sports which involve scoring goals, the goalkeeper (sometimes termed goaltender, netminder, GK, goalie or keeper) is a designated player charged with directly preventing the opposing team from scoring by blocking or intercepting o ...

Club career

Castellini was born in

Milan Milan ( , , Lombard: ; it, Milano ) is a city in northern Italy, capital of Lombardy, and the second-most populous city proper in Italy after Rome. The city proper has a population of about 1.4 million, while its metropolitan city h ...

. During his club career he initially played for Monza (1965–70), winning the

Serie C The Serie C () is the third-highest division in the Italian football league system after the Serie B and Serie A. The Lega Italiana Calcio Professionistico (Lega Pro) is the governing body that runs the Serie C. The unification of the Lega Pro ...

title, and promotion 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 ...

during the 1966–67 season. He later made his

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 ...

debut with

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 ...

(1970–78) on 30 August 1970, in a 1–0 away win over

Ternana Ternana Calcio, commonly referred to as Ternana, is an Italian football club based in Terni, Umbria. The club was founded in 1925 and refounded in 1993. In its history, Ternana has twice played in Serie A (in the 1972–73 and 1974–75 seas ...

; during his time with the club, he won the

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 ...

in 1971, and the

during the 1975–76 season, collecting 201 Serie A appearances over eight seasons with the club, and 267 club appearances across all competitions. Luciano Castellini - AC Torino 1974-75

He ended his career with

Napoli Naples (; it, Napoli ; nap, Napule ), from grc, Νεάπολις, Neápolis, lit=new city. is the regional capital of Campania and the third-largest city of Italy, after Rome and Milan, with a population of 909,048 within the city's adminis ...

(1978–85), after seven seasons with the club, collecting 203 appearances in Serie A. In total, he made 404 appearances in Serie A, and he is one of the few players to have made over 200 appearances with two different clubs, which he managed both with Torino and Napoli. During his third season with Napoli, Castellini went unbeaten for 531 consecutive minutes, which at the time, was a record bettered only by

Dino Zoff Dino Zoff (; born 28 February 1942) is an Italian former professional footballer who played as a goalkeeper. He is the oldest ever winner of the World Cup, which he earned as captain of the Italian national team in the 1982 tournament, at th ...

, who had gone unbeaten for 590 minutes.

International career

Castellini was included in the Italy national team for the 1974 FIFA World Cup; he was an unused substitute, behind Dino Zoff and

Enrico Albertosi Enrico "Ricky" Albertosi (; born 2 November 1939) is an Italian former footballer who played as a goalkeeper. Regarded as one of Italy's greatest ever goalkeepers, he had a successful club career, winning titles with Fiorentina, Cagliari, and Mi ...

, who kept him out of the national side. He earned the only international cap in his career on 26 January 1977, coming on as a substitute in a 2–1 win over

Belgium Belgium, ; french: Belgique ; german: Belgien officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a country in Northwestern Europe. The country is bordered by the Netherlands to the north, Germany to the east, Luxembourg to the southeast, France to th ...

Managerial career

In 1997, he coached

Inter Inter may refer to: Association football clubs * Inter Milan, an Italian club * SC Internacional, a Brazilian club * Inter Miami CF, an American club * FC Inter Sibiu, a Romanian club * FC Inter Turku, a Finnish club * FK Inter Bratislava, a form ...

for the last two Serie A matches, after the dismissal of Roy Hodgson, helping the club to a third-place finish in

. He is currently a member of the Italy U21 staff, and he has also worked with the

youth side as a goalkeeping coach, and as a scout, since 1989.

Style of play

Castellini was an agile, courageous, flexible, and acrobatic goalkeeper, who possessed excellent reflexes, and who excelled in the air due to his athletic ability; he was also known for his speed when rushing off his line, as well as his ability to come out and punch the ball out of the area. During his time at

, he was given the nickname " The Jaguar" by the fans, due to his diving and shot-stopping ability. Considered one of the best Italian goalkeepers of his generation, he is also regarded by many pundits and fans as one of Torino's best goalkeepers, and also as Napoli's greatest goalkeeper of all time, despite being unable to win a trophy with the latter club, and was awarded the league's "Best goalkeeper" award by '' Guerin Sportivo'' on several occasions for his performances.

Honours

Torino *

: 1975–76 *

: 1970–71 Monza *

: 1966–67 Individual *

Guerin d'Oro The Guerin d'Oro ''(Golden Guerin)'' was an annual award which was handed out by the Italian magazine ''Guerin Sportivo'' to the best Serie A football player. The first winner of the award was Claudio Sala, while the last was Carlos Tevez. Hist ...

: 1980 * Torino FC Hall of Fame: 2016

References

External links

{{DEFAULTSORT:Castellini, Luciano 1945 births Living people Footballers from Milan Italian men's footballers Men's association football goalkeepers AC Monza players Torino FC players SSC Napoli players Serie A players Serie B players Serie C players Italy men's international footballers 1974 FIFA World Cup players Italian football managers Inter Milan managers