Luigi "Gigi" Radice (; 15 January 1935 – 7 December 2018) was an Italian 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 player. A strong, tenacious, and consistent defender, he was usually deployed as a

left-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 ...

. As a manager, he was known for his use of "

zona mista Zona mista (; ), often referred as ''Mixed Plan'' () and, in the English-speaking world, to as ''The Game in Italian Style'' (); is a Football tactics and skills, tactic used in football in Italy, Italian association football mainly from the second ...

" tactics, and his early attempts to implement "pressing" and

zonal marking In association football, marking is an organized defensive tactic which aims to prevent a member of the opposing team (usually a striker) from taking control of the ball. Several marking strategies exist in football, and they mostly differ from e ...

tactics into his teams.

Club career

Radice 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 Cop ...

for teams such as

AC Milan Associazione Calcio Milan (), commonly referred to as AC Milan or simply Milan, is a professional football club in Milan, Italy, founded in 1899. The club has spent its entire history, with the exception of the 1980–81 and 1982–83 seaso ...

Triestina Unione Sportiva Triestina Calcio 1918, commonly referred to as Triestina, is an Italian football club based in Trieste, Friuli-Venezia Giulia. Originally founded in 1918, the club has been re-established several times in its history. As of the ...

and

Padova 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 ...

. Initially a member of the Milan Youth squad, he struggled to find space in the first team; he made his

debut with Milan on 25 March 1956, in a 0–0 away draw against

SPAL Società Polisportiva Ars et Labor, commonly known as S.P.A.L. (), is a professional football club based in Ferrara, Emilia-Romagna, Italy. The team plays in Serie B, the second tier of the Italian football league system. Founded in 1907, sinc ...

. He made only 19 appearances in total during his first three seasons at the club, as Milan won the 1956–57 and the 1958–59 Serie A titles. He subsequently moved to Triestina and Padova to gain more playing time, where he impressed fans before being recalled to Milan. During his second stint with the club, he played a pivotal role in helping Milan to win the

1961–62 Serie A The 1961–62 Serie A season was won by Milan. Teams Venezia, Mantova and Palermo had been promoted from Serie B. Final classification Results Top goalscorers References and sources *''Almanacco Illustrato del Calcio - La Storia 1898-20 ...

title and the

1962–63 European Cup The 1962–63 European Cup was the eighth season of the European Cup, a football competition for European clubs. The competition was won by Milan, who beat two-time defending champions Benfica in the final at Wembley Stadium in London. Milan ...

. However, serious injuries to his knee cut his playing career short, and he retired in 1965. In total, he made 95 appearances for Milan, 75 of which came in Serie A, scoring 1 goal throughout his Milan career, which came in Serie A.

International career

Radice was also a member of the

Italian squad 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 ...

for the World Cup in 1962, making two appearances at the tournament as Italy was eliminated in the first round; he made five appearances for Italy in total between 1961 and 1963.

Managerial career

Radice began his managerial career with Monza, winning the 1966–67 Serie C Girone A; he remained at the club from 1966 until 1971, apart from a year-long spell with

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 Ven ...

between 1968–69. After his experience with Treviso he moved to

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

, with whom he achieved the club's first promotion to

in 1972–73. He made his managerial debut in Serie A the following season with

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 ...

. After a brief time at Cagliari in 1975, Radice moved to

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 ...

, where he became the first and only coach to lead the club to the Scudetto since the Superga tragedy, winning the title during the 1975–76 season. Radice was awarded the ''Seminatore d'Oro'' that season as the best coach in Serie A. On 17 April 1979, he was involved in a car accident on the Autostrada dei Fiori in which former football player Paolo Barison lost his life. Radice was severely injured and hospitalised at

Imperia Imperia (; lij, Inpêia or ) is a coastal city and ''comune'' in the region of Liguria, Italy. It is the capital of the Province of Imperia, and historically it was capital of the ''Intemelia'' district of Liguria. Benito Mussolini created the ...

, a 56-year-old man was also killed in the crash. During the 1979–80 season, in February 1980, he left Turin. In 1980–81, Radice led

Bologna Bologna (, , ; egl, label=Emilian language, 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 1 ...

to a 7th-place finish despite starting the season with a 5-point penalty following the Totonero scandal. He coached Milan in the 1981–82 season, but was replaced by Italo Galbiati halfway through the season which ended with the relegation of the ''Rossoneri''. In 1983, he replaced Enrico Catuzzi as the manager of Bari in Serie B, coaching the ''Galletti'' for the remaining 13 games of the season. He managed

Inter Milan Football Club Internazionale Milano, commonly referred to as Internazionale () or simply Inter, and colloquially known as Inter Milan in English-speaking countries, is an Italian professional football club based in Milan, Lombardy. Inter is ...

in the 1983–84 season, then returned to Torino in 1984–85; notably achieving a second-place finish in his first season back. In 1989 he left Torino, subsequently managing Roma and Bologna. In the

1992–93 Year 199 ( CXCIX) was a common year starting on Monday (link will display the full calendar) of the Julian calendar. At the time, it was sometimes known as year 952 '' Ab urbe condita''. The denomination 199 for this year has been used since t ...

season Fiorentina was entrusted to Radice. The team started well, and at the turn of the year was sitting in second place, having scored 15 points in the first 13 matches. However, a mid-season feud with the club's chairman

Vittorio Cecchi Gori Vittorio Cecchi Gori (; born 27 April 1942) is an Italian film producer and politician. He pleaded guilty to bankruptcy and was sentenced in February 2020 to 8 years and 5 months of imprisonment. Born in Florence, Italy he is the son of Mar ...

led to the departure of Radice, and Fiorentina nose-dived in the standings. They scored only 15 more points in the remaining 21 matches, and finished only 16th. The result was relegation 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 ...

. Radice later returned to Cagliari in 1993–94, and in 1995 he managed

Genoa Genoa ( ; it, Genova ; lij, Zêna ). is the capital of the Italian region of Liguria and the sixth-largest city in Italy. In 2015, 594,733 people lived within the city's administrative limits. As of the 2011 Italian census, the Province of ...

. He ended his managerial coach where he had started, in Monza, with whom he obtained promotion to Serie B in the 1996–97 season.

Personal life

On 26 April 2015, his son revealed that his father was suffering from Alzheimer's disease. Radice died on 7 December 2018.

Honours

Player

AC Milan *

: 1956–57, 1958–59, 1961–62 * European Cup: 1962–63

Manager

Torino *

: 1975–76 Monza *

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 ...

(Girone A): 1966–67

Individual

*Seminatore d'oro: 1975–76 *AC Milan Hall of Fame * Torino F.C. Hall of Fame: 2014 * Italian Football Hall of Fame: 2019

References

External links

AC Milan.com
{{DEFAULTSORT:Radice, Luigi 1935 births 2018 deaths Sportspeople from the Metropolitan City of Milan Italy international footballers A.C. Milan players U.S. Triestina Calcio 1918 players Calcio Padova players Serie A players Serie B players Italian football managers A.C. Monza managers A.C. Cesena managers Torino F.C. managers A.C. Milan managers Inter Milan managers A.S. Roma managers ACF Fiorentina managers S.S.C. Bari managers Serie A managers 1962 FIFA World Cup players Association football defenders Italian footballers Deaths from dementia in Italy Deaths from Alzheimer's disease Footballers from Lombardy