Renato Zaccarelli (; born 18 January 1951) is a former Italian 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 ...

and

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 ...

who 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 ...

Club career

Serie A 1976-77, Perugia Torino 1-1, Aldo Agroppi e Renato Zaccarelli

After

Giorgio Ferrini Giorgio Ferrini (; 18 August 1939 – 8 November 1976) was an Italian football manager and former football player who played as a midfielder. Nicknamed ''La Diga'' ('The Dam') for his qualities as a defensive midfielder, Ferrini played for Torin ...

and

Paolo Pulici Paolo Pulici (; born 27 April 1950) is an Italian football manager and former footballer who played as a striker. With 172 goals in all competitions, he is the all-time record goalscorer for Torino. He had several nicknames: amongst the most f ...

, Zaccarelli is the third player with the most appearances for

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 ...

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 ...

. He began his career in the youth ranks of ''Junior Ancona'', a historical team in the doric district of Vallemiano; at age 15 he entered the Torino youth system, then was sold to gain experience in

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 ...

with Catania and

Novara Novara (, Novarese: ) is the capital city of the province of Novara in the Piedmont region in northwest Italy, to the west of Milan. With 101,916 inhabitants (on 1 January 2021), it is the second most populous city in Piedmont after Turin. It i ...

, up until his debut in Serie A with

Verona Verona ( , ; vec, Verona or ) is a city on the Adige River in Veneto, Italy, with 258,031 inhabitants. It is one of the seven provincial capitals of the region. It is the largest city municipality in the region and the second largest in nor ...

in 1973. He returned to Turin in the summer of 1974; forming an exceptional midfield with Eraldo Pecci, Claudio Sala and

Patrizio Sala Patrizio Sala (; born 16 June 1955) is an Italian former football manager and former football player who played as a midfielder. Club career Sala was born in Bellusco, Lombardy. During his club career he played for Serie A clubs, Torino (1975� ...

the following season. He won the '' Scudetto'' with Torino in the 1975–76 season. He retired at the end of the 1986–87 season with the ''Granata'', having made 413 appearances and scored 21 goals in all competitions.

International career

Zaccarelli represented the Italy national football team for five years, making 25 appearances and scoring two goals. He participated at the 1978 FIFA World Cup in

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 ...

, where Italy finished fourth. He was played from bench as second to

Giancarlo Antognoni Giancarlo Antognoni (; born 1 April 1954) is an Italian former professional footballer who played as a midfielder. A skillful and creative offensive playmaker, regarded as one of the best Italian players of all time in his position, he played mos ...

, eventually making five appearances scoring one goal; that of a 2–1 comeback victory against

France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic, Pacific and Indian Oceans. Its metropolitan area ...

Style of play

Zaccarelli was a traditional

advanced playmaker 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 ...

, who was elegant, practical and a consistent performer in midfield. Towards the end of his career he was moved back on the pitch and reinvented himself as a libero, almost as an additional midfielder. In this role he lived a second youth, to the point he was awarded the ''

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 ...

'' in 1986 as the best footballer of the 1985–86 season.

Managerial career

After hanging up his boots, Zaccarelli alternated his managerial career with that of an executive. He was the

director of football A sporting director, or director of sport, is an executive management position in a sports club. The role is well known as a manager role for European football clubs, which are sometime also "sports clubs", offering many types of sports. The sport ...

of Torino under the presidency of Roberto Goveani, then team manager under Gianmarco Calleri. In the 1992–93 season, he was named the director of football of Alessandria. He began his managerial career in service of the Italy under-21 Serie B representative team, then was assistant coach of the Italy under-21. He returned to Torino in 2002 as head of the youth system, then as

general manager A general manager (GM) is an executive who has overall responsibility for managing both the revenue and cost elements of a company's income statement, known as profit & loss (P&L) responsibility. A general manager usually oversees most or all of ...

in 2003, replacing

Sandro Mazzola Alessandro "Sandro" Mazzola (; born 8 November 1942) is an Italian former professional footballer, who played as a forward or attacking midfielder for Internazionale and the Italy national team. He currently works as a football analyst and co ...

. He would later coach Torino during the 2002–03 season (succeeding

Renzo Ulivieri Renzo Ulivieri (born 2 February 1941) is an Italian association football manager. He is the current chairman of the ''Associazione Italiana Allenatori Calcio'' (Italian Football Managers' Association). Career After a very short playing career as ...

) then in the 2004–05 Serie B season, taking over for Ezio Rossi prior to the promotion

playoffs The playoffs, play-offs, postseason or finals of a sports league are a competition played after the regular season by the top competitors to determine the league champion or a similar accolade. Depending on the league, the playoffs may be eit ...

, won in the final against

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 ...

. The later would prove decisive for the fate of the club: while not being promoted to

by virtue of the Covisoc decisions, Torino were subsequently allowed to stay in

under the law

Lodo Petrucci ("Article 52 of the Italian Football Federation regulations for internal organisation") governs the status of phoenix clubs of football in Italy. The article was revised in 2004, 2008, 2010, and 2014. Many Commas, or paragraphs, are present thr ...

under the guidance of

Urbano Cairo Urbano Cairo (born 21 May 1957) is an Italian businessman and chairman of Torino F.C. Cairo is a native of Milan. His principal business interest is in Cairo Communication, a business which he founded. At as mid-2016, Cairo via U.T. Communica ...

. In 2005–06 he moved to

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 ...

as the director of football.

Honours

Club

; Torino *

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 ...

: 1970–71 *

: 1975–76

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 ...

: 1986

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Zaccarelli, Renato 1951 births Living people Italian footballers Italy international footballers Association football midfielders Serie A players Serie B players Torino F.C. players Hellas Verona F.C. players Novara F.C. players Catania S.S.D. players 1978 FIFA World Cup players UEFA Euro 1980 players Sportspeople from Ancona Footballers from Marche