Francesco Mancini (10 October 1968 – 30 March 2012) was an Italian

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kick (football), kicking a football (ball), ball to score a goal (sports), goal. Unqualified, football (word), the word ''football'' generally means the form of football t ...

player and coach. A

goalkeeper In many team sports that involve scoring goal (sport), 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 i ...

, he spent most of his career with

Foggia Foggia (, ; ; ) is a city and ''comune'' (municipality) of Apulia, in Southern Italy, capital of the province of Foggia. In 2013, its population was 153,143. Foggia is the main city of a plain called Tavoliere delle Puglie, Tavoliere, also know ...

during the 1990s.

Career

Early career

Mancini started his career at hometown club

Matera Matera (, ; Neapolitan language, Materano: ) is a city and the capital of the Province of Matera in the regions of Italy, region of Basilicata, in Southern Italy. With a history of continuous occupation dating back to the Palaeolithic (10th mi ...

in 1985. He later played for

Bisceglie Bisceglie (; ) is a city and municipality of 55,251 inhabitants in the province of Barletta-Andria-Trani, in the Apulia region (''Italian'': ''Puglia''), in southern Italy. The municipality has the fourth highest population in the province

in 1987.

Foggia

Mancini joined

in 1987 and remained with the club for a decade. He helped the club achieve

Serie A The Serie A (), officially known as Serie A Enilive in Italy and Serie A Made in Italy abroad for sponsorship reasons, is a professional association football league in Italy and the highest tier of the Italian football league system. Establish ...

promotion under manager Zdeněk Zeman, winning the

1990–91 Serie B The Serie B 1990–91 was the fifty-ninth tournament of this competition played in Italy since its creation. Teams Modena, Lucchese, Taranto and Salernitana had been promoted from Serie C, while Udinese, Verona, Cremonese and Ascoli had been ...

title. He played two

Serie B The Serie B (), officially known as 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 b ...

games for Foggia in the 1995–96 season, before leaving on loan for

Lazio Lazio ( , ; ) or Latium ( , ; from Latium, the original Latin name, ) is one of the 20 Regions of Italy, administrative regions of Italy. Situated in the Central Italy, central peninsular section of the country, it has 5,714,882 inhabitants an ...

in November

1995 1995 was designated as: * United Nations Year for Tolerance * World Year of Peoples' Commemoration of the Victims of the Second World War This was the first year that the Internet was entirely privatized, with the United States government ...

. He returned to Foggia in the summer of 1996 and played another Serie B season with the club.

Bari

In summer 1997, he joined A.S. Bari of

, where he played 95 games in three Serie A seasons.

Napoli

In October 2000, he transferred to

Napoli Naples ( ; ; ) is the regional capital of Campania and the third-largest city of Italy, after Rome and Milan, with a population of 908,082 within the city's administrative limits as of 2025, while its province-level municipality is the thir ...

, to replace young keeper Ferdinando Coppola who had been sold to

Bologna Bologna ( , , ; ; ) is the capital and largest city of the Emilia-Romagna region in northern Italy. It is the List of cities in Italy, seventh most populous city in Italy, with about 400,000 inhabitants and 150 different nationalities. Its M ...

. His first choice place was lost to new signing Alberto Fontana in January 2001, however. He regained his first choice spot following Napoli's relegation to

. In the 2002–03 season, despite the presence of backup goalkeeper Marco Storari and subsequently Emanuele Manitta, he still made 27 appearances at age of 35.

Late career

In summer 2003, he joined

Pisa Pisa ( ; ) is a city and ''comune'' (municipality) in Tuscany, Central Italy, straddling the Arno just before it empties into the Ligurian Sea. It is the capital city of the Province of Pisa. Although Pisa is known worldwide for the Leaning Tow ...

Serie C1 Serie C1 was the third highest football league in Italy. It consisted of 36 teams, divided geographically into two divisions. History Before the 1978–79 season, there were only three professional football leagues in Italy, the third being Se ...

as Napoli choose to sign Manitta permanently. In January 2005, he transferred to Sambenedettese of Serie C1, in exchange for Domenico Di Dio. He then played for

Teramo Teramo (; ) is a city and ''comune'' in the Italian region of Abruzzo, the capital of the province of Teramo. The city, from Rome, is situated between the highest mountains of the Apennines ( Gran Sasso d'Italia) and the Adriatic coast. Th ...

Salernitana Unione Sportiva Salernitana 1919 is an Italian professional football club based in Salerno, Campania. The original club was founded in 1919 and has been reconstituted three times in the course of its history, most recently in 2011. The current ...

and A.C. Martina, all in Serie C1.

Post-playing career

During the 2009–10 season, he worked as the goalkeeping coach and the assistant coach of

Manfredonia Manfredonia () is a town and Comune, commune of Apulia, Italy, in the province of Foggia, from which it is northeast by rail. Manfredonia is situated on the coast, facing east, to the south of Monte Gargano, and gives its name to the Gulf of Manf ...

, who were playing in the

Lega Pro Seconda Divisione Serie C2 was the fourth highest football league in Italy, the lowest with a professional status. History Before the 1978–79 season, there were only three professional football leagues in Italy, the third being Serie C. The league menaging ...

league. In July 2010 he was appointed the new goalkeeping coach of his former club

, where he worked as part of the backroom staff of his mentor Zdeněk Zeman. Later on, in July 2011, he followed Zeman to

club

Pescara Pescara (; ; ) is the capital city of the province of Pescara, in the Abruzzo Regions of Italy, region of Italy. It is the most populated city in Abruzzo, with 118,657 (January 1, 2023) residents (and approximately 350,000 including the surround ...

Death

On 30 March 2012, 43-year-old Mancini was found dead at his

home by his wife after suffering a sudden heart attack.

Honours

Foggia *

: 1990–91

References

External links

2005-06 Profile at footballplus
{{DEFAULTSORT:Mancini, Francesco 1968 births 2012 deaths Italian men's footballers FC Matera players Calcio Foggia 1920 players SS Lazio players SSC Bari players SSC Napoli players Pisa SC players US Salernitana 1919 players SSD Martina Calcio 1947 players US Sambenedettese players Serie A players Serie B players Men's association football goalkeepers People from Matera Sportspeople from the Province of Matera AS Bisceglie Calcio 1913 players Footballers from Calabria 20th-century Italian sportsmen