Alessandro Calori
- Simon Basten
- Mar 28
- 3 min read
Updated: Jun 9
Sunday, May 14, 2000. At half time, Lazio were winning at home against Reggina and Juventus were drawing in Perugia. In this particular moment it was a tie for the scudetto which would have led to a playoff. But in Perugia the heavens opened and the rain poured down flooding the pitch. It took Pierluigi Collina more than an hour to get the players back onto the pitch and start the second half. Meanwhile the Biancocelesti had finished their 3-0 demolition of the Calabrians.
In the 50th minute a free kick for Perugia on the left not too far from the halfway line. Milan Rapajc crossed the ball into the box, Antonio Conte cleared but the ball fell to Alessandro Calori. The big defender had a chance to make history, even if not for his own club, and he did not miss. His volley went into the back of the net. Perugia 1 Juventus 0. Lazio won their second scudetto. Calori, despite never having played for the Biancocelesti, became a hero.
Calori was born on August 29, 1966 in Arezzo. He began playing football for his home town club but debuted professionally with Montevarchi in Serie C2 where he stayed for four years with 78 appearances and three goals. In 1987-88 the club were promoted to Serie C1.
In 1989 he moved to Pisa in Serie B. That year he made 38 appearances contributing to the promotion to Serie A. He played in the top tier with them and in 1991 moved to Udine. With Udinese he played for 8 seasons, with one relegation (1993-94) and two promotions to Serie A (1991-92 and 1994-95). He played 286 games with 11 goals.
In 1999 he signed for Perugia and, as mentioned above, was fundamental for Lazio’s scudetto. He stayed until October 2000 when he moved to Brescia. In two seasons he made 63 appearances before moving to Venezia in Serie B where he played his last two years of active football.
Once he stopped playing he became a manager. His career has been mainly with Serie B and C teams starting with Triestina in 2005 (Serie B, sacked in September), Sambenedettese (Serie C1, sacked in October), Avellino from March 2008 (B, relegated) and Portogruaro from February 2009 to summer 2010 (Lega Pro 1st Division, former C1) where he led the team to a promotion to Serie B in 2010. He then coached Padova in the 2010-11 season in Serie B (sacked), Brescia from December 2011 to summer 2013, followed by Novara from November to February in the 2013-14 season, Brescia again in the second half of the next season.
His last two experiences as first team manager were with Trapani in Serie B from December 2016 to summer 2018 (relegated then third in Serie C, eliminated in the playoffs) and Ternana in C where he stayed just a month in 2019.
In June 2021 he took over the Lazio Primavera team for four games but the Biancocelesti lost the playout against Bologna and were relegated to the second tier Primavera league. He stayed on, reached the playoffs but Lazio were eliminated by Brescia in the first round.
Alessandro Calori was a solid defender, tall, strong and had a good career. He will always be in the Lazio fans’ hearts.
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