Ferruccio Valcareggi

Ferruccio Valcareggi was born in Trieste, on February 12, 1919.

Source Wikipedia

He debuted for his hometown club Triestina in 1937. The Alabardati were in Serie A and finished 7th. He played 7 league games under Hungarian Jenő Konrad. Valcareggi stayed another two seasons playing more regularly, another 56 league games with 5 goals. The Triestini finished 14th and 12th. His managers were then Konrad, Janos Nehadoma and Elio Loschi in the second season and Argentine Luis Monti in the third.

In 1940 Valcareggi joined Fiorentina and stayed three seasons. La Viola finished 3rd, 9th and 6th in Serie A. Valcareggi played 89 league games with 23 goals plus 4 games in Coppa Italia. His manager for all three seasons was Giuseppe Galluzzi. His teammates included Lazio connections Henglebert Koenig (1942-47), Romano Penzo (1947-50), Zeffiro Furiassi (1949-55), Giuseppe Bigogno (manager 1951-53) and Renato Gei (manager 1967-68).

In 1943-44 Valcareggi played a season for Milano (Milan Italianised by regime). He played 11 league games under Giuseppe Santagostino and the Rossoneri finished 5th in the Lombard League.

In 1944 he signed for Bologna and stayed three seasons. In 1944-45 the war interrupted the football leagues and then the Rossoblu finished 7th in the Alta Italia league and 5th in Serie A. He played 59 league games with 7 goals.

In 1947-48 he returned to Fiorentina for a season. The Gigliati finished 7th in Serie A under future Lazio manager Luigi Ferrero. Valcareggi played 33 league games with 4 goals. He again played alongside Furiassi and Gei.

In 1948-49 he played for Vicenza in Serie B. The Biancorossi came 3rd under Carlo Rigotti, then Elemér Berkessy and finally Wilmas Wilhelm. Valcareggi played 39 league games with 11 goals.

In 1949 he joined Lucchese in Serie A and stayed two seasons. The Rossoneri finished 15th twice and his managers were Ottavio Barbieri, Federico Allasio (later at Lazio briefly in 1954), György Sárosi, Ivo Fiorentini and Sárosi again. He played 37 league games and scored 5 goals.

In 1951-52 he spent a season with Brescia in Serie B. The Rondinelle finished 2nd but then lost the promotion playoff to Triestina 0-1. He played 23 league games with 1 goal.

His last club was in Tuscany again as he played two seasons with Piombino near Livorno. The Nerazzurri were in Serie B and finished 15th and 18th (relegated). Vacareggi played 62 league games with 4 goals. Near the end of the first season he took over from Nello Bechelli and became player-manager, a position he kept the following season.

At 35 he retired and concentrated on his coaching career. He stayed one more year at Piombino in Serie C finishing 7th.

In 1955 he remained in Tuscany and joined Prato for four seasons. The Lanieri were in Serie C and finished 10th, 1st (promoted), 10th in B and 20th (relegated).

In 1959 he moved to Atalanta for three seasons. The Dea was in Serie A and finished 11th, 9th and 6th. His players included Lazio connections Rinaldo Olivieri (1955-56), Angelo Longoni (1961-63), Vincenzo Gasperi (1961-66), Kurt Christensen (1964-65), Rino Marchesi (1966-71) and Pierluigi Ronzon (1967-68).

In 1962 he returned to Florence as manager. The Viola finished 6th. The following season he was replaced after seven league games by Giuseppe Chiappella and Fiorentina eventually finished 4th. His players included Lazio connections, Rino Marchesi again, Can Bartu (1964-67) and Pierpaolo Manservisi (1970-71, 1972-74).

In 1964-65 he went back to Bergamo and Atalanta. The Bergamaschi finished 11th in Serie A. His players included former Lazio, Graziano Landoni (1961-64).

In 1966 he was chosen as head coach for the Italy national team. This was following their disastrous 1966 World Cup where they were famously defeated by North Korea. At first, he worked with Helenio Herrera and then alone from June 1967. With the Azzurri he won the home European Championship in 1968 and led Italy to the World Cup final in Mexico 1970 but they lost to Pelè's Brazil 1-4. Things did not go as well in 1974 in Germany where Italy were eliminated in the first group stage. He was criticised for not picking more Lazio players who had just won the league title. There was also the famous episode of Lazio's Giorgio Chinaglia blatantly lacking Valcareggi respect when substituted. His total score with the "Nazionale" was 28 wins, 20 draws and 6 defeats.

Back at club level from 1975 to 1978 he was in charge at Verona. The Gialloblu finished 11th, 7th and 10th. In 1976 they reached the Coppa Italia final but lost 0-4 to Napoli. His players included future Lazio defender Arcadio Spinozzi (1980-86).

In 1978-79, from November taking over from Gustavo Giagnoni. he spent a season with Roma. The Giallorossi finished 10th while the derbies ended 0-0 and 2-1 to Lazio. His players included Lazio connections Michele De Nadai (1981-83), Nando Orsi (1982-85, 1989-98) and Luciano Spinosi (assistant to Sven Goran Eriksson 1997-2000).

In 1979 he returned into the Italy Federation ranks and was head coach of the Italy B side for five years.

In December 1984 he took over in Florence from Giancarlo De Sisti due to illness. The Gigliati finished 9th. His players included future Lazio, Paolo Monelli (1987-88) but also players such as Claudio Gentile, Daniel Passarella, Giancarlo Antognoni (out injured all season), Gabriele Oriali, Eraldo Pecci, Daniele Massaro, Sócrates and an end of career Paolino Pulici.

Valcareggi then took a break and worked in TV punditry but returned in 1998 to 2004 at amateur level with Settignanese (Florence) as both director and coach.

Valcareggi was a good midfielder at club level. He played 292 games in the top flight with 44 goals and 124 games in B with 16 goals. He was physically strong and famous for his athletic resistance. He had the knack for scoring goals too however, over 60 in his career.

As a manager he won Italy's first European Championship in 1968. He did well in the 1970 World Cup including the epic 4-3 semifinal against Germany. Finishing runners-up was perhaps undervalued in Italy as the campaign was also overshadowed by the Sandro Mazzola vs Gianni Rivera rivalry. They were not used together but in the famous "staffetta" (relay-replacing each other) and this brought Valcareggi some criticism.

The 1974 campaign was clearly a flop and was the end of Valcareggi as a top manager although he then had decent years at Verona.

Valcareggi died in Florence, on November 2, 2005 and is buried in the Settignano cemetery. He entered the Fiorentina Hall of Fame in 2013 and Settignanese have named their football academy after him.

Sources

Wikipedia