Paolo Pulici
- Dag Jenkins
- Oct 10
- 3 min read
Paolino Pulici known as Paolo was born in Roncello (Monza), on April 27, 1950.
At 15 he joined the Legnano (Milan) youth set up and even played one game for the first team in Serie C.
In 1967 he moved to Torino and in the first season played for the youth team. He won the Primavera Scudetto twice (1968, 1970).
In 1968 he joined the first team squad (while still playing for the U19s too) and would stay 14 years becoming a legend at the club.
He went on to play 437 games with 172 goals (134 in A). He won a Scudetto in 1976 and the Coppa Italia twice (1968, 1971). He was top Serie A goal scorer three times, 1973 (with Beppe Savoldi and Gianni Rivera), 1975 and 1976.
Torino's masterpiece came in 1976 when they won their 7th league title, twenty-seven years since the Grande Torino air disaster and last triumph. A great team coached by Gigi Radice and which included players such as goalkeeper Luciano Castellini, defenders Roberto Salvadori and Roberto Mozzini, midfielders Eraldo Pecci, Renato Zaccarelli and captain Claudio Sala. In attack Pulici formed a formidable partnership with Francesco "Ciccio" Graziani, the "gemelli del gol" (the goal twins).
At Toro his other managers included: Edmondo Fabbri, Giancarlo Cadè, Gustavo Giagnoni and Massimo Giacomini. In his years with Toro the Granata finished 7th, 6th, 7th, 8th, 2nd, 6th, 5th, 6th, 1st, 2nd, 2nd, 2nd, 4th, 3rd and 9th twice.
In 1982, at 32, he left Torino and joined Udinese for a season. He played 31 games (26 in A) and scored 5 goals (all in A, Fiorentina x2, Samp, Ascoli, Catanzaro). The Zebrette finished 6th under Enzo Ferrari.
In 1983 he signed for Fiorentina and stayed two seasons. He played another 31 games (20 in A) and scored 6 goals (3 in A, Genoa, Ascoli, Como). The Viola finished 3rd (UEFA) and 9th. His managers were Giancarlo De Sisti for a season and a bit and then Ferruccio Valcareggi.
At 35 he then retired.
He has since had experiences in coaching (assistant at Piacenza 1986-89) and from 1990 has run his own football academy connected with Tritium (Trezzo sull'Adda, Milan-5th tier).
He won 19 caps for Italy with 5 goals (Greece x2, Portugal, USA League XI, Denmark). He was unlucky that his peak coincided with the presence of other great players such as Giorgio Chinaglia, Gigi Riva, Beppe Savoldi, Roberto Boninsegna, Gianni Rivera and Sandro Mazzola.
He is possibly one of the best Italian forwards to be relatively unknown outside Italy. He was certainly a formidable club player and is an absolute legend at Torino. He holds various records: top scorer in all competitions (172), most Serie A goals (134), most domestic cup goals (29). In 2014 he was the first forward to be placed in Torino's Hall of Fame. He has had songs written about him (by ska band Statuto and musician Flavio Oreglio) and is considered one of Toro's all-time greats.
Pulici was a striker. At 1.77 and 74 kilos he was not imposing but he was strong, had a great right foot (he could play with both feet), was particularly good in the air and often scored acrobatic goals. He was also a reliable penalty taker. He was known as Puliciclone or Pupi.
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