Enzo Bearzot

Enzo Bearzot
Enzo Bearzot (left) with Italy's President Alessandro Pertini shortly after winning the 1982 World Cup
Personnel
Surname	Vincenzo Bearzot
birthday	September 26, 1927
place of birth	Aiello del Friuli ,  Italy
date of death	December 21, 2010
Place of death	Milan ,  Italy
position	Defense
Men's
Years	station	Games (goals) 1
1946-1948	AS Pro Gorizia	39 (2)
1948-1951	Inter Milan	19 (0)
1951-1954	Catania Calcio	95 (5)
1954-1956	AC Turin	65 (1)
1956-1957	Inter Milan	27 (0)
1957-1964	AC Turin	164 (7)
National team
Years	selection	Games (goals)
1955	Italy	1 (0)
Stations as a trainer
Years	station
	AC Turin (assistant coach)
1968-1969	AC Prato
1969-1975	Italy U-23
1970-1975	Italy (assistant coach)
1975-1986	Italy
1 Only league games are given.

Vincenzo "Enzo" Bearzot (born September 26, 1927 in Aiello del Friuli , Province of Udine , † December 21, 2010 in Milan ) was an Italian football player and coach . As the head coach of the Italian national team, he led Italy to the world title in 1982 .

Career

As a player

Enzo Bearzot came from Friuli . His active career as a soccer player was nowhere near as successful as his later career as a coach. From 1946 he was a professional footballer and played first in the series B . In Serie A he later played for AC Turin and Inter Milan as a defensive midfielder. In 1955 he was nominated for the first time for the Italian national team and completed his first assignment in the Squadra Azzurra on November 27, 1955 against Hungary . The game took place as part of the European Cup of National Football Teams and the Hungarian team consisted essentially of the core of the golden eleven . This team lost only one game between 1950 and 1956. The game ended with a 2-0 victory for the Hungarians, which was also his only appearance in the national team.

As a trainer

In 1964 Bearzot ended his active career and was first goalkeeping coach and later assistant coach at Turin FC . In the late 1960s he went to the Italian Federation (FIGC) and coached the U-23 team. As assistant to national trainer Ferruccio Valcareggi , he took part in the 1970 World Cup in Mexico and the 1974 World Cup in Germany . After the early exit in the preliminary round in 1974, Fulvio Bernardini was initially appointed national coach, but Bearzot replaced him in 1975. Enzo Bearzot remained national coach until 1986 and became the most successful national coach in Italy after the Second World War in 104 international matches .

He looked after Italy at three soccer world championships , one European championship and the " Mini World Cup ". The qualification for the European Football Championship 1976 , in which only four teams took part in the finals, had previously failed under Bernardini. Italy was in the same group as Vice World Champion Netherlands around Johan Cruyff and the World Cup third Poland around his top star Grzegorz Lato . Italy could only reach third place in this group.

For the 1978 World Cup in Argentina they qualified with five wins and one defeat before England. During the tournament, the Italians had high hopes, as in the preliminary round the hosts and future world champions Argentina could be defeated 1-0. Ultimately, the team finished fourth in the tournament. Before this tournament, Bearzot discovered the second-rate striker Paolo Rossi , who then became one of the tournament's young stars.

This tournament was followed by a disappointment: the 1980 European Championship in their own country. Italy played 0-0 twice and won 1-0 and only reached the game for third place, which they lost to defending champions Czechoslovakia on penalties. At the end of 1980 they played the so-called Mini-World Cup , where they drew against the vice world champions Netherlands, but lost against the eventual tournament winner Uruguay and thus eliminated.

Return flight after the 1982 World Cup final: Dino Zoff , Franco Causio , Sandro Pertini and Enzo Bearzot (from left) playing Scopa in the Aeronautica Militare's DC-9

Bearzot's greatest triumph was the world title at the 1982 World Cup in Spain . The qualification was difficult for Italy. After three draws in the preliminary round of the World Cup, there was criticism of the Bearzots game system. Italy only reached the second final round because they scored one more goal against Cameroon with the same goal difference. The criticism fell silent when his team convincingly defeated the tournament favorites Argentina and Brazil in the second round . This was followed by a semi-final victory against Poland and in the final Italy won against European champions Germany just as clearly with 3: 1. Paolo Rossi was the top scorer.

"The silent one from Friuli", as Bearzot was called due to his taciturn dealings with journalists and players, could and maybe even should have resigned at the peak. However, the dutiful Bearzot continued to look after the team. The qualification for the European Championship 1984 was catastrophic: World champions Italy failed as group fourth of five teams. Only Cyprus played more unsuccessfully in this group. Italy played better at the 1986 World Cup in Mexico and was eliminated in the round of 16 after losing to strong European champions France . Bearzot resigned after the tournament. As coach of the senior team (over 34) he led Italy to victory in the Pelé Cup in 1993 .

After several years of retirement, he became President of the technical department of FIGC - the most important organization for football coaching education in Italy. He resigned in 2005 and died five years later.

successes

As a player

• Italian Series B champion : 1953/54 , 1959/60
• Coppa Italia : 1962/63

As a trainer

• World Cup fourth: 1978
• European Championship fourth: 1980
• World Champion: 1982
• World Champion: Pelé-Cup (Senior World Championship) 1993

Awards

• Order of Merit of the Italian Republic in the position of Grande Ufficiale .

Web links

Commons : Enzo Bearzot  - collection of images, videos and audio files

• Enzo Bearzot in the database of weltfussball.de

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Malta Today: 1982 World Cup winning coach Enzo Bearzot dies ( Memento of the original from March 4, 2016 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link has been inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. 
2. ↑ FIGC website ( Memento of the original from September 2, 2012 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was automatically inserted and not yet checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. (Italian) game dates 
3. ↑ Mission data at the Italian association
4. ^ Corriere della Sera : Addio a Bearzot, il ct campione del mondo
5. ^ Italian National Team Coaches