Francesco Zagatti

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Francesco Zagatti
Personnel
birthday April 18, 1932
place of birth Venaria Reale ,  Italy
date of death March 7, 2009
Place of death Milan ,  Italy
position midfield
Juniors
Years station
1948-1952 AC Milan
Men's
Years station Games (goals) 1
1952-1963 AC Milan 214 (1)
Stations as a trainer
Years station
1982 AC Milan
1 Only league games are given.

Francesco Zagatti (born April 18, 1932 in Venaria Reale , † March 7, 2009 in Milan ) was an Italian football player and coach . Already very successful as an active player with AC Milan , he later coached this club in several functions.

Career

Francesco Zagatti was born on April 18, 1932 in Venaria Reale , a small town in the Piedmont province of Turin . He played football for the top Italian club AC Milan from a young age and in the summer of 1952, after four years as a youth, he was accepted into the professional team, which at that time was one of the best teams in the Italian Serie A league . With players like the two Swedes Nils Liedholm and Gunnar Nordahl , the Uruguayan Juan Schiaffino or defender Cesare Maldini , Zagatti won his first Italian championship with Milan in the 1954/55 season . Here they ended the season as the first with a lead of six points over their closest rival Udinese Calcio , who was later disqualified . The young defender was part of the regular team of the new Italian champions with 22 appearances this season. Two years later this success could be repeated, this time the first place in Serie A was occupied with six points ahead of defending champion ACF Fiorentina . A year earlier, the coupe was won by Latine . The team won the penultimate edition of the previous competition of the European Champions Cup 3-1 in the final against Athletic Bilbao from Spain . These were the years in which Francesco Zagatti was even captain of AC Milan at times, and again two years after the championship in 1957, Zagatti's third Scudetto came with AC Milan. In the 1958/59 Serie A , coach Luigi Bonizzoni's team presented itself very well and ended up being champions, three points ahead of Fiorentina. This time it took three seasons before the Milanese could call themselves Italian football champions again. The Serie A 1961/62 ended in first place with five points ahead of city rivals Inter Milan . However, in the championship season 1961/62, Francesco Zagatti was no longer a regular player in the AC Milan team. He was then not used at all in the following season, his last as an active football player. So he was not actively involved in the greatest success in the club's history to date of AC Milan, which won the European Cup on May 22, 1963 with a 2-1 final victory over the defending champion Benfica Lisbon .

Francesco Zagatti retired from football in 1963 at the age of 31, after wearing the AC Milan jersey for the rest of his career. He remained loyal to his home club afterwards, coaching the club's second team from 1966 to 1970. After Italo Galbiati was sacked , he took over Milan in what was probably the hardest hour in the club's history. After the Totonero scandal just got promoted back to Serie A, the former champion stumbled towards direct relegation. But even Francesco Zagatti, who was hired for the last few game days, could not avert the bitter move back to Serie B. For the new second division season he was replaced by Ilario Castagner .

After that, Francesco Zagatti no longer worked as a coach and withdrew from the football business. He died of hepatitis in March 2009 at the age of 76 .

successes

1962/63 with AC Milan
1956 with AC Milan
1954/55 , 1956/57 , 1958/59 and 1961/62 with AC Milan
1952 and 1953 with AC Milan

Web links

personal data
SURNAME Zagatti, Francesco
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Italian soccer player and coach
DATE OF BIRTH April 18, 1932
PLACE OF BIRTH Venaria Reale , Italy
DATE OF DEATH March 7, 2009
Place of death Milan , Italy