Gilbert Facchinetti

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Gilbert Facchinetti (born January 28, 1936 in Lausanne ; † July 6, 2018 in Neuchâtel ) was a Swiss entrepreneur and football player of Italian origin. He was known as the long-time president of the Neuchâtel Xamax football club .

Life

After completing an apprenticeship as a butcher, Facchinetti played at Servette FC and later received an offer from CFC Genoa with a monthly salary of 6000 Swiss francs . His uncle died at the same time and the transfer that was ready for signature did not take place. Gilbert Facchinetti was urged by his father Silvio to join the family business, which was active in the construction industry. In 1969 he played one last national league game with FC Cantonal Neuchâtel.

In 1970, Facchinetti became Technical Director of the Neuchâtel Xamax club that emerged from the merger between FC Cantonal Neuchâtel and FC Xamax. In 1979 he took over the presidency.

As an outspoken patriarch , he led his club to two Swiss championship titles ( 1987 and 1988 ). There were also two quarter-finals in the UEFA Cup and well-known home victories in the championship cup . Facchinetti knew how to mobilize the Neuchâtel economy for the football club. Players like Heinz Hermann , Uli Stielike , Hossam Hassan and Lajos Détári or coach Gilbert Gress could be won for Xamax.

As a man of the word, Facchinetti concluded his contracts with a handshake. Once, however, two players demanded large sums of money from him without respecting the handshake. For decades he was the main financier of Xamax and before home games his family invited the first team to dinner at the villa in Saint-Blaise .

After 24 years at the helm, he handed over management of the club to Alain Pedretti in 2003. Among other things, he remained active as honorary president. In 2012, he campaigned to continue running the club after it went bankrupt. Xamax's funding program since bankruptcy is named after him (Fondation Gilbert Facchinetti).

His grandson Mickaël Facchinetti played as a defender at Neuchâtel Xamax, among others.

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b c d e Gilbert Facchinetti , letemps.ch, February 16, 2007, accessed on July 8, 2018.
  2. ↑ NZZ am Sonntag , July 8, 2018, p. 21 ( online)  ( page no longer available , search in web archives )  Info: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. .@1@ 2Template: Dead Link / epaper.nzz.ch  
  3. ↑ a b c Neuchâtel Xamax change de fief et de patriarche , letemps.ch, February 16, 2007, accessed on July 8, 2018.
  4. ↑ a b c d "Monsieur Xamax" Gilbert Facchinetti died , July 6, 2018, accessed on July 10, 2018.
  5. ↑ Humeur. «Facchi» au nom du pêre , letemps.ch, May 10, 2003, accessed on July 8, 2018.
  6. ^ NE Xamax: "Je ne lâcherais jamais, j'irai jusqu'au bout" , lematin.ch, January 8, 2012, accessed on July 8, 2018.
personal data
SURNAME Facchinetti, Gilbert
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Facchi
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Swiss entrepreneur and football official
DATE OF BIRTH January 28, 1936
PLACE OF BIRTH Lausanne
DATE OF DEATH 6th July 2018
Place of death Neuchâtel NE