Giampiero Vitali

Giampiero Vitali
Personal information
Date of birth (1940-08-01)1 August 1940
Place of birth Milan, Italy
Date of death 20 May 2001(2001-05-20) (aged 60)
Place of death Milan, Italy
Height 1.76 m (5 ft 9 in)
Position(s) defender
Senior career*
Years Team Apps (Gls)
1959–1962 Fanfulla 44 (3)
1962–1964 Triestina 70 (4)
1964–1966 Lazio 46 (2)
1966–1967 Fiorentina 17 (0)
1967–1968 Brescia 18 (0)
1968–1969 S.P.A.L. 20 (2)
1969–1976 Massese 245 (25)
Managerial career
1975–1976 Massese (assistant)
1977–1978 Empoli
1978 Pisa
1979–1981 Lucchese
1982–1983 Empoli
1983–1984 Perugia
1984–1985 Varese
1985–1986 Sambenedettese
1987 Campobasso
1987–1989 Parma
1989 Como
1991 Empoli
1991–1992 Taranto
1993–1994 Modena
1995 Palermo
1996 Pistoiese
1997 Palermo
1997–2000 Carrarese (technical director)
1998 Carrarese (caretaker)
*Club domestic league appearances and goals

Giampiero Vitali (1 August 1940 — 20 May 2001) was an Italian football defender and later manager.[1] He died in 2001, aged 60, due to an incurable disease.[2][3]
Overall, as a player, he scored 81 appearances and 2 goals in Serie A with Lazio, Fiorentina and Brescia, 124 appearances and 9 goals in Serie B with Triestina, SPAL and Massese, 255 appearances and 25 goals in Serie C with Fanfulla and Massese. With Massese he obtained a promotion from Serie C to Serie B, still setting the record for matches played in the league with 245 appearances.[4]
When he ceased playing sports, he had twenty years of experience as a coach (to his credit 13 Serie B championships), leading, among other things, Parma for two seasons before the advent of Nevio Scala and Palermo twice. He obtained one admission to the new Serie C1 championship with Empoli (1977-1978 season), a promotion from Serie C1 to Serie B in 1982-1983 always at the lead of Empoli and ended his career at Carrara, in Serie C1, season 1997-1998, when hired as Technical Director, the management asked him to return to coaching (with the team relegated to the last place in the standings), managing to save the Tuscans.[5][6]
In total, as a professional coach, he directed 539 matches in the league, of which 317 in Serie B, 154 in Serie C1 and 68 in Serie C2.[7] Since 2001, the year of his death, a sporting event has been organized annually in Tuscany in memory of him,[8] which attracts great personalities from the world of sport.[9][10][11]
In 2020 the Stadio degli Oliveti in Massa was named after him.[12]

  1. ^ Giampiero Vitali at WorldFootball.net
  2. ^ Calcio in lutto: è morto Giampiero Vitali - La Gazzetta dello Sport, 21 maggio 2001
  3. ^ È morto Giampietro Vitali. Aveva giocato con Lazio e Fiorentina - Corriere della Sera, 21 maggio 2001
  4. ^ Vitali Giampiero, Enciclopedia Del Calcio - www.enciclopediadelcalcio.it
  5. ^ M. Becherucci - M. Braglia - G. Magnani (2008). Cuoreazzurro, storia personaggi miti della U.S. Carrarese 1908-2008. Società Editrice Apuana. p. 239.
  6. ^ Vitali, nove anni non cancellano il lutto, il calcio apuano piange ancora il mister - Il Tirreno, 18 maggio 2010
  7. ^ Claudio Nassi e Alfio Tofanelli (1999). Tutto calcio 1998/99. Ed. CALCIOSPORT s.a.s. p. 946.
  8. ^ "MemorialGianpieroVitali, il portale dell'evento dedicato a Gianpiero Vitali".
  9. ^ Marcello Lippi: sono qui al memorial perché sono legato alla famiglia Vitali Archived 2014-09-08 at the Wayback Machine - Il Tirreno, 11 agosto 2006
  10. ^ Il "Calcio sotto l'ombrellone" aspetta l'ex CT azzurro Sacchi - Il Tirreno, 5 agosto 2009
  11. ^ Memorial Vitali: ricordare un amico parlando di calcio Archived 2016-03-05 at the Wayback Machine - Gazzetta di Parma, 13 agosto 2010
  12. ^ Lo stadio intitolato a Giampiero Vitali quinewsmassacarrara.it