Carlo Parola is a legend of Italian football. The image of his bicycle kick has been used by the Panini group as their logo for the Calciatori sticker collection.
Born in Turin on September 20, 1921, he started his career with Dopo Lavoro Fiat (now called Sisport), a team made up of Fiat employees that used to play in the Italian leagues but he soon moved to Juventus. He arrived as centre forward but manager Felice Borel moved him to defence and it is here that he made a name for himself. He played for Juventus from 1939 to 1954 with 334 appearances and 10 goals. He won a Coppa Italia in 1941-42 and the scudetto twice (1949-50 and 1951-52). He played 10 times for the Nazionale and was the only Italian to play the 1947 friendly between Great Britain and Rest of Europe. Despite his team losing 6-1 and scoring an own goal, he stood out positively and several English teams, including Chelsea, tried to sign him.
His last year of active football was with Lazio where he made seven appearances.
Once he stopped playing he stayed in Rome and was assistant to manager Luigi Ferrero in the 1955-56 season. He then became head coach of Anconitana, taking them up to Serie B in 1957-58. In 1959 he was chosen to manage Juventus and stayed for three years, winning the scudetto twice and the Coppa Italia twice. His last year at the club was not so good due to the fact that their star player Giampiero Boniperti had retired, plus the fact that John Charles, legendary Welsh centre forward, was marred with injury. He also had a bad relationship with another star player, Omar Sivori, and the Bianconeri arrived 12th, their worst result ever.
He then went on to manage Prato in 1962, winning promotion to Serie B, then Chieri, Livorno, Napoli, as physical trainer, and Novara with another promotion to Serie B. With the Piedmontese he “discovered” two fundamental players in Italian football: Felice Pulici, who would be one of Lazio’s 1973-74 scudetto heroes, and Renato Zaccarelli who won the scudetto with Torino in 1975-76. Back at Juventus in 1974 he won another scudetto. Despite being substituted by Giovanni Trapattoni, he stayed at the club as a scout.
He died in Turin on March 22, 2000.
At Lazio he arrived in his last professional year and only gave a minor contribution on the field.
Lazio Career
Season | Serie A Appearances |
1954-55 | 7 |
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