Giovanni Trapattoni must be considered among the greatest Italian managers of all time and he is certainly the most successful. One of only six head coaches to win a league in four different counties (the others being Tomislav Ivic, Ernst Happel, Eric Gerets, Carlo Ancelotti and José Mourinho). These are the list of trophies won:
Scudetto: as a player Milan 1961-62 and 1967-68, as manager Juventus 1976-77, 1977-78, 1980-81, 1981-82, 1983-84, 1985-86, Inter 1988-89
Coppa Italia: as a player Milan 1966-67, as manager Juventus 1978-79, 1982-83
Italian Supercoppa: as manager Inter 1989
Bundesliga: Bayern Munich 1996-97
German League Cup: Bayern Munich 1997
German Cup: Bayern Munich 1997-98
Primeira Liga: Benfica 2004-05
Austrian League: Salzburg 2006-07
European Cup: as a player Milan 1962-63 and 1968-69, as manager Juventus 1984-85
Cup Winners Cup: as a player Milan 1967-68, as manager Juventus 1983-84
UEFA Cup: Juventus 1976-77 and 1992-93, Inter 1990-91
UEFA Super Cup: Juventus 1984
Intercontinental Cup: as a player Milan 1969, as manager Juventus 1984.
Trapattoni was born on March 17, 1939, in Cusano Milanino, very close to Milan. He started playing football locally but during a game with the young Milan players he was noted by manager Mario Malatesta (who played for Lazio in the 1930s) and immediately signed. In the Milan youth teams he won the Viareggio Cup twice and debuted in Serie A on January 24 1960 in the away game won 3-0 against Spal. He would go on to win everything possible with AC Milan, one of their key players under Nereo Rocco. He was a defensive midfield player and pretty ruthless. He was the one who cancelled out Eusebio in the European Cup final at Wembley against Benfica in 1962. He was good at headers and excellent in breaking the opponent’s game to start counter-attacks. He made 351 appearances, and six goals, with Milan from 1957 to 1971. He then left for Varese where he made 13 appearances before quitting active football at only 33 years of age.
He played 17 games for Italy with one goal. Famous was his marking of Pele in an Italy 3-0 win against Brazil on May 12 1963, even though it is fair to say that O’Rey was not 100% and was only playing for contractual reasons.
Once he retired, he immediately went into coaching. After managing in the youth teams, he was called to action first as Rocco's help and then he took over in the final match of 1972-73 when Milan lost 5-3 at Verona handing the scudetto to Juventus. In the subsequent season he was given the team towards the end following Cesare Maldini's resignation. He took the Rossoneri to the final of the Cup Winners Cup which they lost to Magdeburg. In 1974-75 he became assistant to Gustavo Giagnoni but took over a year later. Milan arrived third but the club had no intention of keeping him as head coach, so he decided to leave. He was about to sign for Atalanta, but Giampiero Boniperti, Juventus President, called him to be manager at Juventus and he moved to Turin.
At Juve he won everything possible. In ten years, the club became one of the best in Europe. He was the coach of Michel Platini, Paolo Rossi, Dino Zoff, Roberto Bettega, Marco Tardelli, Gaetano Scirea among many. Six scudetti, two Coppa Italias, a European Cup, Cup Winners Cup, UEFA Cup, UEFA Super Cup and an Intercontinental Cup. An amazing run which ended in 1985-86. The club wanted to turn a new leaf and choose a younger manager. He was offered to take a position like Boniperti's but he wanted to continue to coach and left for Inter.
In Milan his first two years were not that good, but in 1988-89, thanks also to the signing of Lothar Matthaus, Andreas Brehme and Nicola Berti, added to the defensive backbone of Walter Zenga, Beppe Bergomi and Riccardo Ferri, Inter went on to dominate and win the scudetto. In his last season with Inter, 1990-91, he won the UEFA Cup.
He went back to Juve the following season and stayed for another three, winning another UEFA Cup. Among the players under him were Roberto Baggio and Gianluca Vialli and he launched the career of Alessandro Del Piero.
In 1994-95 he was called to manage Bayern Munich but the season was a shambles and he was not confirmed. He came back to Italy to be head coach for Cagliari but even here the team did not do well and in February he resigned.
For the 1996-97 Milan President Silvio Berlusconi tempted him but he decided to go back to Munich. Now he had Matthaus, former Inter Jurgen Klinsmann plus Ruggero Rizzitelli and Bayern won the league. Tempted again to return to Italy this time by Roma, he continued to manage Bayern for the next season but it was not a good one. His monologue against Thomas Strunz, Mario Basler and Mehmet Scholl, guilty of lacking professionalism, will go down in media history.
In 1998 he signed for Fiorentina and the Viola went so well that after the first half of the season they were first, but then they were overtaken by Milan and Lazio and finished third. A not so good 1999-00 season made him decide to leave Florence at the end of his second season.
In the summer of 2000 Italy had lost the final of the European Nations Cup. Berlusconi heavily criticized coach Dino Zoff who resigned. Trapattoni took his place. He stayed for four years. Italy were eliminated in the Round of 16 by South Korea in the World Cup due to Byron Moreno’s wonderful refereeing and in the Euro 2004 they dropped out in the group phase after the “friendly” draw between Sweden and Denmark. At the end of the Euros he resigned.
In 2004 he became head coach for Benfica taking them to the League title. The following year he decided to go back to Germany and manage Stuttgart but was sacked in February. His next adventure was with Salzburg with whom he won another title. In his second year in Austria Salzburg came second.
In March 2008 he was called to be head coach for Ireland. Assisted by Tardelli, Ireland did very well and just missed out on 2010 World Cup qualification. They had lost the first leg 1-0 at home to France but then had taken Les Blues to extra time. Then France scored with William Gallas after Thierry Henry had controlled the ball with his hand. This caused a lot of controversy all over the world.
He did make it to Euro 2012 but Ireland lost all their group phase games. In 2013, after losing two games in the World Cup qualifiers, he decided to call it a day.
Trapattoni is an Italian legend, both as player as well as manager. The most successful Italian coach of all time.
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