Giuseppe Papadopulo was born in Casale Marittimo, near Pisa, on 2 February, 1948. He is Tuscan but of Greek descent, as his surname obviously gives away.
He was a defender and his playing career started near home, but for bitter rivals Livorno. He played for the Leghorn team for 3 seasons. In the first 2 he barely appeared but in his third he established himself as a regular first team choice. With the Amaranto in total he made 27 appearances.
In 1969 he joined Lazio for 40 million Lire and played regularly for 3 seasons. He arrived at the same time as the likes of Giuseppe Wilson, Chinaglia, Franco Nanni, Mario Facco and Ferruccio Mazzola and would be part of the team that won promotion to Serie A in 1971-72 (with 31 games). He also won a Cup of the Alps in 1971. At Lazio he played under managers Juan Carlos Lorenzo and Tommaso Maestrelli both in the centre and at full-back. He was a very physical player, good at man to man marking but Lorenzo in particular refined his technique too.
With the return to Serie A, however, Maestrelli decided to go with a defence made up of Wilson, Facco, Sergio Petrelli and Oddi with Luigi Polentes as first replacement. There was therefore no more space for Papadopulo.
He played 90 times for Lazio (40 in Serie A, 31 in Serie B, 9 in Coppa Italia, one in Mitropa Cup, one in the Intercities Fairs Cup, 4 in the Anglo Italian Cup and 4 in the Cup of the Alps).
In 1972 he left for Brindisi in Serie B, where he played 71 games over 2 seasons. His career then led him to Arezzo,1974-76 (57 appearances), Salernitana, 1976-78 (34 appearances and a goal), Bari, 1977-80 (65 appearances) and finally back to Cecina, near home, for 2 more seasons, 1980-1982.
On retirement he became a manager starting off at Cecina in 1984. He then began a bit of a nomadic life and his curriculum started to look more like a geography test. He had endless jobs; Casertana, Sorrento, Monopoli, Perugia, Acireale, Avellino, Livorno, Fidelis Andria, Lucchese, Cremonese, Crotone and Siena.
It was in "Palio city" that he enjoyed most success. In his 3 years in Siena he first avoided relegation to Serie C, then took the Tuscans up to Serie A and finally managed the feat of keeping them there in 2003-04.
His connection with Lazio however was not over. Half way through the 2004-05 season Lazio were in deep trouble. A relegation battle seemed inevitable, with 17 points after 16 matches. President Claudio Lotito, in his first year in charge, decided to sack manager and former player Domenico Caso and called upon Papadopulo to try and resuscitate Lazio.
His debut came on the Epiphany, 6th January, 2005 and it was not a mere football match, it was the Roman derby. Things were not looking good for the Biancocelesti, apart from their current dismal form, they had not beaten Roma in the last 10 derbies and to top it all were without their two first choice central defenders (Sebastiano Siviglia and Fernando Couto).
As it turned out it was a triumph, one of the best ever derbies for Lazio. Papadopulo placed the two Filippini brothers, Antonio and Emanuele, in defence alongside Leonardo Talamonti and the two twins tackled anything that moved (not without some roughing). Roma were caught out by Lazio's aggressive approach and Francesco Totti in particular, used to special protection from the referees for the slightest of challenges, moaned for weeks about the unfair treatment.
A tactical masterpiece by Papadopulo who won the derby 3-1 with goals by Paolo Di Canio (16 years after his first derby goal), César and Tommaso Rocchi. Lotito described his players as 11 heroes and that is also how Papadopulo will always be remembered after this epic victory. Lazio not only stayed up but also qualified for the Intertoto Cup (due to Messina and Livorno pulling out).
The following year though he was not kept on by Lotito, who signed Delio Rossi. Papadopulo's career continued at Palermo, 2000. Then across to Lecce, 2006-2008, where he won promotion to Serie A. Up to Emilia and Bologna from April 2009, to substitute Sinisa Mihajlovic, but he was sacked after 8 games. His last experience was with Torino, from March 2011, where he lasted only 2 matches.
A long managerial career which took him all over Italy and had its high points with Siena, Lecce and Lazio. At Lazio he will be remembered for being part of the Chinaglia- era squad building up to the Scudetto and later as the hero of the 2005 derby, one of Lazio fans' favourites ever.
Appearances for Lazio
Season | Total | Serie A | Serie B | Coppa Italia | Fairs Cup | Mitropa Cup | Anglo-Italian Cup | Cup of the Alps |
1969-70 | 34 | 22 | - | 3 | - | 1 | 4 | 4 |
1970-71 | 20 | 18 | - | 1 | 1 | - | - | - |
1971-72 | 36 | - | 31 | 5 | - | - | - | - |
Total | 90 | 40 | 31 | 9 | 1 | 1 | 4 | 4 |
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