Luca Luzardi was born in Manerbio (Brescia), on February 18, 1970.
His youth career was spent first at Voluntas Brescia and then Brescia. He made his debut for the "Rondinelle" (Little Swallows) in 1987 in Serie B. The manager was Bruno Giorgi and Brescia finished 8th. Luzardi played 10 league games and 1 in Coppa Italia.
The following season he was loaned to Prato in C1. The "Lanieri" finished 3rd under Giovanni Meregalli and Luzardi played 33 league games with 2 goals.
In 1989 he was back home at Brescia in Serie B. He stayed three years with 10th place, 9th and then finally 1st and promotion under Adelio Moro and Mircea Lucescu (T.D). Luzardi played 94 league games with 3 goals and 5 games in Coppa Italia. The following year he would make his Serie A debut but it would not be with the "Leonessa".
In the summer of 1992 he joined Lazio. He arrived alongside Paul Gascoigne, Aron Winter, Roberto Cravero and Beppe Signori amongst others. The manager was Italian legend Dino Zoff and Luzardi played regularly making 25 league appearances and 3 in Coppa Italia. He also scored his first Serie A goal, the winner in a 3-2 away win at Pescara (the game Gazza scored his epic slalom solo goal). Lazio finished 5th and qualified for the UEFA Cup.
In 1993-94 he played less, making 14 league appearances, 2 in Coppa Italia and 4 in the UEFA Cup with 1 goal (Lokomotiv Plovdiv). Lazio had a good Serie A campaign finishing 4th but disappointed in Coppa Italia (Avellino in 2nd round) and in the UEFA Cup (Boavista in last 32).
In the summer of 1994 Lazio appointed Zdenek Zeman as new manager and also signed defenders José Antonio Chamot which added to the emergence of homegrown talent Alessandro Nesta meant it was time for Luzardi to move on.
In 1994 he joined Napoli. The manager was Vincenzo Guerini but he was replaced after 6 games by former Napoli legend, Brazilian Cané (56 league goals in the 60's and 70's) although Vujadin Boskov was the real boss with the title of Technical Director. The Partenopei finished 7th but Luzardi never really broke into the team making 5 league appearances, 2 in Coppa Italia and 4 in the UEFA Cup.
So in 1995 he returned to Brescia again. The "Rondinelle" were in Serie B and the manager was first Mircea Lucescu (1-24) and then future Lazio Edy Reja (25-38). Luzardi played 30 league games but the Biancazzurri had a disappointing season finishing 16th. He played alongside Lazio connections such as Daniele Adani, Roberto Baronio, the Filippini twins, Maurizio Neri and Giampaolo Saurini.
The following year went better and Brescia won the league and promotion under Edy Reja. Luzardi however played less with only 7 league appearances. In the squad was also future Milan and Juventus legend Andrea Pirlo. Luzardi however would not see Serie A again.
In 1997 he joined Ascoli in C1. He stayed three seasons with the "Picchio" (The Woodpecker) with 10th, 8th and 3rd places. He played 50 league games for the Bianconeri.
In 2000 he moved to Reggiana in C1. He played 19 games and "La Regia" finished 16th and then stayed up after the play-outs.
Luzardi then spent a year each at Viareggio (C2, 22 games), Lodigiani (C2, 25 games and 1 goal) and finally Monterotondo near Rome (D, 25 games).
He retired at 34 .
At international level he played 14 games for Italy U21's with1 goal and won a European Championship in 1992. He also played 3 games with 1 goal for the Italian Olympic team in Barcelona 1992.
Since retiring he has gone into coaching. For three years he was former Lazio Angelo Gregucci's assistant at Vicenza, Atalanta and Sassuolo. These were not particularly successful and he then started coaching youth teams in Rome at lower levels. In 2018 however he was called back by Lazio to coach the Under 15's and from 2019 he is assistant coach with the Under 17's.
Luzardi was a central defender. At 1.84 metres and 77 kilos he was a classic strong centre-back. He was a solid man-to-man marker, strong tackler and good in the air. He played 44 games in Serie A and won two promotions with his hometown club Brescia. One regret could be never having played for them in the top flight.
At Lazio he had two decent years. He played a total of 46 games and made his debut in European competitions. He played alongside some Lazio greats and scored the winner on the day of possibly Gascoigne 's best ever goal away at Pescara. Luzardi's goal was more predictably a header that hit the bar and bounced near the line, over or not we will never know, but I was there at the other end with an athletics track in between and it definitely looked in to me...
Lazio Career
Season | Total appearances (goals) | Serie A | Coppa Italia | UEFA Cup |
1992-93 | 28 (1) | 25 (1) | 3 | - |
1993-94 | 20 (1) | 14 | 2 | 4 (1) |
Total | 48 (2) | 39 (1) | 5 | 4 (1) |
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