Paolo Ammoniaci was born in Bagno di Romagna, June 1, 1948.
He spent his whole youth career at nearby Cesena. In 1966 he made his first team debut in Serie C but in his first two seasons only played 3 games for the Cavallucci Marini (The Seahorses). In 1968 Cesena were promoted to Serie B and Ammoniaci started playing more regularly.
He played five seasons in the second division for the Bianconeri. He made 163 appearances and scored one goal, in the 1972-73 season which coincided with Cesena's promotion to Serie A.
His Serie A debut came on October 7, 1973 versus Torino. For two seasons, under tough manager Eugenio Bersellini "Il Sergente di Ferro" (The Iron Sergeant), Ammoniaci was first choice full-back and contributed to Cesena staying up in the top flight. In total Ammoniaci played 218 games for Cesena with 1 goal.
In 1975, after ten years in his home region of Romagna, he left Cesena and joined Lazio. In the summer of 1975, he joined Lazio with Francesco Brignani in the deal that saw Mario Frustalupi and Giancarlo Oddi move to Romagna. The new manager Giulio Corsini wanted to revolutionise the Lazio squad that had won the scudetto. Things didn't work out for Corsini, sacked after seven games. Tommaso Maestrelli battling with a serious illness returned. Ammoniaci however played 25 league games, 9 in Coppa Italia and 2 in the UEFA Cup. Lazio only narrowly avoided relegation.
In his second season in the capital things went better. A new manager Luis Vinicio and the blossoming of youth players Bruno Giordano, Lionello Manfredonia and Andrea Agostinelli helped Lazio to a positive 5th place. Ammoniaci played 29 league games and 4 in Coppa Italia.
The following season Lazio started under Luis Vinicio (1-25) and finished under Bob Lovati (25-30). Lazio were unable to repeat the 5th place and struggled to stay up. Ammoniaci unfortunately suffered a serious injury that kept him out for most of the season so he only played 6 games in Serie A, 4 in Coppa Italia and 3 in the UEFA Cup.
The 1978-79 season would be his last with the Biancocelesti. Ammoniaci recovered from his injury and played 25 league games and 6 in Coppa Italia. He scored his first goal for Lazio, a superb left-footed strike from the edge of the box against Ascoli.
In his last season he would also earn a curious record, that of the quickest sending off in Serie A history. In the last minute of a tense derby game, with Lazio leading 2-1, Ammoniaci was called on to substitute D'Amico. Play had not even restarted when he was already ordered off. Coming on, after only 2 seconds, he had got involved in some sort of scuffle with an opponent and given his marching orders by referee Menicucci. He therefore detains the record, a possibly unassailable 2 seconds.
At the end of the 1978-79 season he was sold to Palermo in Serie B. He stayed for two seasons making 71 appearances and scoring 3 goals for the Rosanero.
In 1981 he moved back home and joined Forlì in Serie C1. He stayed 3 seasons, his last in C2. He played 61 games for the Biancorossi. He then retired at 35.
After retiring he went into coaching. He started off at Cesena U-19's in 1986 and stayed four years. In 1990-91 he was first team manager at Perugia in C1. The following year he was at Baracca Lugo in C2 and in 1993-94 he was in charge at Ternana in Serie D. In 1997 he went back to Cesena for three years as assistant manager. In 2000 he briefly became first manager before slotting back to assistant for 2000-01.
Ammoniaci played 85 times for Lazio in Serie A over 4 seasons, 23 in Coppa Italia, 5 in the UEFA Cup and 2 in Intertoto Cup. He was a regular, steady left full-back. He was what Italians call " un giocatore onesto" (a decent player). He was reliable and constant, leaving the classier stuff to Manfredonia and especially captain Wilson. He surprised everyone by scoring that gem against Ascoli and still has the unenviable but amusing record of the speediest sending off in Serie A history. The fact that it came against Roma definitely did his legacy at Lazio no harm at all.
Lazio Career
Season | Total appearances (goals) | Serie A | Coppa Italia | UEFA Cup | Intertoto Cup |
1975-76 | 36 | 25 | 9 | 2 | - |
1976-77 | 33 | 29 | 4 | - | - |
1977-78 | 15 | 6 | 4 | 3 | 2 |
1978-79 | 31 (1) | 25 (1) | 6 | - | - |
Total | 118 (1) | 85 (1) | 23 | 5 | 2 |
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