Pietro Ghedin was born in Scorzė (Venice) on November 21, 1952.
His first professional club was local Venezia in the 1969-70 season in Serie C1. He played 18 games for the "Leoni Alati" (The Winged Lions).
In 1970 he moved to Florence. He played for Fiorentina for two seasons under Bruno Pesaola, Oronzo Pugliese and Nils Liedholm. He however only made 4 league appearances for the "Viola".
Between 1972 and 1974 he was in Sicily with Catania in Serie B. He played a total of 53 games for the "Elefanti" and scored 1 goal (Cesena).
In 1974 he arrived at Lazio who were Italian Champions. He stayed at Lazio for five seasons playing under Tommaso Maestrelli, Bob Lovati and Luís Vinicio. He played 104 games in this period.
He was also involved in two dramatic episodes while at Lazio, one tragic. He was the player who was hit by a firecracker in the away game against Milan at San Siro, in April 1978. He collapsed to the ground in a state of shock and was unable to continue. Lazio were given the victory 2-0 by default although they had also won 1-0 in the 90 minutes.
The other episode was awful and tragic and occurred on January 18,1977. It was Ghedin who was with team mate Luciano Re Cecconi on the night he was shot to death. The two had entered a jeweller shop and the official version at the time was that Re Cecconi had pretended to stage a hold up with his hand in the shape of a gun under his jacket, as a prank, and was shot by the jeweller. The shop owner did not follow football so did not recognize the well-known Lazio player "Cecco". Ghedin only saved himself by putting his hands up to show he was unarmed. This version of a prank gone wrong has since been challenged and denied by witnesses and by Ghedin himself. The jeweller had already opened fire against thieves in the previous months so was probably particularly on edge and in the court case admitted that Re Cecconi had not made any hold up gestures but that he just looked suspicious. The fact remains that the Lazio Scudetto hero was killed and his close friend Ghedin scarred for life by the event.
After five years at Lazio, in 1979, Ghedin joined Pescara on loan in Serie A. He stayed one year and played 18 games but the "Adriatici" (The Adriatics) were relegated.
The following year however he was back at Lazio for the 1980-81 season in Serie B. He played another 11 games plus 2 in Coppa Italia under Ilario Castagner but Lazio narrowly missed out on promotion.
In 1981 he joined Pistoiese in Serie B and played 47 games over two years.
In 1983-84 he spent a year at Vigor Senigallia in Serie C2 and played 26 times.
His last club as a player was Siena in 1984-85 where he played 24 games in Serie C2, the "Robur" (The strength) winning promotion to C1.
After retiring ,Ghedin became a manager but not at club level. In 1987-89 he coached Italy U18's. He then coached Malta, first the U21's for a year and then the national side for two years.
In 1996 he started his long adventure with the Italian national side. He was assistant manager for 8 years. First under Cesare Maldini ('98 World Cup), then Dino Zoff (Euro 2000) and finally Giovanni Trapattoni (2002 World Cup). He then took over the Italy U23 side briefly and then the Italy national female side for seven years. A federation man. In 2000 he was made "Cavaliere Ordine al Merito dal Presidente della Repubblica" (a sort of OBE or Knighthood)
Between 2012 and 2017 he was manager of the Malta national side.
As a player he was a defender and could play at centre-back or full-back. At Lazio he played 88 games. He was a no frills, reliable defender and was a regular part of the very up and down 1970's post scudetto period.
For any tennis lovers his son Riccardo was a professional tennis player with a highest ATP ranking of 222.
Lazio career
Season | Total games | Serie A | Serie B | Coppa Italia | UEFA Cup | Intertoto Cup |
1974-75 | 19 | 19 | - | - | - | - |
1975-76 | 33 | 22 | - | 9 | 2 | - |
1976-77 | 13 | 9 | - | 4 | - | - |
1977-78 | 34 | 24 | - | 1 | 3 | 6 |
1978-79 | 5 | 4 | - | 1 | - | - |
1980-81 | 13 | - | 11 | 3 | - | - |
Total | 117 | 78 | 11 | 18 | 5 | 6 |
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