Ferruccio Mazzola

Italian footballer (1945–2013)

Ferruccio Mazzola

Mazzola as captain of Lazio

Personal information
Date of birth|  (1945-02-01)1 February 1945
Place of birth|  Turin, Italy
Date of death|  7 May 2013(2013-05-07) (aged 68)
Place of death|  Rome, Italy
Position(s)|  Midfielder
Youth career
1963–1964|  Internazionale
Senior career*
Years|  Team|  Apps|  (Gls)
1964–1965|  Marzotto|  22|  (6)
1965–1967|  Venezia|  50|  (13)
1967|  Internazionale|  1|  (0)
1967–1968|  Lecco|  18|  (1)
1968–1971|  Lazio|  85|  (11)
1971–1972|  Fiorentina|  16|  (1)
1972–1974|  Lazio|  1|  (0)
1974–1977|  Sant'Angelo|  69|  (3)
1975|  → Hartford Bicentennials (loan)|  1|  (0)
1976|  Toronto Italia|  |
Total|  |  263|  (35)
Managerial career
1981–1983|  Cynthia
1983–1986|  Siena
1986–1987|  SPAL
1987–1988|  Venezia
1988–1989|  Siena
1989–1990|  Perugia
1990–1992|  Spezia
1992–1993|  Alessandria
1994–1995|  Aosta
*Club domestic league appearances and goals

Ferruccio Mazzola (1 February 1945 – 7 May 2013[1]) was an Italian former professional footballer and manager, who played as a midfielder. He was the son of former footballer Valentino Mazzola, and the younger brother of retired footballer Sandro Mazzola.

## Club career

[edit]

Ferruccio grew up in Internazionale youth team (1963–64); at the time, his older brother, Sandro, was playing in the senior side under legendary manager Helenio Herrera, which, due to its success, has come to be known as La Grande Inter. He played for long periods with Venezia (1965–67), following his father's footsteps, and also Lazio (1968–74), where he won an Italian Championship during the 1973–74 season, also captaining the squad for a time.[2] He also briefly played for the Inter senior side (1967), Marzotto (1964–65), Lecco (1967–68), Fiorentina (1971–72), and Sant'Angelo (1974–77), also spending a season on loan with NASL side Hartford Bicentennials in 1975, before retiring from professional football with Sant'Angelo in 1977, at the age of 30. In the summer of 1976 he played in the National Soccer League with Toronto Italia.[3] Despite being a talented young footballer, he had a difficult career, partially due to his strong character, and was unable to achieve the success of his father and older brother.[4]

## Managerial career

[edit]

He retired from active football in 1977 to pursue a coaching career; he obtained two promotions from Serie C2 to C1 (Siena 1984–85 and Venezia 1987–88).[5]

## Controversy

[edit]

In 2004, in a book (Il terzo incomodo[1][5][6]) and in an interview with L'espresso[7] Mazzola spoke out against the use of performance-enhancing drugs in sport made by Internazionale, Lazio and Fiorentina during the 1960s and the 1970s.[8]

In 2005 the prosecutor's office of Florence opened an investigation into the death of Fiorentina footballer Bruno Beatrice, hypothesizing that this could have been caused by doping. However, on 2 January 2009 it requested the dismissal of the case by the statute of limitations.[9] Meanwhile, Internazionale chairman Massimo Moratti sued Mazzola for defamation about his statements. The ex-footballer won the legal case in 2010: according to the judgement's motivation, the claims in the book could not be considered libellous.[10]

Several Grande Inter teammates denied those accusations, however, with one exception being Franco Zaglio, who said the use of illicit substances had been common for various Serie A clubs since the 1950s.[11] Some years after Ferruccio's decease, his elder brother Sandro Mazzola declared that Ferruccio's complaint was motivated by a desire for "revenge" against Internazionale and that the true doping of Helenio Herrera was "psychological".[12][13] Luna Herrera, Helenio's daughter, pointed out that her father was a committed health enthusiast, and that he would only give his players cachets of acetylsalicylic acid, which were taken with coffee as stimulants.[14]

## Death

[edit]

Mazzola died in Rome on 7 May 2013[1] after a long illness.[15]

## Honours

[edit]

Venezia[4]

* Serie B: 1965–66

Lazio[4]

* Serie A: 1973–74
* Coppa delle Alpi: 1971
* Serie B: 1968–69

## References

[edit]

1. ^ a b c "Morto Ferruccio Mazzola: fratello di Sandro e figlio di Valentino" (in Italian). Mediaset. 7 June 2013. Retrieved 18 March 2017.
2. ^ "Ferruccio Mazzola". worldfootball.net.
3. ^ "Tigers, Italia meet tonight". Ottawa Citizen. 29 June 1976. p. 28.
4. ^ a b c Gigi Garanzini. "MAZZOLA, Ferruccio" (in Italian). Treccani: Enciclopedia dello Sport. Retrieved 1 May 2015.
5. ^ a b Fabio Monti (7 May 2013). "Addio Ferruccio Mazzola, fratello "contro" del mitico Sandro" [Goodbye Ferruccio Mazzola, the brother "against" the legendary Sandro] (in Italian). Il Corriere della Sera. Retrieved 1 May 2015.
6. ^ "Le pesanti verità di Ferruccio Mazzola". Archived from the original on 6 November 2009.
7. ^ La pillola misteriosa di Herrera Archived 14 August 2007 at the Wayback Machine
8. ^ Alessandro Gilioli (16 May 2005). "Quelle pillole che ci dava Herrera". La Repubblica (in Italian). Retrieved 18 March 2017.
9. ^ "Il pm: archiviare il caso Beatrice per prescrizione". La Repubblica (in Italian). 3 February 2009. Retrieved 5 May 2011.
10. ^ Doping nel calcio: Ferruccio Mazzola e la Bradipolibri vincono la causa contro l'Inter Archived 5 March 2010 at the Wayback Machine
11. ^ Mola, Giulio (11 November 2015). ""Il club mi ha detto di cucirmi la bocca"". Il Giorno (in Italian). p. 6.
12. ^ Giuseppe Crescente (11 November 2015). "Il caffè di Herrera, Mazzola minimizza: "Non influiva più di tanto"" (in Italian). www.calcioweb.eu. Retrieved 12 November 2015.
13. ^ Aldo Cazzullo (25 February 2017). "Sandro Mazzola: "Dopo Superga fui rapito dalla compagna di papà. Nei miei sogni gioco con lui"". Il Corriere della Sera (in Italian). Retrieved 26 February 2017.
14. ^ "Il caffè di Herrera" (in Italian). www.helenioherrera.it. Retrieved 12 November 2015.
15. ^ "Serie A - E' morto Ferruccio Mazzola, il terzo incomodo - Yahoo! Eurosport IT". Archived from the original on 7 June 2013. Retrieved 7 June 2013.

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