Nereo Rocco

Nereo Rocco (; 20 May 1912 – 20 February 1979) was an Italian football player and manager. Regarded as one of the greatest managers of all time, he is famous for having been one of the most successful head coaches in Italy, winning several domestic and international titles during his tenure with AC Milan. At Padova, he was one of the first proponents of catenaccio in the country.

Playing career Club

Rocco played as a winger in midfield; he had a modest playing career, spent mainly with clubs like Triestina, Napoli and Padova. He played 287 Serie A matches within 11 seasons, scoring 69 goals. Rocco was also capped one time for the Italy national team.

International Rocco made an appearance for the Italy national team on one occasion: in Vittorio Pozzo's selection in the 1934 FIFA World Cup qualification match, on 25 March 1934 against Greece, a 4–0 home victory.

Coaching career Triestina Rocco made his coaching debut for Triestina in 1947. He obtained a surprising second place in Serie A, which is still the highest result ever reached by the team. He left Triestina a few years later because of disagreements with the club chairmanship. In 1951 he briefly coached Treviso, then returning to Triestina. winning the Italian league in 1962 and the European Cup in 1963. After a good stint at Torino, where he obtained the best results since the disappearance of the Grande Torino, in 1967 Rocco returned to Milan, where he immediately won another scudetto and the Cup Winners' Cup.

Regarded as one of the greatest managers of all time, Rocco, popularly known as El Paròn (Triestin for The Master), was also popular for his strong use of his native Triestine dialect.

Death and legacy Rocco died on 20 February 1979, aged 66, in his hometown Trieste.

On 18 October 1992, a new stadium in Trieste, named after Rocco, was inaugurated.

Rocco's tactics heavily influenced manager Giovanni Trapattoni, who became one of the main proponents of the zona mista ("mixed zone," in Italian), or gioco all'italiana, which drew elements from both man-to-man marking systems such as Italian catenaccio, and zonal-marking systems such as Dutch total football.

Managerial statistics

Honours

Manager AC Milan Serie A: 1961–62, 1967–68 Coppa Italia: 1971–72, 1972–73, 1976–77 European Cup: 1962–63, 1968–69 UEFA Cup Winners' Cup: 1967–68, 1972–73 Intercontinental Cup: 1969

Individual Seminatore d'Oro: 1962–63 Italian Football Hall of Fame: 2012 France Football 17th Greatest Manager of All Time: 2019 World Soccer 36th Greatest Manager of All Time: 2013