Osvaldo Bagnoli

Osvaldo Bagnoli (3 July 1935 – 17 July 2026) was an Italian football coach and player who played as a midfielder.

Although he had played for AC Milan and coached Inter Milan, he is best known for his time with Hellas Verona, both as a player and, in particular, as a manager, having been in charge of the team for nine consecutive seasons, including the victorious 1984–85 Serie A campaign, which became the first ever Scudetto in the club's history. For his achievements, he was nicknamed Il Mago della Bovisa ("the wizard of Bovisa," in English, the district in which he was born in his hometown Milan).

He was also the first coach to have led Genoa into European competitions, reaching the UEFA Cup semi-finals during the club's debut campaign.

Playing career Born in the working-class Bovisa district of Milan, Bagnoli began his professional career as a midfielder with his hometown club AC Milan in 1955. Although he struggled to break into the starting line-up, due to the presence of several talented players in the first team, he was able to make his top flight debut with the club in his first season and subsequently won both the Serie A title and the Latin Cup during the 1956–57 season. He later joined Verona in 1957, where he became an important figure with the club. In his first season he scored 3 goals in 23 appearances, although he was unable to prevent the club's relegation to Serie B. In the following three seasons however, he excelled, scoring 25 goals in 74 appearances in Serie B. He later had two separate season long spells with Udinese, which were separated by two three seasons stints at Catanzaro and SPAL respectively. He ended his career in 1973, with Serie C side Verbania.

Managerial career During his coaching career, Bagnoli is best known for being the manager which led an underdog Verona side to its first (and so far the only) Serie A title during the 1984–85 season; Bagnoli was in charge of a team which featured several promising players who had been unable to fulfil their potential until then, such as Pietro Fanna, Roberto Tricella, and Antonio Di Gennaro, but who later played a key role in the club's league title success as they matured. Bagnoli was the club's head coach from 1981 until 1990;

Prior to coaching Verona, Bagnoli also managed Solbiatese, Como, Rimini, and Fano, helping the latter side to obtain promotion to Serie C1 during the 1978–79 season after capturing the Serie C2 title.

After retirement On 20 January 2018, Bagnoli was named Hellas Verona's honorary president.

Personal life Bagnoli was a socialist; Silvio Berlusconi, the president of AC Milan, reportedly considered Bagnoli for the position of the team's head coach following Arrigo Sacchi's departure, but later decided not to hire him, considering him to be too left-leaning in his political views. He was married to Rosanna, with whom he had a daughter, Monica.

Bagnoli died in Verona on 17 July 2026, at the age of 91, due to a neurodegenerative disease.

Style of play Bagnoli was a quick and versatile midfielder who was capable of playing in several roles, and throughout his career he was deployed as a central midfielder (in the mezzala role), as an attacking midfielder, as a right winger, and even as a defensive midfielder, or as an inside forward. In his final seasons with Verbania, he was also deployed as a sweeper. his defenders were usually required to contain their opponents in positions further away from the goal. He usually employed a sweeper in his teams, who was also required either to play or carry the ball out from the back after winning back possession and function as a deep-lying playmaker until his teammates were back in position; Furthermore, he preferred to work with a small group of players for his starting eleven, avoiding turnovers as much as possible. In spite of his friendly and reserved character, and reputation as a man of few words, he was known to be an excellent motivator and communicated well with his players, often looking to collaborate with them in implementing his ideas. Bagnoli's success with Verona later earned him the nickname "il mago della Bovisa" (the wizard from Bovisa).

Manager Fano Italian Football Hall of Fame: 2017