Pietro Vierchowod

Pietro Vierchowod (, born 6 April 1959) is an Italian former professional footballer who played as a centre-back, and a manager. He represented the Italy national side during his career and was in the Italian squad that won the 1982 FIFA World Cup.

Widely regarded as one of the greatest Italian centre-backs of all-time, and one of the best of his generation, during his playing career he was nicknamed lo Zar ("the Tsar") because of his pace, defensive ability, physicality, tenacious playing style, and Ukrainian descent; he was the son of a Ukrainian Red Army soldier from Starobilsk.

Early life

Vierchowod was born in Calcinate, in the province of Bergamo. He is the son of a former Soviet prisoner of war. His father, Ivan Lukyanovych Verkhovod , a Ukrainian, was taken prisoner during World War II, escaped from a Nazi concentration camp in northern Italy, and fought in a partisan detachment of the Italian Resistance. After the war he did not return to the USSR and settled in Lombardy.

Club career Vierchowod was initially a man-marking centre-back, who also later excelled in a zonal-marking system. He started his professional football career for Como, before moving to Fiorentina. However, his first successes came when he moved to Roma, winning a Serie A scudetto in 1983. Then he moved to Sampdoria, with whom he won four Italian Cups, one European Cup Winners' Cup and another scudetto in 1991. thus becoming the second 40-year-old player to score a Serie A goal after Silvio Piola, and currently sitting as the fifth oldest Serie A goalscorer behind Zlatan Ibrahimović, Alessandro Costacurta, Piola, and Fabio Quagliarella.

He eventually retired in 2000, aged 41. Vierchowod played 562 Serie A matches, and is the seventh-highest appearance holder of all time in Serie A, behind only to Paolo Maldini, Gianluigi Buffon, Francesco Totti, Javier Zanetti, Gianluca Pagliuca, and Dino Zoff.

Style of play Nicknamed lo Zar, Vierchowod was a tenacious and physical left-footed centre-back, who possessed great pace; regarded as one of Italy's best ever defenders, during his career, he was considered one of the fastest defenders in the world, and one of the toughest Serie A defenders of the 1980s and the 1990s, due to his immense strength, tight marking of opponents, and hard tackling style of play. While he was not particularly tall for a centre-back, he was also very strong in the air, due to his elevation, and had a penchant for scoring goals from headers; as a result he is one of the most prolific Italian defenders of all time. Despite his aggressive playing style, he was also regarded as a fair player both on and off the pitch, and also stood out for his longevity, leadership, dedication in training, and ability to avoid injuries.

In a 2008 interview with Argentine magazine El Gráfico, Argentine footballer Diego Maradona, widely regarded as one of the greatest players of all time, dubbed Vierchowod his toughest opponent, stating that "[Vierchowod] was an animal, he had muscles to the eyelashes. It was easy to pass by him, but then when I raised my head, he was in front of me again. I would have to pass him two or three more times and then I would pass the ball because I couldn't stand him anymore".

Marco van Basten named Pietro Vierchowod and Riccardo Ferri as two of the best defenders he ever faced, while Gabriel Batistuta described Vierchowod as the best defender in the world in 1992.

Coaching career After his playing career, Vierchowod coached Catania of Serie C1, Florentia Viola (now Fiorentina) of Serie C2 and Triestina of Serie B. In all of the circumstances, he left before the end of the season.

On 13 June 2014, Vierchowod was announced as the new coach of the Hungarian club, Budapest Honvéd, but after the team's poor performance and the lack of company support, he resigned on 6 October.

He then briefly served as head coach of FC Kamza between June and July 2018, He left the company because of issues with the management.

Honours Roma Serie A: 1982–83

Sampdoria

Juventus

Individual Serie A Team of The Year: 1983, 1985, 1988, 1990, 1991 Guerin d'Oro: 1983 Premio Nazionale Carriera Esemplare "Gaetano Scirea": 1995

Orders