Background
Valcareggi was born in Trieste.
Valcareggi was born in Trieste.
He had a successful playing career, playing for teams such as Fiorentina,, and his home-town club Triestina, ending his career in 1953. He is widely remembered for his success as a coach, in particular with national football team After managing several Italian club sides (including, helping the club to the 1956-1957 Serie C title and Serie B promotion, as well as Atalanta and Fiorentina), he was named the Italian team"s coach, replacing manager Edmondo Fabbri, and was in charge of the Italian national side between 1966 and 1974, guiding them to victory in the 1968 European Championship on home soil, and to the final in the 1970 World Cup.
Under Valcareggi, lost only six games in eight years.
Valcareggi is also remembered for devising the infamous "staffetta" (relay) match strategy during the 1970 World Cup. Due to his focus on defensive stability, as well as the presence of two pure, prolific goalscoring strikers, Riva and Boninsegna, Valcareggi felt that it would not be possible to field "s two most revered advanced playmakers at the time, Gianni Rivera, and Sandro Mazzola, alongside each other.
He believed the two creative players to be incompatible with each other, due to the rivalry between their respective clubs, and as he felt that deploying both players alongside the forwards would offset the balance within the starting line-up, in particular as Rivera, unlike Mazzola, was not renowned for his athleticism or defensive work-rate. He therefore conceived the plan, which essentially consisted of Mazzola playing the first half of each match, whilst Rivera would play the second half.
Despite "s victory at the 1968 European Championship and their second-place finish at the 1970 World Cup, the tactic was widely criticised by the media, in particular due to "s negative performance during the group-stage and in the final defeat to Brazil, despite demonstrating their ability to successfully apply a more offensive, exciting style of play with Rivera in the semi-final against West Germany.
The two players only played together briefly in the final, when Rivera came on for Boninsegna for the last six minutes of the match. Following his international career, Valcareggi worked as a club coach in and also briefly served as a pundit, also working for Fiorentina"s technical sector. He was inducted into the Fiorentina Hall of Fame in 2013.
Valcareggi died in Florence on 2 November 2005, at the age of 86.
Player Coach = Club = International = Individual.
Bologna Coppa Alta Italia: 1945-1946 = Club = Prato Serie C: 1956-1957 = International = Italy Union of European Football Associations European Championship: 1968 Fédération internationale de football association World Cup (Runner-up): 1970 = Individual = Seminatore d"oro: 1956-1957, 1972-1973 Italian Football Hall of Fame: 2011.
