 Bulgarelli withBologna | |||||||||||||||||
| Personal information | |||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Full name | Giacomo Bulgarelli | ||||||||||||||||
| Date of birth | (1940-10-24)24 October 1940 | ||||||||||||||||
| Place of birth | Portonovo di Medicina,Italy | ||||||||||||||||
| Date of death | 12 February 2009(2009-02-12) (aged 68) | ||||||||||||||||
| Place of death | Bologna,Italy | ||||||||||||||||
| Position | Midfielder | ||||||||||||||||
| Senior career* | |||||||||||||||||
| Years | Team | Apps | (Gls) | ||||||||||||||
| 1959–1975 | Bologna | 391 | (43) | ||||||||||||||
| 1975 | Hartford Bicentennials | 2 | (0) | ||||||||||||||
| Total | 393 | (43) | |||||||||||||||
| International career | |||||||||||||||||
| 1962–1968 | Italy | 29 | (7) | ||||||||||||||
Medal record
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| * Club domestic league appearances and goals | |||||||||||||||||
Giacomo Bulgarelli (Italian pronunciation:[ˈdʒaːkomobulɡaˈrɛlli]; 24 October 1940 – 12 February 2009) was anItalian internationalfootballer who played as amidfielder. Regarded as one of Italy's greatest ever midfielders, Bulgarelli spent his entire club career with Italian sideBologna, where he also served as the team'scaptain; an important figure with the club, he is the team's record all-time appearance holder, and won theSerie A title with the Bolognese side in 1964, among other trophies. Following his retirement, he had a brief spell in America with theHartford Bicentennials in 1975, and later also had a successful career as a football commentator in the 90s.
At international level, Bulgarelli representedItaly at the1960 Summer Olympics in Rome,[1] where the team finished in fourth place, and in twoFIFA World Cups; he made his senior international debut at the1962 edition of the tournament, and marked the occasion with two goals, becoming Italy's youngest ever World Cup goalscorer. He was also a member of the Italian side that wonUEFA Euro 1968.
Bulgarelli was born in Portonovo diMedicina,Bologna.[2]
His entire Italian club career was spent withBologna, for whom he also served ascaptain.[3] He made 391Serie A appearances for the club between1958–59 and1974–75, as well as 54 in theCoppa Italia, 3 in theEuropean Cup, 2 in theCup Winners' Cup, 20 in theInter-Cities Fairs Cup, 4 in theMitropa Cup, and 2 in theAnglo-Italian League Cup; he scored 58 goals in all competitions, 43 of which came in Serie A.[4][3]
He won the title with the club in1964, after they defeatedHerrera's "Grande"Inter Milan 2–0 in a play-off match; this was the only time in history that the league title had been decided in such a manner.[5] He also won the Coppa Italia twice with the club during the 1970s, as well as a Mitropa Cup and an Anglo-Italian League Cup.[3][6] With 488 appearances in all competitions, he is Bologna's record all-time appearance holder.[3][7]
He finished his career with a brief spell in 1975 with theHartford Bicentennials in the USA.[4]
Bulgarelli played three matches for Italy at the1960 Summer Olympics.[8]
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He made his senior debut for theItaly national team at the1962 World Cup, on 7 June, scoring two goals in a 3–0 win in Italy's final group match againstSwitzerland, which were unable to prevent the team from being eliminated in the first round. With these goals, he became theyoungest ever goalscorer for Italy at the FIFA World Cup, at the age of 21 years and 226 days.[9] He played all three matches for Italy at the1966 World Cup.[2] Throughout the tournament, he also featured as the team'scaptain ahead ofSandro Salvadore in the team's infamous and historic 1–0 defeat toNorth Korea in Middlesbrough, on 19 July, which led to the Italians' elimination from the World Cup. During the match, Bulgarelli was forced off due to a knee injury when the score was still 0–0, leaving the Italians a man down for the remainder of the match, as substitutions were not permitted at the time.[3][5][10] His only other appearance as Italy's captain came on 18 June 1966, in a friendly match againstAustria.[11]
He was a member of the Italy squad that won the1968 UEFA European Championship on home soil,[3] where his leadership and experience played an important role in the team's success, even though he did not appear throughout the final stages of the tournament; his last international appearance came againstRomania, in 1967.[5][11] He made a total of 29 appearances for the Italy national side, scoring 7 times.[3][10]
Bulgarelli was a tenacious, hard-working, and completemidfielder, who was known for his positional sense, consistency, and footballing intelligence, as well as his influence and leadership on the pitch. In addition to being adept defensively as a ball-winner, where he excelled at breaking down plays and subsequently distributing the ball to teammates, he also possessed excellent vision, passing ability and technical skills, and was therefore also capable of setting the tempo of his team in midfield as aplaymaker. He was also known for his offensive attributes, which saw him score several goals from midfield.Fabio Capello described him as Italy's greatest ever midfielder.[3]
After his retirement from professional football, he worked as a sporting director, and he also had a successful career as a football commentator and pundit, in particular during the 90s, working withRAI,Mediaset, andLa Gazzetta dello Sport; he also partnered up with fellow pundit Massimo Caputi to provide the Italian commentary for theEA SportsFIFA video game series from 1998 to 2002.[3][12]
He died in Bologna, on 12 February 2009, after a lengthy illness.[3][6]
On 3 July 1968, Bulgarelli founded theItalian Footballers' Association (AIC), inMilan, along with several fellow footballers, such asGianni Rivera,Sandro Mazzola,Ernesto Castano,Giancarlo De Sisti, andGiacomo Losi, as well as the recently retiredSergio Campana, also a lawyer, who was appointed president of the association.[13]
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