 | |||
| Personal information | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Date of birth | (1948-02-15)15 February 1948 (age 77) | ||
| Place of birth | Palermo, Italy | ||
| Position | Midfielder | ||
| Youth career | |||
| Elenka T.N. | |||
| Juventina Palermo | |||
| Senior career* | |||
| Years | Team | Apps | (Gls) |
| 1966–1967 | Palermo | 4 | (0) |
| 1968–1969 | Taranto | 2 | (0) |
| 1970–1974 | Palermo | 126 | (5) |
| 1974–1978 | Genoa | 132 | (8) |
| 1978–1980 | Palermo | 62 | (1) |
| 1980–1982 | Reggina | ||
| 1982–1983 | Nocerina | ||
| Managerial career | |||
| 1983–1985 | Mazara | ||
| 1985–1986 | Akragas | ||
| 1992–1995 | Trapani | ||
| 1995–1997 | Palermo | ||
| 1998 | Palermo | ||
| 1999–2000 | Gualdo | ||
| 2000–2001 | Foggia | ||
| 2002 | Frosinone | ||
| 2005 | Nocerina | ||
| 2006 | Trapani (technical director) | ||
| * Club domestic league appearances and goals | |||
Ignazio Arcoleo (born 15 February 1948 inPalermo) is anItalian footballer and manager.
Arcoleo, born inMondello, aPalermo maritimefrazione, to a fishermans' family, started his professional career in 1966/1967 forhis home city team. He returned to play for Palermo in 1970, becoming one of the most representative players for therosanero in the period. He also played aCoppa Italia final in 1974, being the author of the foul toGiacomo Bulgarelli which allowedBologna to kick and score the equaliser penalty in injury time, and then win the tournament on penalty shootouts. From 1974/1975 to 1977/1978, Arcoleo played forGenoa, being remembered as the author of the first football goal ever shown on colour TV, during aSerie A home match againstTorino ended in a 1–1 tie and played on 6 February 1977.[1][2][3]
Arcoleo returned to Palermo, then inSerie B, on 1978, and again played another unsuccessful Coppa Italia final, lost to top division giantsJuventus. He left Palermo in 1980 and retired in 1983.
In 1983/1984, Arcoleo started his managing career, becoming head coach ofSerie D teamMazara. He coached Mazara for two seasons, winning the Serie D league in 1985: however the promotion was then cancelled by the federation because of alleged matchfixing. In 1985/1986, Arcoleo unsuccessfully coachedAkragas, as the then-Serie C2 team relegated at the end of the season despite very strong performances in the second half of the season.
Arcoleo had his breakthrough at the coaching level during his years at the helm ofTrapani, another Serie D team, which he led from the top amateur league toSerie C1 and almost reaching an otherwise historical promotion toSerie B, being defeated on playoffs byGualdo. Thanks to his results on Trapani, Arcoleo was called to coach "his"Palermo the next season. The 1995/1996 Palermo, widely considered a minorSerie B team, was mostly composed by local players, most of them right from Arcoleo's Trapani: despite this, therosanero managed to play one of their best seasons in the 1990s, obtaining a seventh place in the final league table and gaining several successes in the Coppa Italia, eliminatingSerie A well-established teams such asParma andVicenza.
The following 1996/1997 season, however, was the beginning of Arcoleo career breakdowns, as he was fired and Palermo then relegated to Serie C1. Arcoleo was recalled to coach Palermo in the latest matches of the 1997/1998 Serie C campaign, with therosanero involved in a heavy struggle to avoid relegation, ended to a shocking loss toBattipagliese on playoffs which meant to be the second consecutive relegation for both Arcoleo and Palermo.
Since then, Arcoleo coached a number ofSerie C teams (Gualdo,Foggia,Frosinone,Nocerina) never being able to end the season in his position. In 2006, he also made a comeback at Trapani, now inSerie D, as "technical director" and aide for the head coach, but did not achieve any success and instead saw his team relegated toEccellenza. He is currently a football pundit for a number of regional TV channels of Sicily.
