 | |||
| Personal information | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Date of birth | (1912-04-22)22 April 1912 | ||
| Place of birth | Rho, Italy | ||
| Date of death | 17 January 1993(1993-01-17) (aged 80) | ||
| Place of death | Milan, Italy | ||
| Height | 1.78 m (5 ft 10 in) | ||
| Position | Goalkeeper | ||
| Senior career* | |||
| Years | Team | Apps | (Gls) |
| 1931–1932 | Ternana | 1 | (0) |
| 1932–1933 | Juventus Trapani | 2 | (0) |
| 1933–1936 | Catanzaro | 44 | (0) |
| 1936–1939 | AC Milan | 3 | (0) |
| 1939–1940 | Ternana | 12 | (0) |
| 1940–1941 | Savona | 20 | (2) |
| 1941–1942 | Liguria | 15 | (0) |
| 1943–1944 | Legnano | 12 | (0) |
| 1946–1947 | Marsala | ||
| Total | 109 | (2) | |
| Managerial career | |||
| 1949–1950 | Belenenses | ||
| 1955–1956 | Vitória Setúbal | ||
| 1957–1958 | Greece | ||
| 1957–1958 | AEK Athens | ||
| 1959 | Vigevano | ||
| 1965 | Chiasso | ||
| * Club domestic league appearances and goals | |||
Vittore "Rino" Martini (22 April 1912 – 17 January 1993) was an Italianfootballer who played as agoalkeeper and a later manager.
Martini began his football career in 1931 atTernana, playing as a goalkeeper. In 1932 he was transferred toJuventus Trapani for one season and then he played atU.S. Catanzaro 1929 for three years, where he won his only title of his career, theSerie C1 in 1936. Then he made the big step of his career joining the hometown club,Milan, which it is also the peak moment in his career. At Milan he played for three seasons as a back-up goalkeeper, before returning to the club that he first played, Ternana for one season. Afterwards, he spent another season atSavona He was distinguished by his power with a characteristic in his career that he scored with direct volleys. Even today he holds the goalscoring record for aSerie B goalkeeper, after as he scored twice againstSiena, the first with a penalty and the second with a direct volley. In 1941 he moved toLiguria, where he played for a season.[1] In total he made 18 appearances as a starter in Serie A, during difficult times for Italy and football, as theWorld War II raged and the leagues certainly took a back seat. In 1943 he playedLegnano for a year and took a break before returning to football in 1946 for a season withMarsala, where he ended his playing career in 1956.[2]
A year and a half after his retirement as a footballer Martini, became the manager ofBelenenses, replacingAlejandro Scopelli. InLisbon he actually began his coaching career and as a practitioner of theItalian school of football, he emphasized on defense, losing theLisbon Championship and finishing third in the thenTaça de Portugal. He departed from the club in 1950.[2]
The next stop in his career wasVitória Setúbal in 1955, where he finished third in theTaça Ribeiro dos Reis and afterwards cames the call fromGreece. Almost at the same time asAEK Athens, theHFF, recognizing his ability to fix the defensive line, entrusted him with theGreece national team, where however, he did not manage to achieve similar results. The heavy defeat 7–1 on 1 October 1958 for the qualifiers of the1960 European Nations' Cup in Paris by the organizerFrance ofKopa,Fontaine andWisniewski, who tore apart the Greek defense[3] and 9 days later, under the weight of the outcry, Martini was fired. He ended his spell in Greece with 2 wins a draw and 4 defeats in 7 games with 8–17 goals.[4][2]
The then president of AEK Athens, Nikos Goumas, after their unsuccessful previous season, was determined to give his team back their competitive identity that allowed them to star and called the Italian coach who was now famous apart from his good defensive game and for his discipline.[5] Martini indeed made an unbreakable team at the back, the team finishing second in theAthens FCA Championship, having the best defense in the group conceding only 14 goals. AEK suffered a 1–0 defeat byFostiras and a draw againstEgaleo. However, he gave joy to the fans of the team with the victory in the derby againstPanathnikos and also the victory overApollon Athens by 4–0 in at home and 1–2 away from home. In thePahellenic Championship that took place afterwards, the many draws they achieved cost AEK the title as they finished second again behind theOlympiacos. After the end of the championship he left AEK Athens and Greece.[2]
In 1959 he hard a brief spell atChiasso. The beginning of the 60's found him wandering and for three and a half seasons unemployed, until he was called to the Italian-Swiss border by the Swiss second divisionChiasso to replace the technical duo ofCarlo Rigotti andTullio Grassi. This was his last professional involvement in football, before he retired from football.[2][6]
After his retirement from football, Martini became a businessman inLombardy. He died on 17 January 1993.[2]
U.S. Catanzaro 1929