Ferruccio Mazzola

{{Infobox football biography

| name = Ferruccio Mazzola

| image = Ferruccio Mazzola.jpg

| caption = Mazzola as captain of Lazio

| full_name =

| height =

| birth_date = {{birth date|df=y|1945|2|1}}

| birth_place = Turin, Italy

| death_date = {{death date and age|df=y|2013|5|7|1945|2|1}}

| death_place = Rome, Italy

| position = Midfielder

| youthyears1 = 1963–1964 | youthclubs1 = Internazionale

| years1 = 1964–1965 | clubs1 = Marzotto | caps1 = 22 | goals1 = 6

| years2 = 1965–1967 | clubs2 = Venezia | caps2 = 50 | goals2 = 13

| years3 = 1967 | clubs3 = Internazionale | caps3 = 1 | goals3 = 0

| years4 = 1967–1968 | clubs4 = Lecco | caps4 = 18 | goals4 = 1

| years5 = 1968–1971 | clubs5 = Lazio | caps5 = 85 | goals5 = 11

| years6 = 1971–1972 | clubs6 = Fiorentina | caps6 = 16 | goals6 = 1

| years7 = 1972–1974 | clubs7 = Lazio | caps7 = 1 | goals7 = 0

| years8 = 1974–1977 | clubs8 = Sant'Angelo | caps8 = 69 | goals8 = 3

| years9 = 1975 | clubs9 = → Hartford Bicentennials (loan) | caps9 = 1 | goals9 = 0

| years10 = 1976 | clubs10 = Toronto Italia | caps10 = | goals10 =

| totalcaps = 263 | totalgoals = 35

| manageryears1 = 1981–1983 | managerclubs1 = Cynthia

| manageryears2 = 1983–1986 | managerclubs2 = Siena

| manageryears3 = 1986–1987 | managerclubs3 = SPAL

| manageryears4 = 1987–1988 | managerclubs4 = Venezia

| manageryears5 = 1988–1989 | managerclubs5 = Siena

| manageryears6 = 1989–1990 | managerclubs6 = Perugia

| manageryears7 = 1990–1992 | managerclubs7 = Spezia

| manageryears8 = 1992–1993 | managerclubs8 = Alessandria

| manageryears9 = 1994–1995 | managerclubs9 = Aosta

}}

Ferruccio Mazzola (1 February 1945 – 7 May 2013{{cite web|url=http://www.sportmediaset.mediaset.it/calcio/calcio/articoli/104674/morto-ferruccio-mazzola-fratello-di-sandro-e-figlio-di-valentino.shtml|title=Morto Ferruccio Mazzola: fratello di Sandro e figlio di Valentino|publisher=Mediaset|language=it|date=7 June 2013|access-date=18 March 2017}}) was an Italian former professional footballer and manager, who played as a midfielder. He was the son of former footballer Valentino Mazzola, and the younger brother of retired footballer Sandro Mazzola.

Club career

Ferruccio grew up in Internazionale youth team (1963–64); at the time, his older brother, Sandro, was playing in the senior side under legendary manager Helenio Herrera, which, due to its success, has come to be known as La Grande Inter. He played for long periods with Venezia (1965–67), following his father's footsteps, and also Lazio (1968–74), where he won an Italian Championship during the 1973–74 season, also captaining the squad for a time.{{Cite web|url=https://www.worldfootball.net/player_summary/ferruccio-mazzola/|title=Ferruccio Mazzola|website=worldfootball.net}} He also briefly played for the Inter senior side (1967), Marzotto (1964–65), Lecco (1967–68), Fiorentina (1971–72), and Sant'Angelo (1974–77), also spending a season on loan with NASL side Hartford Bicentennials in 1975, before retiring from professional football with Sant'Angelo in 1977, at the age of 30. In the summer of 1976 he played in the National Soccer League with Toronto Italia.{{Cite news|date=29 June 1976|title=Tigers, Italia meet tonight|page=28|work=Ottawa Citizen}} Despite being a talented young footballer, he had a difficult career, partially due to his strong character, and was unable to achieve the success of his father and older brother.{{cite web|url=http://www.treccani.it/enciclopedia/ferruccio-mazzola_%28Enciclopedia_dello_Sport%29/|title=MAZZOLA, Ferruccio|publisher=Treccani: Enciclopedia dello Sport|language=it|author1=Gigi Garanzini|access-date=1 May 2015}}

Managerial career

He retired from active football in 1977 to pursue a coaching career; he obtained two promotions from Serie C2 to C1 (Siena 1984–85 and Venezia 1987–88).{{cite web|url=http://www.corriere.it/sport/13_maggio_07/ferruccio-mazzola-morto_076c7bd6-b6fe-11e2-8651-352f50bc2572.shtml|title=Addio Ferruccio Mazzola, fratello "contro" del mitico Sandro|trans-title=Goodbye Ferruccio Mazzola, the brother "against" the legendary Sandro|publisher=Il Corriere della Sera|language=it|author1=Fabio Monti|date=7 May 2013|access-date=1 May 2015}}

Controversy

In 2004, in a book (Il terzo incomodo{{Cite web|url=http://www.calciofans.com/rastampa/bradipolibri/bradipolibri_Mazzola.htm|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20091106053010/http://www.calciofans.com/rastampa/bradipolibri/bradipolibri_Mazzola.htm |url-status=dead |title=Le pesanti verità di Ferruccio Mazzola|archive-date=6 November 2009}}) and in an interview with L'espresso[http://nuke.25cento.it/Forum25cento/tabid/61/forumid/5/threadid/48/scope/posts/Default.aspx La pillola misteriosa di Herrera] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070814063743/http://nuke.25cento.it/Forum25cento/tabid/61/forumid/5/threadid/48/scope/posts/Default.aspx |date=14 August 2007 }} Mazzola spoke out against the use of performance-enhancing drugs in sport made by Internazionale, Lazio and Fiorentina during the 1960s and the 1970s.{{cite news|url=http://espresso.repubblica.it/attualita/cronaca/2005/05/16/news/quelle-pillole-che-ci-dava-herrera-1.578|title=Quelle pillole che ci dava Herrera|work=La Repubblica|language=it|author1=Alessandro Gilioli|date=16 May 2005|access-date=18 March 2017}}

In 2005 the prosecutor's office of Florence opened an investigation into the death of Fiorentina footballer Bruno Beatrice, hypothesizing that this could have been caused by doping. However, on 2 January 2009 it requested the dismissal of the case by the statute of limitations.{{Cite news|url=http://ricerca.repubblica.it/repubblica/archivio/repubblica/2009/01/03/il-pm-archiviare-il-caso-beatrice-per.html|title=Il pm: archiviare il caso Beatrice per prescrizione|work=La Repubblica|language=it|date=3 February 2009|access-date=5 May 2011}} Meanwhile, Internazionale chairman Massimo Moratti sued Mazzola for defamation about his statements. The ex-footballer won the legal case in 2010: according to the judgement's motivation, the claims in the book could not be considered libellous.[http://www.sportpro.it/doping/news/2010/02.htm#MAZZOLA. Doping nel calcio: Ferruccio Mazzola e la Bradipolibri vincono la causa contro l'Inter] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100305230930/http://www.sportpro.it/doping/news/2010/02.htm |publisher=www.sportpro.it |language=Italian |date=5 March 2010 }}

Several Grande Inter teammates denied those accusations, however, with one exception being Franco Zaglio, who said the use of illicit substances had been common for various Serie A clubs since the 1950s.{{cite news|title="Il club mi ha detto di cucirmi la bocca"|newspaper=Il Giorno|language=it|last=Mola|first=Giulio|date=11 November 2015|page=6}} Some years after Ferruccio's decease, his elder brother Sandro Mazzola declared that Ferruccio's complaint was motivated by a desire for "revenge" against Internazionale and that the true doping of Helenio Herrera was "psychological".{{Cite web|url=http://www.calcioweb.eu/2015/11/il-caffe-di-herrera-mazzola-minimizza-non-influiva-piu-di-tanto/275174/|title=Il caffè di Herrera, Mazzola minimizza: "Non influiva più di tanto"|publisher=www.calcioweb.eu|language=it|author=Giuseppe Crescente|date=11 November 2015|access-date=12 November 2015}}{{Cite news|url=http://www.corriere.it/italiani//notizie/sandro-mazzola-dopo-superga-fui-rapito-compagna-papa-inter-valentino-torino-d580850c-fb9d-11e6-8df2-f7ebe5fcea94.shtml|title=Sandro Mazzola: "Dopo Superga fui rapito dalla compagna di papà. Nei miei sogni gioco con lui"|work=Il Corriere della Sera|language=it|author=Aldo Cazzullo|date=25 February 2017|access-date=26 February 2017}} Luna Herrera, Helenio's daughter, pointed out that her father was a committed health enthusiast, and that he would only give his players cachets of acetylsalicylic acid, which were taken with coffee as stimulants.{{Cite web|url=http://www.helenioherrera.it/il-caffe-di-herrera.html|title=Il caffè di Herrera|publisher=www.helenioherrera.it|language=it|access-date=12 November 2015}}

Death

Mazzola died in Rome on 7 May 2013 after a long illness.{{cite web |url=http://it.eurosport.yahoo.com/notizie/serie-morto-ferruccio-mazzola-incomodo-093248385.html |title=Serie A - E' morto Ferruccio Mazzola, il terzo incomodo - Yahoo! Eurosport IT |access-date=7 June 2013 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130607020559/http://it.eurosport.yahoo.com/notizie/serie-morto-ferruccio-mazzola-incomodo-093248385.html |archive-date=7 June 2013 }}