The eighth edition of the Italian Football Hall of Fame was recently held once again in the splendid Salone dei Cinquecento in Florence’s Palazzo Vecchio. The first awards ceremony took place in 2011 and was launched by the FIGC and the Fondazione Museo del Calcio as a means of celebrating individuals who’ve left a unique mark on Italian football.

Another 11 prestigious names have been selected to join the previous tally of 88, and they are: Francesco Totti (Italian player), Javier Zanetti (Foreign player), Massimiliano Allegri (Coach), Antonio Matarrese (Italian director), Nicola Rizzoli (Italian referee), Giancarlo Antognoni (Italian veteran), Milena Bertolini (Italian player), Amedeo Amadei and Gipo Viani (Memorial award), Igor Trocchia (Astori award), Gianni Brera (Special award).

There were two new awards in this year’s edition, including the Fair Play award dedicated to Davide Astori and a special recognition prize for Gianni Brera. The former has been awarded to Igor Trocchia, a youth coach at Pontisola who pulled his team out of a tournament after one of his players received racist abuse.

The winners were decided by a panel made up of USSI President Luigi Ferrajolo and journalists including Alberto Brandi (Sport Mediaset), Federico Ferri (Sky Sport), Xavier Jacobelli (Tuttosport), Andrea Monti (La Gazzetta dello Sport), Piercarlo Presutti (Ansa), Enrico Varriale (Rai Sport) and Ivan Zazzaroni (Il Corriere dello Sport and Guerin Sportivo).

Those present at the ceremony also included Florence Mayor Dario Nardella, FIGC President Gabriele Gravina, CEO Marco Brunelli, Head Coach of the National Team Roberto Mancini, former FIGC President Giancarlo Abete and UEFA Member in the FIFA Council Evelina Christillin.

While on stage, President Gravina highlighted the importance of values in sport: “When you go through difficult moments,” he said. “You must focus on values that give you a different perspective. We wanted to link a child to every award-winner, giving the kids a chance to conquer their fears and triumph in moments of difficulty. Whoever enters the Hall of Fame represents fundamental values that we must pass on to our youngsters.”

“We thought that celebrating the values of our sport is key because they are part of our world,” said CEO Brunelli. “Paying tribute to a great player and a great man like Davide Astori, who embodied these values out on the pitch, is hugely important.”

World Cup winner Francesco Totti was another on stage in Florence, speaking after he won the Italian player award: “I enjoyed myself a lot throughout my career,” said Totti after being given his award by Head Coach Roberto Mancini. “Talent helped me but it was fun that made the difference. I was nine-months-old when I touched my first ball, and from then on it was always with me.”

Meanwhile, Javier Zanetti spoke after picking up his Foreign player award: “Giacinto Facchetti is an extremely important person for me,” said Zanetti. “He is a point of reference and we try to transmit his values through to the next generation. Sacrifice was something that I’d had with me since I was a child. I now tell my children that they can’t succeed without sacrifice.” Zanetti also donated a shirt to the museum – one that he wore against Livorno after a return from injury. 

After receiving her award for Italian women’s player, Head Coach of the National Women’s Team Milena Bertolini also donated two things to the museum: “One is a photo of me with my National Team jersey and the other is of great meaning – it’s the ball from our match against Portugal that saw us qualify for the World Cup. Passion is at the heart of the entire women’s football movement. Thanks to the passion of the staff and my colleagues, women’s football has now emerged from a difficult moment and it’s led to us qualifying for our first World Cup in 20 years.

Lastly, Massimiliano Allegri donated his 2018-19 Scudetto winners’ medal to the museum after he was inducted into the Italian Coach category: “It’s something that concludes a five-year cycle of winning. Juve has winning in their DNA and this will continue.”

The Italian Football Hall of Fame

Italian players: Roberto Baggio (2011), Paolo Maldini (2012), Franco Baresi (2013), Fabio Cannavaro (2014), Gianluca Vialli (2015), Giuseppe Bergomi (2016), Alessandro Del Piero (2017), Francesco Totti (2018).

Foreign players: Michel Platini (2011), Marco Van Basten (2012), Gabriel Batistuta (2013), Diego Armando Maradona (2014), Ronaldo (2015), Paulo Roberto Falcão (2016), Ruud Gullit (2017), Javier Zanetti (2018).

Coaches: Arrigo Sacchi (2011), Marcello Lippi (2011), Giovanni Trapattoni (2012), Fabio Capello (2013), Carlo Ancelotti (2014), Roberto Mancini (2015), Claudio Ranieri (2016), Osvaldo Bagnoli (2017), Massimiliano Allegri (2018).

Italian directors: Adriano Galliani (2011), Giampiero Boniperti (2012), Massimo Moratti (2013), Giuseppe Marotta (2014), Corrado Ferlaino (2015), Silvio Berlusconi (2016), Sergio Campana (2017), Antonio Matarrese (2018).

Italian referees: Pierluigi Collina (2011), Luigi Agnolin (2012), Paolo Casarin (2012), Cesare Gussoni (2013), Sergio Gonella (2013), Stefano Braschi (2014), Roberto Rosetti (2015), Nicola Rizzoli (2018).

Italian veterans: Gigi Riva (2011), Dino Zoff (2012), Gianni Rivera (2013), Sandro Mazzola (2014), Marco Tardelli (2015), Paolo Rossi (2016), Bruno Conti (2017), Giancarlo Antognoni (2018).

Italian women’s player: Carolina Morace (2014), Patrizia Panico (2015), Melania Gabbiadini (2016), Elisabetta Vignotto (2017), Milena Bertolini (2018).

Memorial award: Giovanni Ferrari, Giuseppe Meazza, Silvio Piola, Gaetano Scirea, Enzo Bearzot, Fulvio Bernardini, Vittorio Pozzo, Ferruccio Valcareggi, Ottorino Barassi, Artemio Franchi, Giovanni Mauro (2011), Valentino Mazzola, Angelo Schiavio, Nereo Rocco, Concetto Lo Bello (2012), Eraldo Monzeglio (2013), Ferruccio Novo, Carlo Carcano, Giacomo Bulgarelli (2014), Giacinto Facchetti, Helenio Herrera, Umberto Agnelli (2015), Nils Liedholm, Giulio Campanati, Cesare Maldini (2016), Stefano Farina, Italo Allodi, Renato Dall’Ara, Arpad Weisz, Azeglio Vicini (2017), Amedeo Amadei, Gipo Viani (2018).

Davide Astori 'Fair Play’ award: Igor Trocchia (2018)

Special prize: Gianni Brera (2018)