Giovanni Trapattoni was born on 17 March 1939, in Cusano Milanino and is one of the greatest Italian coaches of all time who joined the Italian Football Hall of Fame in 2012.

He was a key part of Nereo Rocco’s AC Milan team, where he played for 14 seasons winning two Scudetto titles, two Champions Cups, a Cup Winners Cup and an Intercontinental Cup, as well as the 1966-67 Coppa Italia.

He also played for the Italian National Team at the 1960 Olympics in Rome as well as making 17 appearances for the Azzurri, scoring one goal and cementing himself as a legend having stopped Pelé during Italy vs. Brazil in 1963. 

In 1974 he began his coaching career taking over from his master, Nereo Rocco. After a two-year stint at AC Milan he moved to Juventus with whom he won six Scudetto titles, two Coppa Italia, one Champions Cup, one Cup Winners Cup, one UEFA Cup, one European Super Cup, one Intercontinental Cup and one Super Clubs Cup.

In the 1986/87 season he moved to coach Inter and won the 1988/89 league title, in which they set the points record for an 18-team Serie A campaign, as well as an Italian Super Cup and a UEFA Cup.

In 1991 he returned to Juventus where in three years he added another UEFA Cup to his cabinet. Then in 1994/95 he began his German adventure with Bayern Munich where he won a national cup and league cup. Trapattoni’s German experience comprised of two different periods, interspersed with a return to Italy: he moved to Cagliari’s bench before going to Fiorentina in '98 and then becoming Head Coach of the Italian National team in the summer of 2000.

He was unfortunate at both the Japan-Korea World Cup in ’02 and the European Championship in Portugal in ’04, and he ended his stint coaching the Azzurri with 25 wins and twelve draws in 44 matches.

After four years away from club football he returned to coaching Benfica, Stuttgart and Salzburg which was sprinkled with three successes: one Portuguese title, one German Second Division title and one Austrian title. In 2008 he became the Republic of Ireland’s coach where he worked for five years before leaving in September 2013.

Among his many experiences in the footballing world he has also been a television commentator.