Angelo Pagotto (born 21 November 1973) is an Italian former

footballer A football player or footballer is a sportsperson who plays one of the different types of football. The main types of football are association football, American football, Canadian football, Australian rules football, Gaelic football, rugby lea ...

who played as a

goalkeeper In many team sports that involve scoring goal (sport), goals, the goalkeeper (sometimes termed goaltender, netminder, GK, goalie, or keeper) is a designated player charged with directly preventing the opposing team from scoring by blocking or i ...

Career

Club

He reached the peak of his career in the 1996–97 season when he joined

Serie A The Serie A (), officially known as Serie A Enilive in Italy and Serie A Made in Italy abroad for sponsorship reasons, is a professional association football league in Italy and the highest tier of the Italian football league system. Establish ...

team

A.C. Milan (), commonly referred to as Milan or AC Milan () mainly outside of Italy, is an Italian professional Football club (association football), football club based in Milan, Lombardy. Founded in 1899, the club competes in the Serie A, the top tie ...

after spells with Sampdoria and Pistoiese. Giorgio Morini originally planned to use Pagotto as his first choice goalkeeper, but by the end of the season he was only second-choice behind Sebastiano Rossi. He spent just one season at Milan, making eight league appearances in the process, before moving on to fellow Serie A side

Perugia Perugia ( , ; ; ) is the capital city of Umbria in central Italy, crossed by the River Tiber. The city is located about north of Rome and southeast of Florence. It covers a high hilltop and part of the valleys around the area. It has 162,467 ...

. Following a short stay at the

Stadio Renato Curi The Stadio Renato Curi is a football stadium in the Italian city of Perugia. It is home to A.C. Perugia Calcio. The stadium is named after Renato Curi (1953–1977), who died from a heart attack during a game against Juventus on 30 October 1 ...

, Pagotto had spells at

Empoli Empoli () is a town and ''comune'' in the Metropolitan City of Florence, Tuscany, Italy, about southwest of Florence, to the south of the Arno River, Arno in a plain formed by the river. The plain has been usable for agriculture since Ancient Ro ...

and Reggiana in

Serie B The Serie B (), officially known as Serie BKT for sponsorship reasons, is the second-highest division in the Italian football league system after the Serie A. It has been operating for over ninety years since the 1929–30 season. It had b ...

before returning to Perugia for another season. After his second run at the

Umbria Umbria ( ; ) is a Regions of Italy, region of central Italy. It includes Lake Trasimeno and Cascata delle Marmore, Marmore Falls, and is crossed by the Tiber. It is the only landlocked region on the Italian Peninsula, Apennine Peninsula. The re ...

n outfit, he dropped down two divisions to play for the Serie C1/A side

Triestina Unione Sportiva Triestina Calcio 1918, commonly referred to US Triestina or just Triestina, is an Italian football club based in Trieste, in the northern Friuli-Venezia Giulia region. Originally established in 1918, Triestina was one of the fo ...

and was instrumental in their successful 2001–02 season that saw them finish runners-up and earn promotion to the Serie B. He spent another season at Triestina, helping them finish 5th in their first season in Serie B since the 1990–91 season before dropping back down a division with

Arezzo Arezzo ( , ; ) is a city and ''comune'' in Italy and the capital of the Province of Arezzo, province of the same name located in Tuscany. Arezzo is about southeast of Florence at an elevation of Above mean sea level, above sea level. As of 2 ...

. Arezzo conceded just 27 times in 34 games in the 2003–04 season (with Pagotto playing on 30 occasions in the league) as they marched to the title, something Pagotto just missed out on two seasons earlier with Triestina. He remained their first choice goalkeeper in Serie B as ''Amaranto'' survived relegation. Since leaving the

Stadio Città di Arezzo Stadio Città di Arezzo (formerly Stadio Comunale) is a multi-purpose stadium, located in Arezzo, Tuscany, Italy. It is used mostly for football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kick (football), kickin ...

in 2005, Pagotto has had spells with

Torino Turin ( , ; ; , then ) is a city and an important business and cultural centre in northern Italy. It is the capital city of Piedmont and of the Metropolitan City of Turin, and was the first Italian capital from 1861 to 1865. The city is main ...

and

Grosseto Grosseto () is a city and a ''comune'' in the central Italian region of Tuscany, the capital of the province of Grosseto and the main city of the Maremma region. The city lies from the Tyrrhenian Sea, at the centre of an alluvial plain on the ...

, before ending his career at

Crotone Crotone (; ; or ) is a city and ''comune'' in Calabria, Italy. Founded as the Achaean colony of Kroton ( or ; ), it became a great Greek city, home of the renowned mathematician-philosopher Pythagoras amongst other famous citizens, and one ...

International

Pagotto was the first-choice goalkeeper for the Italy national U21 side between 1994 and 1996. He is a two-time winner of the

UEFA European Under-21 Championship The UEFA European Under-21 Championship, the UEFA Under-21 Championship or simply the Euro Under-21, is a biennial football competition contested by the European men's under-21 national teams of the UEFA member associations. Since 1992, the comp ...

, both times under the guidance of then manager

Cesare Maldini Cesare Maldini (; 5 February 1932 – 3 April 2016) was an Italian professional football manager and player who played as a defender. Father to Paolo Maldini and grandfather to Daniel Maldini, Cesare began his career with Italian side Trie ...

. He notched a total of ten caps for the ''Azzurrini''. However, he was never capped with the Italy national team. He was also part of the squad that competed at the 1996 Atlanta Olympics alongside

Gianluigi Buffon Gianluigi Buffon (; born 28 January 1978) is an Italian former professional Association football, footballer who played as a Goalkeeper (association football), goalkeeper. Widely regarded as one of the greatest goalkeepers of all time, he is ...

Fabio Cannavaro Fabio Cannavaro (; born 13 September 1973) is an Italian professional association football, football coach and former player who last was the head coach of Croatian club GNK Dinamo Zagreb, Dinamo Zagreb. He is regarded as one of the greatest De ...

, Alessandro Nesta,

Gianluca Pagliuca Gianluca Pagliuca (; born 18 December 1966) is an Italian football coach and former professional goalkeeper. He is regarded by pundits as one of the greatest goalkeepers of his generation, and one of Italy's best keepers ever. Throughout his ...

and

Christian Panucci Christian Panucci (; born 12 April 1973) is an Italian former footballer and manager. In his playing career he played as a defender. A versatile footballer, he began his career as a right-back, but was also capable of playing on the left; as he ...

Drug scandal

On 28 April 2007, just before a game in the

between Pagotto's

and

Spezia La Spezia (, or ; ; , in the local ) is the capital city of the province of La Spezia and is located at the head of the Gulf of La Spezia in the southern part of the Liguria region of Italy. La Spezia is the second-largest city in the Liguri ...

, Pagotto tested positive for

cocaine Cocaine is a tropane alkaloid and central nervous system stimulant, derived primarily from the leaves of two South American coca plants, ''Erythroxylum coca'' and ''Erythroxylum novogranatense, E. novogranatense'', which are cultivated a ...

. He pleaded guilty at a hearing on 30 July and was banned from professional football for life. He appealed and, on 14 September, his sentence was reduced to eight years. The ban expired in 2015, when he was 41.

Coaching career

In March 2019, Pagotto officially made his football comeback, accepting to join Lucchese as a goalkeeping coach. Later in 2019 he left Lucchese to sign for

Avellino Avellino () is a city and ''comune'', capital of the province of Avellino in the Campania region of southern Italy. It is situated in a plain surrounded by mountains east of Naples and is an important hub on the road from Salerno to Benevento. ...

as a goalkeeping coach.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Pagotto, Angelo 1973 births Living people Sportspeople from Verbania Footballers from the Province of Verbano-Cusio-Ossola Italian men's footballers Olympic footballers for Italy Footballers at the 1996 Summer Olympics Serie A players Serie B players Serie C players Italy men's youth international footballers Italy men's under-21 international footballers Men's association football goalkeepers FC Pistoiese SSD players UC Sampdoria players AC Milan players AC Perugia Calcio players Empoli FC players AC Reggiana 1919 players US Triestina Calcio 1918 players SS Arezzo players Torino FC players US Grosseto 1912 players FC Crotone players Doping cases in association football 20th-century Italian sportsmen