Antonio Ceccarini (18 October 1949 – 29 August 2015) was an Italian professional

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kick (football), kicking a football (ball), ball to score a goal (sports), goal. Unqualified, football (word), the word ''football'' generally means the form of football t ...

player and manager. He played as a defender as a player.Antonio Ceccarini, il difensore che mandava in tilt i fuoriclasse

Club career

Ceccarini started his career in his hometown club, Vadese, before being scouted by

Silvano Ramaccioni Silvano Ramaccioni (born 15 January 1939) is an Italian football executive and former sporting director. Managerial career He began his career in football as the secretary of Città di Castello, a role he held from 1963 to 1973. Subsequently, a ...

, who facilitated his transition to

Città di Castello Città di Castello (); "Castle Town") is a city and ''comune'' in the province of Perugia, in the northern part of Umbria. It is situated on a slope of the Apennine Mountains, Apennines, on the flood plain along the upper part of the river Tiber. T ...

in 1968. He then played for several Italian clubs before moving to top flight club

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 ...

; he helped them win their inaugural international trophy, the Rappan Cup, and was close to winning the

1978–79 Serie A The 1978–79 Serie A season was won by Milan. Notably, Perugia were the first team during the round-robin era to go through the season undefeated, although due to their number of drawn matches, they finished second in the league. Teams Ascol ...

, finishing unbeaten in second place. Renowned for his unwavering determination, he earned the moniker "Tigre" (Italian for "Tiger"). A defining moment of his career occurred in 1979 when he scored a pivotal goal against

Inter Milan Football Club Internazionale Milano, commonly referred to as Internazionale () or simply Inter, and colloquially known as Inter Milan in English-speaking countries, is an Italian professional Association football, football List of football ...

, ensuring Perugia's undefeated status for the season.

References

1947 births 2015 deaths US Avellino 1912 players ACR Messina players Catania FC players AC Perugia Calcio players Serie A players Serie B players Men's association football midfielders Italian men's footballers 20th-century Italian sportsmen {{Italy-footy-defender-1940s-stub