Bruno Bolchi (; 21 February 1940 – 27 September 2022) was an Italian

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 ...

manager and player, who played as a

midfielder In the sport of association football, a midfielder takes an Glossary of association football terms#O, outfield position primarily in the middle of the pitch. Midfielders may play an exclusively defensive role, breaking up attacks, and are in t ...

. Throughout his playing career, he played for

Internazionale 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 football club based in Milan, Lombardy. Since 1 ...

Verona Verona ( ; ; or ) is a city on the Adige, River Adige in Veneto, Italy, with 255,131 inhabitants. It is one of the seven provincial capitals of the region, and is the largest city Comune, municipality in the region and in Northeast Italy, nor ...

Atalanta Atalanta (; ) is a heroine in Greek mythology. There are two versions of the huntress Atalanta: one from Arcadia (region), Arcadia, whose parents were Iasus and Clymene (mythology), Clymene and who is primarily known from the tales of the Caly ...

and

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 ...

, as well as the Italy national team. Bolchi was depicted in the first ever Panini sticker to be printed in 1961.

Club career

Born in

Milan Milan ( , , ; ) is a city in northern Italy, regional capital of Lombardy, the largest city in Italy by urban area and the List of cities in Italy, second-most-populous city proper in Italy after Rome. The city proper has a population of nea ...

, Bolchi made his debut at the age of 18 with

in a

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 ...

away match lost 1–0 to

Napoli Naples ( ; ; ) is the regional capital of Campania and the third-largest city of Italy, after Rome and Milan, with a population of 908,082 within the city's administrative limits as of 2025, while its province-level municipality is the thir ...

on 18 May 1958. He played six seasons with the ''nerazzurri'', with 109 caps and ten goals, gaining the nickname ''

Maciste Maciste () is one of the oldest recurring characters of film, cinema, created by Gabriele d'Annunzio and Giovanni Pastrone. He is featured throughout the history of the cinema of Italy from the 1910s to the mid-1960s. He is usually depicted as a ...

'', due to his imposing physique, strength, and hard-tackling style of play. He captained the side between 1961 and 1962 and obtained notable success during his spell with the club, winning the

title in 1963, and the

European Cup The UEFA Champions League (UCL) is an annual club association football competition organised by the Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) that is contested by top-division European clubs. The competition begins with a round robi ...

in 1964. He then played for

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 ...

side

, and returned to play in the top division for

and

, where he ended his playing career in 1970, also winning the

Coppa Italia Coppa Italia () is the annual domestic cup of Italian football. The knockout competition was organized by the DDS and the Lega Calcio until the 2009–10 season and by Lega Serie A ever since. Juventus is the competition's most successf ...

with the latter club in 1968.

International career

Bolchi appeared for the Italy national team on four occasions, all in 1961.

Managerial career

Bolchi started his coaching career in 1971 with Pro Patria, then a ''

Seconda Categoria The Seconda Categoria is the 8th level (since 2014–15) in the Italian football league system. Each individual league winner within the Seconda Categoria level progresses to their closest regional league in the Prima Categoria level. Depending on ...

'' club (at the time, Seconda Categoria was the sixth level of Italian football). In 1974, he had his first professional coaching job at

Sorrento Sorrento ( , ; ; ) is a City status in Italy, city and overlooking the Gulf of Naples, Bay of Naples in Southern Italy. A popular tourist destination, Sorrento is located on the Sorrentine Peninsula at the southern terminus of a main branch o ...

. He also coached Pistoiese, winning the

1976–77 Serie C The 1976–77 Serie C was the thirty-ninth edition of Serie C, the third highest league in the Italian football league system. Girone A Girone B Girone C References and sources *''Almanacco Illustrato del Calcio – La Storia 1898–2004 ...

title, earning promotion into

. He first coached a

team,

Cesena Cesena (; ) is a city and ''comune'' (municipality) in the Emilia-Romagna region of Italy; and - with Forlì - is the capital of the Province of Forlì-Cesena. Served by Autostrada A14 (Italy), Autostrada A14, and located near the Apennine M ...

, in 1982, but did not manage to save it from relegation. Since then, Bolchi made just two appearances as Serie A coach, despite his long career all over the country: in 1985–86, his third season as

Bari Bari ( ; ; ; ) is the capital city of the Metropolitan City of Bari and of the Apulia Regions of Italy, region, on the Adriatic Sea in southern Italy. It is the first most important economic centre of mainland Southern Italy. It is a port and ...

's boss which followed two consecutive promotions from

Serie C1 Serie C1 was the third highest football league in Italy. It consisted of 36 teams, divided geographically into two divisions. History Before the 1978–79 season, there were only three professional football leagues in Italy, the third being Se ...

(winning the 1983–84 Serie C1 title) to the top tier of Italian football; however, Bolchi was not able to save the ''biancorossi''. In 1988–89, he had his last Serie A job before 2007, as

Pisa Pisa ( ; ) is a city and ''comune'' (municipality) in Tuscany, Central Italy, straddling the Arno just before it empties into the Ligurian Sea. It is the capital city of the Province of Pisa. Although Pisa is known worldwide for the Leaning Tow ...

head coach, but he was sacked after the 22nd matchday. On 23 April 2007, with just five matches remaining before the end of the league, Bolchi was appointed head coach of

Messina Messina ( , ; ; ; ) is a harbour city and the capital city, capital of the Italian Metropolitan City of Messina. It is the third largest city on the island of Sicily, and the 13th largest city in Italy, with a population of 216,918 inhabitants ...

, a team he already coached in their 1975–76

Serie C The Serie C (), officially known as Serie C NOW for sponsorship purposes, is the third-highest division in the Italian football league system after the Serie B and Serie A. The Lega Italiana Calcio Professionistico (Lega Pro) is the governing ...

campaign and, for six matches, at the end of the 2002–03 season, in Serie B. He did not manage to avoid relegation, also due to Messina's poor league table well before his appointment, and finally retired from football after the end of the season.

Death

Bolchi died in

Florence Florence ( ; ) is the capital city of the Italy, Italian region of Tuscany. It is also the most populated city in Tuscany, with 362,353 inhabitants, and 989,460 in Metropolitan City of Florence, its metropolitan province as of 2025. Florence ...

on 27 September 2022, at the age of 82.

Honours

Player

Inter *

: 1962–63 *

: 1963–64 Torino *

: 1967–68

Manager

Pistoiese * Serie C2, Girone B: 1976–77 Bari *

: 1983–84

References

External links

MessinaStory
{{DEFAULTSORT:Bolchi, Bruno 1940 births 2022 deaths Footballers from Milan Men's association football midfielders Italian men's footballers Italian football managers Italy men's international footballers Serie A players Serie B players Inter Milan players Hellas Verona FC players Atalanta BC players Torino FC players FC Pistoiese SSD managers ACR Messina managers Atalanta BC managers AC Cesena managers SSC Bari managers SS Arezzo managers Pisa SC managers AS Reggina 1914 managers Brescia Calcio managers US Avellino 1912 managers US Lecce managers Genoa CFC managers Ternana Calcio managers Sorrento Calcio 1945 managers US Catanzaro 1929 managers AC Monza managers 20th-century Italian sportsmen