Carlo "Carletto" Mazzone (19 March 1937 – 19 August 2023) was an Italian professional

association football Association football, more commonly known as football or soccer, is a team sport played between two teams of 11 Football player, players who almost exclusively use their feet to propel a Ball (association football), ball around a rectangular f ...

player and

manager Management (or managing) is the administration of organizations, whether businesses, nonprofit organizations, or a government bodies through business administration, nonprofit management, or the political science sub-field of public administra ...

, who played as a

centre-back In the sport of association football, a defender is an outfield player whose primary role is to stop attacks during the game and prevent the opposition from scoring. Defenders fall into four main categories: centre-backs, full-backs, sweepers ...

Career

Born in Rome, Mazzone was nicknamed ''Sor Carletto'' because of his Roman origins and the strong accent typical of the inhabitants of the Italian capital city. He played several seasons for Roma, as well as for SPAL and Ascoli. He spent nine seasons with Ascoli, retiring during the 1968–69 season to become the club's manager in

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 ...

, helping the team to win the title in 1972. Already popular with the Ascoli fans because of his history as a former player for the club, Mazzone gained even more popularity by leading the team for twelve years, up to their historic first ever

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 ...

appearance. Successively, Mazzone coached several Serie A and

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 ...

teams, such as

Fiorentina ACF Fiorentina, commonly referred to as Fiorentina (), is an Italian professional Association football, football List of football clubs in Italy, club based in Florence, Tuscany. The original team was founded by a merger in August 1926, while ...

, achieving his personal best result in Serie A, a third-place finish during the

1976–77 Serie A The 1976–77 Serie A season was won by Juventus FC, Juventus. Teams Genoa CFC, Genoa, Catanzaro Calcio, Catanzaro and US Foggia, Foggia had been promoted from Serie B. Final classification Results Top goalscorers References and sources ...

season, also winning the Anglo-Italian League Cup in 1975. From 1991 to 1993, he subsequently coached

Catanzaro Catanzaro (; or ; ), also known as the "City of the two Seas" (), is an Italian city of 86,183 inhabitants (2020), the capital of the Calabria region and of its province and the second most populated comune of the region, behind Reggio Calabr ...

Bologna Bologna ( , , ; ; ) is the capital and largest city of the Emilia-Romagna region in northern Italy. It is the List of cities in Italy, seventh most populous city in Italy, with about 400,000 inhabitants and 150 different nationalities. Its M ...

Lecce Lecce (; ) is a city in southern Italy and capital of the province of Lecce. It is on the Salentine Peninsula, at the heel of the Italian Peninsula, and is over two thousand years old. Because of its rich Baroque architecture, Lecce is n ...

Pescara Pescara (; ; ) is the capital city of the province of Pescara, in the Abruzzo Regions of Italy, region of Italy. It is the most populated city in Abruzzo, with 118,657 (January 1, 2023) residents (and approximately 350,000 including the surround ...

, and

Cagliari Cagliari (, , ; ; ; Latin: ''Caralis'') is an Comune, Italian municipality and the capital and largest city of the island of Sardinia, an Regions of Italy#Autonomous regions with special statute, autonomous region of Italy. It has about 146,62 ...

, leading the latter team to its first appearance in a European competition since the times of Gigi Riva. Mazzone always held his residence in

Ascoli Piceno Ascoli Piceno (; ; ) is a (municipality) and capital of the province of Ascoli Piceno, in the Italy, Italian region of Marche. Geography The town lies at the confluence of the Tronto, River Tronto and the small Castellano (river), River Castell ...

, home of Ascoli Calcio, the team in which he started his long managing career, despite having coached around the whole country for 35 years and more. After his successes at Cagliari, Mazzone fulfilled his dream, being called to manage his hometown club Roma for the

1993–94 Serie A The 1993–94 Serie A was won by Milan, being the 14th title for the ''rossoneri'' and their third in succession, complemented by glory in the UEFA Champions League. It was a disappointing season in the league for Internazionale, whose 13th-pla ...

season, where he coached a young

Francesco Totti Francesco Totti (; born 27 September 1976) is an Italian former professional Association football, footballer who played solely for AS Roma, Roma and the Italy national football team, Italy national team. He was a technically gifted and creati ...

. He remained at the helm of Roma for three seasons, without being able to obtain any notable triumph. Mazzone returned to Cagliari for the

1996–97 Serie A The 1996–97 Serie A title was won by Juventus FC, Juventus, under head coach Marcello Lippi. Cagliari Calcio, Cagliari, A.C. Perugia Calcio, Perugia, Hellas Verona F.C., Hellas Verona and A.C. Reggiana 1919, Reggiana were relegated. Teams Bol ...

season, and later also briefly coached

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 ...

for the

1997–98 Serie A The 1997–98 Serie A saw Juventus win their 25th national title, with Internazionale placing second; both teams qualified for the 1998–99 UEFA Champions League. Udinese, Roma, Fiorentina, Parma qualified for the 1998–99 UEFA Cup. Lazio q ...

season, before being sacked. He took charge of Bologna again for the

1998–99 Serie A The 1998–99 Serie A saw Milan win their 16th Scudetto, led by coach Alberto Zaccheroni. Lazio finished second, losing the title on the last day. Inter Milan, with an often injured or rested Ronaldo, had a disastrous season, finishing in 8th po ...

season, winning the 1998 UEFA Intertoto Cup and reaching the semi-final of both the

1998–99 UEFA Cup The 1998–99 UEFA Cup was won by Parma in the final against Marseille. It was their second title in the competition. It was the last edition of the old format UEFA Cup, before the Cup Winners' Cup was merged into it to include domestic cup win ...

and the

1998–99 Coppa Italia The 1998–99 Coppa Italia was the 52nd edition of the tournament, which began on August 23, 1998, and ended on May 5, 1999. Parma won the 1998–99 Coppa Italia tournament for the 2nd time in club history and first since the 1991–92 competition. ...

, also qualifying for the

1999–2000 UEFA Cup The 1999–2000 UEFA Cup season was the 29th edition of the UEFA Cup competition. The final took place at Parken Stadium in Copenhagen and was won by Galatasaray, who defeated Arsenal in the final. The game was scoreless through the first ninet ...

. In 1999, Mazzone joined

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 ...

. In 2000, he took charge of Serie A newcomers

Brescia Brescia (, ; ; or ; ) is a city and (municipality) in the region of Lombardy, in Italy. It is situated at the foot of the Alps, a few kilometers from the lakes Lake Garda, Garda and Lake Iseo, Iseo. With a population of 199,949, it is the se ...

in 2000, where he had the opportunity to coach

Roberto Baggio Roberto Baggio (; born 18 February 1967) is an Italian former professional footballer who mainly played as a second striker, or as an attacking midfielder, although he was capable of playing in several offensive positions. He is the former pr ...

, and subsequently also

Andrea Pirlo Andrea Pirlo (; born 19 May 1979) is an Italian association football, football manager (association football), manager and former professional player. Considered one of the greatest Midfielder (association football)#Deep-lying playmaker, mi ...

, Luca Toni, Igli Tare, and

Pep Guardiola Josep "Pep" Guardiola Sala (; born 18 January 1971) is a Catalans, Catalan professional Manager (association football), football manager and former Football player, player from Spain who has been the manager of club Manchester City F.C., Ma ...

. During his first season with the club, he helped the club to avoid relegation for the first time in 40 years, leading them to their best ever Serie A finish to qualify for the 2001 UEFA Intertoto Cup, where they reached the final. At Brescia, Mazzone is also remembered for making a ground-breaking decision, becoming the first coach to deploy Pirlo in a deeper creative role, as a

deep-lying playmaker In the sport of association football, a midfielder takes an outfield position primarily in the middle of the pitch. Midfielders may play an exclusively defensive role, breaking up attacks, and are in that case known as defensive midfielders. ...

, rather than as an offensive midfielder, the role which Baggio occupied. Pirlo particularly excelled in this new role due to his technique, vision, and long passing ability, and went on to have a highly successful career, earning a reputation as one of the best ever players in his position. During the

2001–02 Serie A The 2001–02 Serie A (known as the Serie A TIM for sponsorship reasons) was the 100th season of top-tier Italian football, the 70th in a round-robin tournament. It was composed by 18 teams, for the 14th consecutive time from season 1988–89. T ...

season, Mazzone was at the centre of controversy when on 30 September 2001, during a league match against rivals

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 ...

, he ran for about 70 meters and screamed towards the Atalanta supporters, who had offended him for the entire match with personal insults, after his team equalised in the closing minutes. That season, Brescia once again managed to avoid relegation, and also reached the semi-finals of the Coppa Italia, their best ever result in the competition. In 2002, Mazzone was awarded the Panchina d'Oro award, in honour of his career. He was the most experienced coach in the Italian football panorama, having coached more than 1,000 professional matches. On 18 March 2006, he became the Italian manager with the most Serie A matches coached ever, equalling and then overcoming the past record held by

Nereo Rocco Nereo Rocco (; 20 May 1912 – 20 February 1979) was an Italian association football, football player and manager. Regarded as one of the greatest managers of all time, he is famous for having been one of the most successful head coaches in Italy ...

. His record stands at 792 Serie A appearances (excluding five appearances in play-off matches). Baggio often defined several times Mazzone as one of the best coaches he met in his playing career. In a radio interview on 18 February 2006, Baggio declared that Mazzone asked him to join him in a playing football comeback in Livorno; however, Baggio stated that, even if he would have given him an affirmative answer because of his gratitude for what Mazzone did for him, he was forced to refuse because of his physical troubles. Guardiola said that he learnt a lot from Mazzone during his Brescia years. After helping the team avoid relegation for the third consecutive time in the

2002–03 Serie A The 2002–03 Serie A (known as the Serie A TIM for sponsorship reasons) was the 101st season of top-tier Italian football, the 71st in a round-robin tournament. It was composed by 18 teams, for the 15th consecutive time from season 1988–89. ...

season, Mazzone left Brescia in 2003 in order to coach Bologna for the third time in his long career. His adventure lasted only two seasons, as the team was surprisingly relegated to Serie B at the end of the

2004–05 Serie A The 2004–05 Serie A (known as the Serie A TIM for sponsorship reasons) was the 103rd season of top-tier Italian football, the 73rd in a round-robin tournament. It was expanded to contain 20 clubs, which played 38 matches against each other, ra ...

season. It was the first relegation ever in Mazzone's career, and it convinced him to take a break from coaching for a while. On 7 February 2006, at the age of 68 years and 11 months, Mazzone accepted an offer of

Livorno Livorno () is a port city on the Ligurian Sea on the western coast of the Tuscany region of Italy. It is the capital of the Province of Livorno, having a population of 152,916 residents as of 2025. It is traditionally known in English as Leghorn ...

, filling the coaching position which had been left vacant by Roberto Donadoni, who resigned the previous day; Mazzone resigned at the end of the season. Mazzone died on 19 August 2023, at the age of 86.

Managerial statistics

Honours

Ascoli *

(Girone B): 1971–72 * Torneo di Capodanno: 1981 Fiorentina * Anglo-Italian League Cup: 1975 Lecce *

(Promotion to Serie A): 1987–88 Bologna *

UEFA Intertoto Cup The UEFA Intertoto Cup (from , "between" and , " betting pool"),Most precisely, from ( football pool); cf. originally called the International Football Cup, was a summer football competition between European clubs. The competition was dis ...

1998 1998 was designated as the ''International Year of the Ocean''. Events January * January 6 – The ''Lunar Prospector'' spacecraft is launched into orbit around the Moon, and later finds evidence for Lunar water, frozen water, in soil i ...

Individual * Panchina d'Oro (Career Award): 2002 *

Italian Football Hall of Fame The Italian Football Hall of Fame () is the hall of fame for association football players that have had a significant impact on Italian football. It is housed at the '' Museo del Calcio'' in Coverciano, Italy. History and regulations The Hall o ...

: 2019

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Mazzone, Carlo 1937 births 2023 deaths Footballers from Rome Italian men's footballers Men's association football defenders Serie A players Serie C players AS Roma players Latina Calcio 1932 players SPAL players Siena FC SSD players Ascoli Calcio 1898 FC players Italian football managers Serie A managers Serie B managers Serie C managers Ascoli Calcio 1898 FC managers ACF Fiorentina managers US Catanzaro 1929 managers Bologna FC 1909 managers US Lecce managers Delfino Pescara 1936 managers Cagliari Calcio managers AS Roma managers SSC Napoli managers AC Perugia Calcio managers Brescia Calcio managers US Livorno 1915 managers 20th-century Italian sportsmen