Carlo Tagnin (18 November 1932 – 13 March 2000) was an Italian

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 ...

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

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 ...

, most notably for the famous

Inter Inter may refer to: Association football clubs * Inter Milan, an Italian club * SC Internacional, a Brazilian club * Inter Miami CF, an American club * Inter Playa del Carmen, a Mexican club * FC Inter Sibiu, a Romanian club * FC Inter Turku, ...

side of the 1960s, which achieved much success, both domestically and internationally. As a

defensive midfielder 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. ...

, he was known in particular for his stamina, work-rate, and man-marking ability, which allowed him to support his more offensive teammates defensively.

Playing career

After growing up in

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 ...

's youth sector, Tagnin was later promoted to the club's senior side, but began his professional career during the 1952–53 season, on loan to his hometown club

Alessandria Alessandria (; ) is a city and commune in Piedmont, Italy, and the capital of the Province of Alessandria. It is also the largest municipality of the region. The city is sited on the alluvial plain between the Tanaro and the Bormida rivers, ...

, 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 ...

. He returned to Torino the following season, and remained with the club until 1954, making his

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 ...

debut with the club in a 1–1 away draw against

Sampdoria Unione Calcio Sampdoria, commonly referred to as Sampdoria (), is an Italian professional football club based in Genoa, Liguria. Sampdoria was formed in 1946 from the merger of two existing sports clubs whose roots can be traced back to the ...

, on 13 September 1953. He later also played for

Monza Monza (, ; ; , locally ; ) is a city and ''comune'' (municipality) on the Lambro, River Lambro, a tributary of the Po (river), River Po, in the Lombardy region of Italy, about north-northeast of Milan. It is the capital of the province of Mo ...

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 ...

(1954–57), briefly returning to Alessandria for the

1957–58 Serie A The 1957–58 Serie A season was won by Juventus. Teams Hellas Verona and Alessandria had been promoted from Serie B. Final classification This season was influenced by the ''Belfast disaster''. Following the defeat of the Italy national fo ...

season. Tagnin subsequently played for

Lazio Lazio ( , ; ) or Latium ( , ; from Latium, the original Latin name, ) is one of the 20 Regions of Italy, administrative regions of Italy. Situated in the Central Italy, central peninsular section of the country, it has 5,714,882 inhabitants an ...

( 1958–59), where he won 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 ...

in 1958, and

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 ...

(1959–61), but was subsequently banned for seasons after being accused of being involved in a gambling scandal. His sentence was later reduced by a year, and in 1962, he joined

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 ...

, where he had his most notable spell, remaining with the club until 1965, after struggling to gain playing time ahead of the younger defensive midfielder Gianfranco Bedin during his final season with the team. Tagnin ended his career after the 1965–66 season, returning to Alessandria once again, in Serie B. While at Inter, Tagnin was part of the starting eleven of

Helenio Herrera Helenio Herrera Gavilán (; 10 April 1910 – 9 November 1997) was an Argentina, Argentine and naturalised France, French association football, football player and Manager (association football), manager. He is best remembered for his success ...

's ''

Grande Inter 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 ...

'' side which won the European Champions Cup final in

1964 Events January * January 1 – The Federation of Rhodesia and Nyasaland is dissolved. * January 5 – In the first meeting between leaders of the Roman Catholic and Orthodox churches since the fifteenth century, Pope Paul VI and Patria ...

, during which he demonstrated his excellent man-marking abilities against

Real Madrid Real Madrid Club de Fútbol (), commonly referred to as Real Madrid, is a Spanish professional Football club (association football), football club based in Madrid. The club competes in La Liga, th ...

's star player Alfredo Di Stefano. With Inter he also won two Serie A titles, in

1963 Events January * January 1 – Bogle–Chandler case: Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation scientist Dr. Gilbert Bogle and Mrs. Margaret Chandler are found dead (presumed poisoned), in bushland near the Lane Cove ...

and

1965 Events January–February * January 14 – The First Minister of Northern Ireland and the Taoiseach of the Republic of Ireland meet for the first time in 43 years. * January 20 ** Lyndon B. Johnson is Second inauguration of Lynd ...

, as well as a second European Cup in 1965, and the

1964 Intercontinental Cup The 1964 Intercontinental Cup was an association football tie in September 1964 between Independiente and Inter Milan. The first leg was held on 9 September 1964 in Avellaneda, and won 1–0 by Independiente. Two weeks later, Inter won the retur ...

, making 56 appearances (36 in Serie A), and scoring 1 goal, which came in Serie A.

Managerial career

Tagnin later worked as a coach, beginning his managerial career with Albese (1972–73), and later coaching

Savona Savona (; ) is a seaport and (municipality) in the west part of the northern Italian region of Liguria, and the capital of the Province of Savona. Facing the Ligurian Sea, Savona is the main center of the Riviera di Ponente (the western se ...

(1973–74), the Inter Youth Side (1975–83), and the Alessandria Youth Side (1983–85), before leading the senior side for the 1985–86

Serie C2 Serie C2 was the fourth highest football league in Italy, the lowest with a professional status. History Before the 1978–79 season, there were only three professional football leagues in Italy, the third being Serie C. The league menaging t ...

season.

Death

Tagnin died of

osteosarcoma An osteosarcoma (OS) or osteogenic sarcoma (OGS) is a cancerous tumor in a bone. Specifically, it is an aggressive malignant neoplasm that arises from primitive transformed cells of mesenchyme, mesenchymal origin (and thus a sarcoma) and that exhi ...

on 13 March 2000, in his hometown of

, at the age of 67. In a 2004 interview with ''

l'espresso () is an Italian progressive weekly news magazine. It is one of the two most prominent Italian weeklies; the other is the conservative magazine . Since 2022, it has been published by BFC Media. From 7 August 2016 to 10 September 2023, it was ...

'', his former Inter teammate

Ferruccio Mazzola Ferruccio Mazzola (1 February 1945 – 7 May 2013) was an Italian former professional footballer and manager, who played as a midfielder. He was the son of former footballer Valentino Mazzola, and the younger brother of retired footballer Sandro ...

suggested that his death was associated with health-damaging performance-enhancing drugs that were allegedly given to the players of the ''Grande Inter'' side under manager Helenio Herrera.

Honours

Player

Lazio *

: 1958 Inter *

: 1962–63, 1964–65 *

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 ...

: 1963–64, 1964–65 * Intercontinental Cup:

References

External links

Profile
at Enciclopediadelcalcio.it {{DEFAULTSORT:Tagnin, Carlo 1932 births 2000 deaths Men's association football midfielders Italian men's footballers Serie A players Serie B players Inter Milan players US Alessandria Calcio 1912 players Torino FC players AC Monza players SS Lazio players SSC Bari players US Alessandria Calcio 1912 managers Italian football managers UEFA Champions League–winning players Footballers from Alessandria 20th-century Italian sportsmen