Carmelo Di Bella (January 30, 1921 – September 9, 1992) 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 ...

player and manager. Di Bella spent the vast majority of his career in

Sicily Sicily (Italian language, Italian and ), officially the Sicilian Region (), is an island in the central Mediterranean Sea, south of the Italian Peninsula in continental Europe and is one of the 20 regions of Italy, regions of Italy. With 4. ...

where he was a prominent figure in the footballing scene, especially in relation to the island's most successful clubs;

Catania Catania (, , , Sicilian and ) is the second-largest municipality on Sicily, after Palermo, both by area and by population. Despite being the second city of the island, Catania is the center of the most densely populated Sicilian conurbation, wh ...

and

Palermo Palermo ( ; ; , locally also or ) is a city in southern Italy, the capital (political), capital of both the autonomous area, autonomous region of Sicily and the Metropolitan City of Palermo, the city's surrounding metropolitan province. The ...

Playing career

Di Bella, a left wing, started his professional career for his native city team

. From 1941 he played for ''Juventina Palermo'', then renamed to

in 1946. He also played a Serie A season with the ''rosanero'', making nine appearances and scoring a goal in 1948–49. He retired from playing football in 1954, after two seasons as player/manager for minor team

Akragas Agrigento (; or ) is a city on the southern coast of Sicily, Italy and capital of the province of Agrigento. Founded around 582 BC by Greek colonisation, Greek colonists from Gela, Agrigento, then known as Akragas, was one of the leading citie ...

from Agrigento.

Managing career

After two seasons as coach of minor team Termitana from Termini Imerese, Di Bella was appointed as

's youth team coach in 1957. In 1958–59, with just twelve matches remaining, Di Bella was called to replace Blagoje Marjanović with the goal to save the club from relegation to

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 ...

, with the initial support of technical director Felice Borel. Di Bella ended the season with a sixteenth place which allowed Catania to avoid relegation, and he was consequently confirmed at the helm of Catania. Di Bella coached Catania till 1966, when he resigned from his office, obtaining 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 ...

promotion in 1960 and leading the Sicilian club to the Italian top division until his resignations. Di Bella then signed for Catanzaro, narrowly missing promotion to Serie A. In 1967, he became head coach of Palermo, where he immediately won

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 ...

bringing the ''rosanero'' back to Serie A. He left Palermo in 1971 to return to Catania, where however did not repeat his previous triumphs with the ''rossoblù'' (eighth, then fifth, in Serie B). In 1974, he became coach of Reggiana of Serie B: he avoided relegation in his first season, but not in the second. In 1976–77 he coached again Catania, but without being able to avoid relegation. His last coaching effort, in 1981, was as Palermo boss: called to coach the ''rosanero'' since the 28th matchday, he helped the club to avoid relegation from Serie B. Di Bella died in 1992 in

Managerial statistics

Honours

Player

*1941–42

(Palermo) *1947–48

(Palermo)

Manager

*1967–68

(Palermo)

References

External links

Profile at Enciclopedia Del Calcio
{{DEFAULTSORT:Bella, Carmelo Di Di Bella, Carmelo Di Bella, Carmelo Di Bella, Carmelo Di Bella, Carmelo Di Bella, Carmelo Di Bella, Carmelo Di Bella, Carmelo Di Bella, Carmelo Di Bella, Carmelo Di Bella, Carmelo Di Bella, Carmelo Di Bella, Carmelo Di Bella, Carmelo Di Bella, Carmelo Di Bella, Carmelo US Catanzaro 1929 managers 20th-century Italian sportsmen