Francesco Morini (; 12 August 1944 – 31 August 2021) was an Italian professional

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 ...

who played as a defender. He competed for the Italy national team in the

1974 FIFA World Cup The 1974 FIFA World Cup was the tenth FIFA World Cup, a quadrennial football tournament for men's senior national teams, and was played in West Germany (and West Berlin) between 13 June and 7 July. The tournament marked the first time that the ...

and earned a total of 11 caps. He played for clubs such as

Sampdoria Unione Calcio Sampdoria, commonly referred to as Sampdoria (), is an Italian professional football club based in Genoa. The club was formed in 1946 from the merger of two existing sports clubs whose roots can be traced back to the 1890s ...

and, most notably,

Juventus Juventus Football Club (from la, iuventūs, 'youth'; ), colloquially known as Juve (), is a professional football club based in Turin, Piedmont, Italy, that competes in the Serie A, the top tier of the Italian football league system. Founded in ...

, with which he achieved great success. Morini was a fast, strong, and tenacious

centre-back In the sport of association football, a defender is an outfield position whose primary role is to stop attacks during the game and prevent the opposition from scoring. Centre-backs are usually positioned in pairs, with one full-back on either s ...

, with good technique, who was known for his tackling ability, as well as his tight marking of opposing forwards. He was given the nickname "Morgan the Pirate" as he excelled as a powerful ball-winner; despite his physical style of play, he was also known for his correct behaviour on the pitch, and he rarely committed aggressive challenges. On the pitch, he was also well known for his rivalry with Inter forward

Roberto Boninsegna Roberto Boninsegna ( born 13 November 1943) is an Italian former football player, who mainly played as a forward. After retiring, he worked as a football manager. As a player, he represented the Italian national side at two World Cups, reachi ...

, who later became his teammate. After his retirement he worked as Juventus's sporting director for several years.

Club career

Morini made his

Serie A The Serie A (), also called Serie A TIM for national sponsorship with TIM, is a professional league competition for football clubs located at the top of the Italian football league system and the winner is awarded the Scudetto and the Copp ...

debut for

in a 2–0 loss against

Roma Roma or ROMA may refer to: Places Australia * Roma, Queensland, a town ** Roma Airport ** Roma Courthouse ** Electoral district of Roma, defunct ** Town of Roma, defunct town, now part of the Maranoa Regional Council * Roma Street, Brisbane, a ...

on 2 February 1964, and in 1969, he was transferred to

. He made 387 appearances in

, as well as 30 in

Serie B The Serie B (), currently named 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 been ...

with Sampdoria during the 1966–67 season, during which he won the title. During a highly successful domestic and European stint with Juventus, Morini won five

titles, a

Coppa Italia The ("Italy Cup") is an annual knockout cup competition in Italian football organized by the FIGC until the 2009–10 season and the Lega Serie A ever since. History The beginning of the tournament was turbulent, due to the complexity ...

during the 1978–79 season, and an UEFA Cup during the 1976–77 season, also reaching the European Cup final during the 1972–73 season, and the semi-final of the European Cup Winners' Cup during the 1979–80 season, his final season at the club. Throughout his professional footballing career as a defender, Morini never scored a goal; although he once appeared to score one during a friendly tournament, it was disallowed. Morini ended his career in Canada with the

Toronto Blizzard Toronto Blizzard may refer to: * Toronto Blizzard (1971–1984), the original soccer club, a franchise of the North American Soccer League * Toronto Blizzard (1986–1993), the later club and franchise of the Canadian Soccer League * Toronto Azzurr ...

International career

Morini made his international debut for the Italy national team in a 1–0 home win over

Turkey Turkey ( tr, Türkiye ), officially the Republic of Türkiye ( tr, Türkiye Cumhuriyeti, links=no ), is a list of transcontinental countries, transcontinental country located mainly on the Anatolia, Anatolian Peninsula in Western Asia, with ...

on 25 February 1973, and was a member of the Italian squad that took part in the

. He played for Italy 11 times between 1973 and 1975. Although he was still part of the Italian national side during the mid-70s, he was notably excluded by

Enzo Bearzot Enzo Bearzot (; 26 September 1927 – 21 December 2010) was an Italian professional football player and manager. A defender and midfielder, he led the Italy national team to victory in the 1982 FIFA World Cup. Nicknamed ''Vecio'' (standard ...

from the Italian squad that finished in fourth place at the

1978 FIFA World Cup The 1978 FIFA World Cup was the 11th edition of the FIFA World Cup, a quadrennial international football world championship tournament among the men's senior national teams. It was held in Argentina between 1 and 25 June. The Cup was won by ...

Personal life

Morini had two sons; one is Jacopo Morini, who is known for his role in the Italian television program "

Le Iene ''Le Iene'' (; , but referencing the Italian name of Quentin Tarantino's 1992 movie ''Reservoir Dogs'') is an Italian television program. The program ''Le Iene'' is a television program broadcast on the Italian channel Italia 1. Beginning in 1997 ...

", and the other, Andrea, is a singer and guitarist in a band.

Honours

Juventus *

: 1971–72, 1972–73, 1974–75, 1976–77, 1977–78 *

: 1978–79 *

UEFA Cup A cup is an open-top used to hold hot or cold liquids for pouring or drinking; while mainly used for drinking, it also can be used to store solids for pouring (e.g., sugar, flour, grains, salt). Cups may be made of glass, metal, china, cla ...

: 1976–77 Sampdoria *

: 1966–67

References

External links

Profile
at Enciclopediadelcalcio.it
Profile
at FIGC.it {{DEFAULTSORT:Morini, Francesco 1944 births 2021 deaths 1974 FIFA World Cup players Expatriate soccer players in Canada Italian expatriate footballers Italian expatriate sportspeople in Canada Italian footballers Italy international footballers Juventus F.C. players Juventus F.C. directors Serie A players Serie B players Toronto Blizzard (1971–1984) players U.C. Sampdoria players North American Soccer League (1968–1984) players Association football defenders UEFA Cup winning players Sportspeople from the Province of Pisa Footballers from Tuscany