Francesco Rocca (; born 2 August 1954) is an Italian professional

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 ...

coach and former player, who played as a defender. He spent his entire career with Italian club

Roma Roma or ROMA may refer to: People, characters, figures, names * Roma or Romani people, an ethnic group living mostly in Europe and the Americas. * Roma called Roy, ancient Egyptian High Priest of Amun * Roma (footballer, born 1979), born ''Paul ...

, with whom they 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 ...

twice. He was the coach of the Italy U20 national team from 2008 until 2011. He also led the Italy Olympic side to a fourth-place ranking at the

1988 Summer Olympics The 1988 Summer Olympics (), officially the Games of the XXIV Olympiad () and officially branded as Seoul 1988 (), were an international multi-sport event held from 17 September to 2 October 1988 in Seoul, South Korea. 159 nations were represe ...

Club career

Born in the San Vito Romano village 40 km from

Rome Rome (Italian language, Italian and , ) is the capital city and most populated (municipality) of Italy. It is also the administrative centre of the Lazio Regions of Italy, region and of the Metropolitan City of Rome. A special named with 2, ...

, Rocca played his club football exclusively for

from 1972 to 1981. Rocca played 163 games for Roma, including 141 games in

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 ...

and 22 in the

cup – winning the later competition for two consecutive years between 1980 and 1981 – but did not score any goals for the club. At the age of 26, a serious injury forced Rocca to retire.FIFA U-20 World Cup Egypt 2009 - Italy (ITA)
at

FIFA The Fédération Internationale de Football Association (), more commonly known by its acronym FIFA ( ), is the international self-regulatory governing body of association football, beach soccer, and futsal. It was founded on 21 May 1904 to o ...

International career

Rocca played 18 games for the Italy national team from 1974 to 1976, and scored a goal for Italy against the

United States The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...

Managerial career

As a manager, Rocca took Italy to a fourth place at the

. He also led the U-19 team which finished as the runner-up in the 2008 UEFA European Under-19 Football Championship. After the tournament he changed to being a coach of the U-20 team, and led his team to the

2009 FIFA U-20 World Cup The 2009 FIFA U-20 World Cup was the 17th edition of the FIFA U-20 World Cup, which was hosted by Egypt from 24 September to 16 October 2009. The tournament was initially going to take place between 10 and 31 July. However, the 2009 FIFA Confede ...

. He is one of eleven members of the Hall of Fame of

A.S. Roma Associazione Sportiva Roma (''Rome Sport Association''; Italian pronunciation: ) is a professional football club based in Rome, Italy. Founded by a merger in 1927, Roma has participated in the top tier of Italian football for all of its exis ...

Style of play

Rocca was nicknamed " Kawasaki" (after the Japanese brand of motor bikes) because of his pace, work-rate, energy, and durability in the

left-back In the sport of association football, a defender is an Glossary of association football terms#O, outfield player whose primary role is to stop attacks during the game and prevent the opposition from scoring. Defenders fall into four main categ ...

position; he was also an accurate crosser of the ball.

Honours

Roma *

: 1979–80, 1980–81 Individual * A.S. Roma Hall of Fame: 2012

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Rocca, Francesco 1954 births Living people Footballers from the Metropolitan City of Rome Capital Italian men's footballers Italian football managers AS Roma players Serie A players Italy men's international footballers Italy men's under-21 international footballers Men's association football defenders AS Roma non-playing staff Association football scouts 20th-century Italian sportsmen