Gaetano Troja (25 July 1944 – 19 June 2023) 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 ...

who played as a

forward Forward is a relative direction, the opposite of backward. Forward may also refer to: People *Forward (surname) Sports * Forward (association football) * Forward (basketball), including: ** Point forward ** Power forward (basketball) ** Smal ...

for

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 ...

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 ...

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 ...

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 ...

and

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 ...

. He played seven seasons with Palermo, three 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 four in

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 ...

, scoring 43 goals and becoming one of the most beloved players in the team history.

Biography

Football career

Described as an individual with a rocky physique, Troja began his life of football playing for Faldese, a Palermitan team based at the foot of

Mount Pellegrino Mount Pellegrino (; ) is a hill facing east on the bay of Palermo, Sicily, southern Italy, located north of the city. It is high with panorama views of the city, its surrounding mountains and the Tyrrhenian Sea. In his book '' Italian Journey ...

. Beginning at age 16, he played as a starter in Promozione, with which he became the top scorer of the group. The following year he moved to Paternò in Serie D, where played a great season and after which, was bought by

in 1964 for 80 million lire. Troja made his league debut on 13 September 1964 against

Trani Trani () is a seaport of Apulia, Southern Italy, on the Adriatic Sea, by railway west-northwest of Bari. It is one of the capital cities of the province of Barletta-Andria-Trani (BAT). History Overview The city of ''Turenum'' appears for the ...

, a match in which he immediately made a major score for the 3–0 aggregate. He closed the first season with 8 overall goals, 6 of which in the first round. In the return he only scored in the match against

Modena Modena (, ; ; ; ; ) is a city and ''comune'' (municipality) on the south side of the Po Valley, in the Province of Modena, in the Emilia-Romagna region of northern Italy. It has 184,739 inhabitants as of 2025. A town, and seat of an archbis ...

(2–0), making a brace. In the following season he scored 2 goals in 2 matches in the

Italian Cup 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 ...

, against Reggiana and

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 ...

respectively. While in the league he scored 12 times, making him the season's top scorer for the Rosanero team. He went on to make memorable braces against:

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 ...

(4–0) and

Padova Padua ( ) is a city and ''comune'' (municipality) in Veneto, northern Italy, and the capital of the province of Padua. The city lies on the banks of the river Bacchiglione, west of Venice and southeast of Vicenza, and has a population of ...

(1–3). Troja has been dubbed as one of the best Palermo players of all time. In 1966, he was sold to

for budgetary reasons. He then returned to Palermo in 1968 and was promoted to

. In the 1969–1970 championship against

Gigi Riva Luigi "Gigi" Riva (; 7 November 1944 – 22 January 2024) was an Italian professional footballer who played as a striker. Considered to be one of the best players of his generation, as well as one of the greatest strikers of all time, Riva enj ...

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 ...

, Troja scored a memorable diving header. In 1973, after Palermo's relegation to

, he moved to

, where he failed to establish himself despite playing 4 games in the league. A year later he went to

, being downgraded 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 ...

. In 1976, while he was negotiating with Udinese who always played in Serie C, coach

Carmelo Di Bella Carmelo Di Bella (January 30, 1921 – September 9, 1992) was an Italian football player and manager. Di Bella spent the vast majority of his career in Sicily where he was a prominent figure in the footballing scene, especially in relation to the ...

, Troja's coach during his time at Palermo, went to see him in his boutique in

Lignano Sabbiadoro Lignano Sabbiadoro (; ) is a town and (municipality) in the Province of Udine, Regional decentralization entity of Udine, in the Friuli-Venezia Giulia region of north-eastern Italy. It is one of the main summer resorts in northern Italy and ...

, where

was having their summer training camp, and in just three hours he convinced him to wear the rossazzurri (red and blue) colors for the 1976–1977 season in Serie B. He went on to play in the

Derby di Sicilia The Derby di Sicilia or Sicilian Derby in English, is a local derby between Italian football clubs Catania FC and Palermo FC. Catania and Palermo are the two main cities on the island of Sicily, and the teams are fierce rivals. However, they ha ...

; in the first game played at Cibali, he was replaced, and in the second game played at Favoritahe, he refused to take the field, watching the whole game (which ended 0–0) from the grandstand. In his career he had a total of 133 appearances and 21 goals in Serie A and 119 appearances and 36 goals in Serie B.

Futsal career

After retiring from football, he devoted himself to

futsal Futsal is a variant of association football played between two teams of five players each on a court smaller than a football pitch. Its rules are based on the Laws of the Game (association football), Laws of the Game of association football, and i ...

, and led Pro

Ficuzza Ficuzza is a southern Italian village and hamlet (''frazione'') of Corleone, a municipality in the Metropolitan City of Palermo, Sicily. in 2011 it had a population of 112. History Originally a fief belonging to the clergy, the foundation of the s ...

to the championship finals.

As manager

He was chief observer of Palermo F.C. when the team was owned by the Roman businessman

Franco Sensi Francesco Sensi, Cavaliere del lavoro (29 July 1926 – 17 August 2008) was an Italian oil tycoon. He was born in Rome, where he lived throughout his entire life, though he also served time as mayor of Visso, the city where his family came fro ...

from 2000 to 2001. In that year, the Sicilian team was playing in

Serie C1 Serie C1 was the third highest football league in Italy. It consisted of 36 teams, divided geographically into two divisions. History Before the 1978–79 season, there were only three professional football leagues in Italy, the third being Se ...

and at the end they obtained promotion to

in the 2001 to 2002 season.

Death

Troja died from complications of diabetes in Palermo on 19 June 2023. He was 78.E' morto Tanino Troja: il Palermo perde uno dei suoi simboli

References

External links

{{DEFAULTSORT:Troja, Gaetano 1944 births 2023 deaths Italian men's footballers Footballers from Palermo Men's association football forwards Serie A players Serie B players ASD Paternò Calcio players Palermo FC players Brescia Calcio players SSC Napoli players SSC Bari players Catania FC players Deaths from diabetes in Italy 20th-century Italian sportsmen