Graziano Bini (born 7 January 1955) is an Italian retired 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 ...

player and

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, who played as a defender. He spent the majority of his club career with Italian side

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, ...

, where he won 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 ...

title and two

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 ...

titles; he ended his career with

Genoa Genoa ( ; ; ) is a city in and the capital of the Italian region of Liguria, and the sixth-largest city in Italy. As of 2025, 563,947 people live within the city's administrative limits. While its metropolitan city has 818,651 inhabitan ...

Club career

Bini was born in San Daniele Po. After spending his youth career with

Cremonese Cremona ( , , ; ; ) is a city and (municipality) in northern Italy, situated in Lombardy, on the left bank of the Po (river), Po river in the middle of the Po Valley. It is the capital of the province of Cremona and the seat of the local city a ...

(1966) and

(1968–71), he also went on to represent the

senior team for fourteen seasons during his club career. He joined the first team during the 1971–72 season, making his debut on 7 May 1972, in a 0–0 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 ...

; he remained with the club until 1985, later being named the team's

captain Captain is a title, an appellative for the commanding officer of a military unit; the supreme leader or highest rank officer of a navy ship, merchant ship, aeroplane, spacecraft, or other vessel; or the commander of a port, fire or police depa ...

in 1978, and wearing the armband for the next seven seasons, until he left the club. During his time in Milan, he made 343 appearances (233 in

), scoring 13 goals (seven in Serie A); he won a

title in

1980 Events January * January 4 – U.S. President Jimmy Carter proclaims a United States grain embargo against the Soviet Union, grain embargo against the USSR with the support of the European Commission. * January 6 – Global Positioning Sys ...

, and two

titles, in

1978 Events January * January 1 – Air India Flight 855, a Boeing 747 passenger jet, crashes off the coast of Bombay, killing 213. * January 5 – Bülent Ecevit, of Republican People's Party, CHP, forms the new government of Turkey (42nd ...

, and 1982, also reaching the semi-finals of the

1980–81 European Cup The 1980–81 European Cup was the 26th season of the European Cup, UEFA's premier club football competition. The tournament was won for a third time by Liverpool, who beat six-time champions Real Madrid in the final. In the 11 seasons up to and ...

, during which he scored a goal 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 ...

. After struggling with injuries and competing with

Riccardo Ferri Riccardo Ferri (; born 20 August 1963) is an Italian former footballer who played as a defender, in the role of centre-back. At international level, he represented Italy at the 1984 Summer Olympics, at UEFA Euro 1988, and at the 1990 FIFA Wo ...

for a place in the starting line-up during his final season with the club, Bini later joined

, where he remained until his retirement in 1988, spending the last two seasons of his career 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 ...

International career

Due to much competition from Facchetti and subsequently Scirea in his position, at international level, Bini only made a single appearance for

Italy Italy, officially the Italian Republic, is a country in Southern Europe, Southern and Western Europe, Western Europe. It consists of Italian Peninsula, a peninsula that extends into the Mediterranean Sea, with the Alps on its northern land b ...

, which came in a 4–1 unofficial friendly home win against

Norway Norway, officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic countries, Nordic country located on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. The remote Arctic island of Jan Mayen and the archipelago of Svalbard also form part of the Kingdom of ...

, on 10 February 1975; he also made five appearances with the Under-23 side, and two with the

Italy national under-21 football team The Italy national under-21 football team is the national under-21 Association football, football team of Italy and is controlled by the Italian Football Federation. The team competes in the UEFA European Under-21 Championship, held every two ...

After retirement

Following his retirement, Bini worked as a scout; he currently coaches the ''Free Players'', a non-professional Italy national team made up of Serie A free agents.

Style of play

A tall, physically strong and elegant

sweeper Sweepers are small, tropical marine (occasionally brackish) ray-finned fish of the family (biology), family Pempheridae. Found in the western Atlantic Ocean and Indo-Pacific region, the family contains about 80 species in two genus, genera. One ...

, Bini was known for his confidence on the ball, his leadership, and his goalscoring as a defender, due to his ability in the air, although he was also injury prone. He was also capable of playing as a man-marking

centre-back In the sport of association football, a defender is an outfield player whose primary role is to stop attacks during the game and prevent the opposition from scoring. Defenders fall into four main categories: centre-backs, full-backs, sweepers ...

, or ''stopper''.

Honours

Inter *

: 1979–80. *

: 1977–78, 1981–82.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Bini, Graziano 1955 births Living people Italian men's footballers Men's association football defenders Italian football managers Italy men's under-21 international footballers Serie A players Serie B players Inter Milan players Genoa CFC players Footballers from the Province of Cremona Inter Milan non-playing staff 20th-century Italian sportsmen