Ignazio Arcoleo (born 15 February 1948 in

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 ...

) is an

Italian football Football ( ) is the most popular sport in Italy. The Italy national football team have won the FIFA World Cup four times (1934, 1938, 1982, 2006), trailing only Brazil (with five), runners-up in two finals both against Brazil, (1970, 1994) and ...

er and manager.

Playing career

Arcoleo, born in

Mondello Mondello () is a seaside district of the city of Palermo in the autonomous region of Sicily, in Southern Italy. It lies on a sandy bay delimited by two hills called Mount Gallo and Mount Pellegrino, in the northernmost area of the city. In the ad ...

, a

maritime ''

frazione A ''frazione'' (: ''frazioni'') is a type of subdivision of a ''comune'' ('municipality') in Italy, often a small village or hamlet outside the main town. Most ''frazioni'' were created during the Fascist era (1922–1943) as a way to consolidat ...

'', to a fishermans' family, started his professional career in 1966/1967 for his home city team. He returned to play for Palermo in 1970, becoming one of the most representative players for the ''rosanero'' in the period. He also played a

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 ...

final in 1974, being the author of the foul to

Giacomo Bulgarelli Giacomo Bulgarelli (; 24 October 1940 – 12 February 2009) was an Italian international footballer who played as a midfielder. Regarded as one of Italy's greatest ever midfielders, Bulgarelli spent his entire club career with Italian side Bologna ...

which allowed

Bologna Bologna ( , , ; ; ) is the capital and largest city of the Emilia-Romagna region in northern Italy. It is the List of cities in Italy, seventh most populous city in Italy, with about 400,000 inhabitants and 150 different nationalities. Its M ...

to kick and score the equaliser penalty in injury time, and then win the tournament on penalty shootouts. From 1974/1975 to 1977/1978, Arcoleo played for

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 ...

, being remembered as the author of the first football goal ever shown on colour TV, during 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 ...

home match against

Torino Turin ( , ; ; , then ) is a city and an important business and cultural centre in northern Italy. It is the capital city of Piedmont and of the Metropolitan City of Turin, and was the first Italian capital from 1861 to 1865. The city is main ...

ended in a 1–1 tie and played on 6 February 1977. Arcoleo returned to Palermo, then 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 ...

, on 1978, and again played another unsuccessful Coppa Italia final, lost to top division giants

Juventus Juventus Football Club (; from , ), commonly known as Juventus or colloquially as Juve (), is an Italian professional Association football, football List of football clubs in Italy, club based in Turin, Piedmont, who compete in Serie A, the ...

. He left Palermo in 1980 and retired in 1983.

Managing career

In 1983/1984, Arcoleo started his managing career, becoming head coach of

Serie D The Serie D () is the highest level of semi-professional football in Italy, and the fourth tier of the Italian national league system. It sits beneath the third and lowest fully professional league, Serie C, and feeds in to it through promotion ...

team

Mazara Mazara del Vallo (; is a city and in the province of Trapani, northwestern Sicily, Italy. It lies mainly on the left bank at the mouth of the Mazaro river. It is an agricultural and fishing centre and its harbor, port gives shelter to the lar ...

. He coached Mazara for two seasons, winning the Serie D league in 1985: however the promotion was then cancelled by the federation because of alleged matchfixing. In 1985/1986, Arcoleo unsuccessfully coached

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 ...

, as the then-

Serie C2 Serie C2 was the fourth highest football league in Italy, the lowest with a professional status. History Before the 1978–79 season, there were only three professional football leagues in Italy, the third being Serie C. The league menaging t ...

team relegated at the end of the season despite very strong performances in the second half of the season. Arcoleo had his breakthrough at the coaching level during his years at the helm of

Trapani Trapani ( ; ; ) is a city and municipality (''comune'') with 54,887 inhabitants, on the west coast of Sicily, in Italy. It is the capital of the Province of Trapani. Founded by Elymians, the city is still an important fishing port and the mai ...

, another Serie D team, which he led from the top amateur league to

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 almost reaching an otherwise historical promotion to

, being defeated on playoffs by Gualdo. Thanks to his results on Trapani, Arcoleo was called to coach "his"

the next season. The 1995/1996 Palermo, widely considered a minor

team, was mostly composed by local players, most of them right from Arcoleo's Trapani: despite this, the ''rosanero'' managed to play one of their best seasons in the 1990s, obtaining a seventh place in the final league table and gaining several successes in the Coppa Italia, eliminating

well-established teams such as

Parma Parma (; ) is a city in the northern Italian region of Emilia-Romagna known for its architecture, Giuseppe Verdi, music, art, prosciutto (ham), Parmesan, cheese and surrounding countryside. With a population of 198,986 inhabitants as of 2025, ...

and

Vicenza Vicenza ( , ; or , archaically ) is a city in northeastern Italy. It is in the Veneto region, at the northern base of the Monte Berico, where it straddles the Bacchiglione, River Bacchiglione. Vicenza is approximately west of Venice and e ...

. The following 1996/1997 season, however, was the beginning of Arcoleo career breakdowns, as he was fired and Palermo then relegated to Serie C1. Arcoleo was recalled to coach Palermo in the latest matches of the 1997/1998 Serie C campaign, with the ''rosanero'' involved in a heavy struggle to avoid relegation, ended to a shocking loss to Battipagliese on playoffs which meant to be the second consecutive relegation for both Arcoleo and Palermo. Since then, Arcoleo coached a number of

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 ...

teams ( Gualdo,

Foggia Foggia (, ; ; ) is a city and ''comune'' (municipality) of Apulia, in Southern Italy, capital of the province of Foggia. In 2013, its population was 153,143. Foggia is the main city of a plain called Tavoliere delle Puglie, Tavoliere, also know ...

Frosinone Frosinone (; local dialect: ) is a ''comune'' (municipality) in the Italian region of Lazio, administrative seat of the province of Frosinone. It is about southeast of Rome, close to the Rome-Naples A1 Motorway. The city is the main city of th ...

, Nocerina) never being able to end the season in his position. In 2006, he also made a comeback at Trapani, now in

, as "technical director" and aide for the head coach, but did not achieve any success and instead saw his team relegated to

Eccellenza The Eccellenza (, "excellence") is the fifth level (since 2014–15) of Italian football.Official ...

. He is currently a football pundit for a number of regional TV channels of Sicily.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Arcoleo, Ignazio 1948 births Men's association football midfielders Genoa CFC players Italian football managers Italian men's footballers Living people ASG Nocerina players Footballers from Palermo Serie A players Serie B players Serie C players Taranto FC 1927 players Palermo FC managers Palermo FC players 20th-century Italian sportsmen