Julio Velasco (born 9 February 1952) is an Argentine former professional

volleyball Volleyball is a team sport in which two teams of six players are separated by a net. Each team tries to score points by grounding a ball on the other team's court under organized rules. It has been a part of the official program of the Summ ...

player and coach. He obtained

Italian Italian(s) may refer to: * Anything of, from, or related to the people of Italy over the centuries ** Italians, a Romance ethnic group related to or simply a citizen of the Italian Republic or Italian Kingdom ** Italian language, a Romance languag ...

citizenship in 1992. Velasco was inducted into the International Volleyball Hall of Fame in 2005. He is the head coach of the

Italy women's national volleyball team The Italy women's national volleyball team is governed by the Federazione Italiana Pallavolo (FIPAV). The team's biggest victories were the gold medal at the 2024 Summer Olympics, 2002 FIVB Women's World Championship and the 2007 and the 2011 Wo ...

, which he led to the gold medal in the 2024 Paris Olympics.

Career

Player

Julio Velasco began playing volleyball at the age of 15 for

National University of La Plata The National University of La Plata (, UNLP) is a national public research university located in the city of La Plata, capital of Buenos Aires Province, Argentina. It has over 90,000 regular students, 10,000 teaching staff, 17 departments and 10 ...

Club.

Coach

Velasco became an assistant coach on the Argentina national men's team from 1981 to 1983. In 1983, he was invited to coach for Tre Valli Jesi in Italy, where he stayed until 1985. He coached at

Panini Modena Modena Volley is a professional volleyball team based in Modena, Italy. It has played in the highest level of the Italian Volleyball League without interruption since 1968. It is the most successful Italian club, having won both the national lea ...

from 1985 to 1989, leading them to four Italian national championships in 1986–1989. In 1989, he was appointed head coach of the Italy men's national team, leading them to unprecedented successes. His first trophy with the Italian team was at the 1989 Men's European Volleyball Championship in

Sweden Sweden, formally the Kingdom of Sweden, is a Nordic countries, Nordic country located on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. It borders Norway to the west and north, and Finland to the east. At , Sweden is the largest Nordic count ...

, where they topped their preliminary group with only one loss and went through the knockout stage up to the final where they beat 3–1 the host side to win their first ever official tournament. But it was in 1990 that Velasco helped Italy to reach the top the world, leading them to win the

World Championship A world championship is generally an international competition open to elite competitors from around the world, representing their nations, and winning such an event will be considered the highest or near highest achievement in the sport, game ...

Brazil Brazil, officially the Federative Republic of Brazil, is the largest country in South America. It is the world's List of countries and dependencies by area, fifth-largest country by area and the List of countries and dependencies by population ...

: in the knockout stage Italy beat

Argentina Argentina, officially the Argentine Republic, is a country in the southern half of South America. It covers an area of , making it the List of South American countries by area, second-largest country in South America after Brazil, the fourt ...

3–0 in the quarterfinals, the host

3–2 in the semifinals and eventually

Cuba Cuba, officially the Republic of Cuba, is an island country, comprising the island of Cuba (largest island), Isla de la Juventud, and List of islands of Cuba, 4,195 islands, islets and cays surrounding the main island. It is located where the ...

3–1 in the championship final to win their first ever title as world champions. During his tenure as Italy's coach, Velasco won two more

European Championships A European Championship is the top level international sports competition between European athletes or sports teams representing their respective countries or professional sports clubs. In the plural, the European Championships also refers t ...

, another

and five World Leagues, in addition to other minor trophies like the

FIVB World Grand Champions Cup The FIVB Volleyball World Grand Champions Cup was an international volleyball competition contested by the senior men's and women's national teams of the members of ' (FIVB), the sport's global governing body. The tournament was created in 1993 a ...

Mediterranean Games The Mediterranean Games is a multi-sport event organised by the International Committee of Mediterranean Games (CIJM). It is held every four years among athletes from countries bordering the Mediterranean Sea in Africa, Asia and Europe. The fi ...

, FIVB World Cup and World Super Challenge. Velasco also took the Italian men's team to win its first silver medal history FIPAV in the

1996 Summer Olympics The 1996 Summer Olympics (officially the Games of the XXVI Olympiad, also known as Atlanta 1996 and commonly referred to as the Centennial Olympic Games) were an international multi-sport event held from July 19 to August 4, 1996, in Atlanta, ...

. After the

, where the Italians won silver, he switched to the Italy women's team, from 1996 to 1997, coaching them to a gold medal at the

. He coached the Czech Republic men's national team in 2001. He returned to Italy to coach the Copra Piacenza club in 2002. In 2008, he was selected to coach the Spain men's national team, winning the 2009 European Volleyball League with them. In 2011, Velasco was signed as the head coach of the Iran men's national team. He became coach of the Argentina men's national team before his contract with the Iranian national team expired on 1 March 2014, after winning two Asian Championships. This change of teams was due to the request of the people and the

president of Argentina The president of Argentina, officially known as the president of the Argentine Nation, is both head of state and head of government of Argentina. Under Constitution of Argentina, the national constitution, the president is also the Head of go ...

and was approved by the Iranian volleyball confederation because of Iranians' respect for their coach. He led the Argentine team to win the

2015 Pan American Games The 2015 Pan American Games (), officially the XVII Pan American Games () and commonly known as the Toronto 2015 Pan-Am Games (Toronto 2015), were a major international multi-sport event celebrated in the tradition of the Pan American Games, ...

. Velasco was appointed head coach of Modena Volley for the 2018/2019 season. In 2024, he was formally appointed head coach of the

, with the goal of guiding them to the

2024 Summer Olympics The 2024 Summer Olympics (), officially the Games of the XXXIII Olympiad () and branded as Paris 2024, were an international multi-sport event held in France from 26 July to 11 August 2024, with several events started from 24 July. P ...

Administrator

During the 1998–99 season, Velasco was General Director of UEFA Cup Winner's Cup winner S.S. Lazio, and in 2000, he moved to

Massimo Moratti Massimo Moratti (born 16 May 1945) is an Italian billionaire petroleum businessman, the former owner of Inter Milan and chairman of the Saras S.p.A., Saras Group, founded in 1962 by his father, industrialist Angelo Moratti. The main production si ...

Inter Milan Football Club Internazionale Milano, commonly referred to as Internazionale () or simply Inter, and colloquially known as Inter Milan in English-speaking countries, is an Italian professional Association football, football List of football ...

Honours

Ferro: * 4 Serie A1: 1979, 1980, 1981, 1982 Modena: * 4 SuperLega: 1986, 1987, 1988, 1989 * 3 Coppe Italia: 1986, 1988, 1989 * 1 Coppa delle Coppe: 1986 * 1 Supercoppa italia: 2018 Italy men's national team: * 1

: 1991 * 2 FIVB World Championship: 1990, 1994 * 3 European Volleyball Championship: 1989, 1993, 1995 **Runner-up 1: 1991 * 5 FIVB World League: 1990, 1991, 1992, 1994, 1995 **Runner-up 1: 1996 **3rd place 1: 1993 * 1 FIVB World Cup: 1995 * 1

Summer Olympics The Summer Olympic Games, also known as the Summer Olympics or the Games of the Olympiad, is a major international multi-sport event normally held once every four years. The inaugural Games took place in 1896 in Athens, then part of the King ...

: Silver medal 1996 * 1

: 1993 * 1 World Top Four FIVB: 1994 * 1 World Super Six FIVB: 1996 Italy women's national team * 1

: 1997 * 1 FIVB Women's Volleyball Nations League 2024 * 1

: Gold medal 2024 Spain men's national team * 1

: Runner-up 2009 * 2 Men's European Volleyball League: Runner-up 2009, 2010 Iran men's national team * 2

Asian Men's Volleyball Championship The Asian Men's Volleyball Championship is an international volleyball competition in Asia and Oceania contested by the senior men's national teams of the members of Asian Volleyball Confederation (AVC), the sport's continent governing body. Th ...

: 2011, 2013 Argentina men's national team * 1

Pan American Games The Pan American Games, known as the Pan Am Games, is a continental multi-sport event in the Americas. It features thousands of athletes participating in competitions to win different summer sports. It is held among athletes from nations of th ...

: 2015

Individual awards

* 1990 FIVB World Championship - Best Coach * 1991 Medal of Merit Sport Organization

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 ...

* 1993

- Best Coach * 1995 FIVB World Cup - Best Coach * 2000 Konex Award - Technical Director * 2012 Società Italiana Medici Manager - Technical Award * 2014 Coach of the Year in

Iran Iran, officially the Islamic Republic of Iran (IRI) and also known as Persia, is a country in West Asia. It borders Iraq to the west, Turkey, Azerbaijan, and Armenia to the northwest, the Caspian Sea to the north, Turkmenistan to the nort ...

* 2022 CEV - Lifetime Achievement Award

Orders

:* CONI: Golden Palm of Technical Merit: ''Palma d'oro al Merito Tecnico'': 2018 :*

President of Italy The president of Italy, officially titled President of the Italian Republic (), is the head of state of Italy. In that role, the president represents national unity and guarantees that Politics of Italy, Italian politics comply with the Consti ...

: Grand Cross of the

Order of Merit of the Italian Republic The Order of Merit of the Italian Republic () is the most senior Italian order of merit. It was established in 1951 by the second President of Italy, President of the Italian Republic, Luigi Einaudi. The highest-ranking honour of the Republi ...

: 2019

About him

Velasco was a philosophy student and a maoist militant in his university days, which caused him to be expelled by the

board in 1974. After the

1976 Argentine coup d'état Events January * January 2 – The International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights enters into force. * January 5 – The Pol Pot regime proclaims a new constitution for Democratic Kampuchea. * January 18 – Full diplomatic ...

he had to live in semi-clandestinity because of his previous political involvement, a situation that compelled him to move to Buenos Aires where he got his first volleyball coaching job. He has discussed coaching with football mastermind

Pep Guardiola Josep "Pep" Guardiola Sala (; born 18 January 1971) is a Catalans, Catalan professional Manager (association football), football manager and former Football player, player from Spain who has been the manager of club Manchester City F.C., Ma ...

multiple times. When he lived in Italy, Guardiola once travelled hundreds of kilometres so that he could meet Argentine volleyball coach Julio Velasco personally, simply because he had seen him in a TV interview and wanted to learn from him.

References

External links

*
Coach profile
at ''Volleyhall.org'' *
Coach profile
at ''LegaVolley.it''
Coach profile
at ''Volleybox.net'' {{DEFAULTSORT:Velasco, Julio 1952 births Living people Naturalised citizens of Italy Sportspeople from La Plata Argentine people of Peruvian descent Argentine volleyball coaches Argentine expatriate sportspeople in Italy Argentine expatriate sportspeople in the Czech Republic Argentine expatriate sportspeople in Spain Argentine expatriate sportspeople in Iran Expatriate volleyball coaches Coaches at the 1996 Summer Olympics Knights Grand Cross of the Order of Merit of the Italian Republic Italian expatriate sportspeople in Spain Italian expatriate sportspeople in the Czech Republic Italian sports executives and administrators Italian volleyball coaches Volleyball coaches of international teams Italian expatriate sportspeople in Iran Argentine sportspeople of Italian descent Argentine people of English descent National University of La Plata alumni SS Lazio non-playing staff Inter Milan non-playing staff Coaches at the 2024 Summer Olympics International Volleyball Hall of Fame inductees Olympic volleyball coaches