Luciano Vassallo (15 August 1935 – 16 September 2022), also spelled Luciano Vassalo, was a footballer who played as a

midfielder In the sport of association football, a midfielder takes an Glossary of association football terms#O, outfield position primarily in the middle of the pitch. Midfielders may play an exclusively defensive role, breaking up attacks, and are in t ...

. Born in

Italian Eritrea Italian Eritrea (, "Colony of Eritrea") was a colony of the Kingdom of Italy in the territory of present-day Eritrea. The first Italian establishment in the area was the purchase of Assab by the Società di Navigazione Rubattino, Rubattino Shippin ...

, he played for the Ethiopia national team in the 1960s, captaining the winning team at the

1962 African Cup of Nations The 1962 African Cup of Nations was the third edition of the Africa Cup of Nations, the football championship of Africa ( CAF). It was hosted by Ethiopia. Nine countries entered the competition, including the reigning champions Egypt, meaning for ...

, Ethiopia's only trophy to date. He was known for his skill, and mostly for his volleys, free kicks and penalties. He played professionally with Cotton Factory Club along with his half-brother Italo.

Early life

Luciano was born in Asmara to Vittorio Vassallo, an officer in the Italian rifle regiment and an Eritrean woman called Mebrak Abraham. Vittorio was transferred to

Addis Ababa Addis Ababa (; ,) is the capital city of Ethiopia, as well as the regional state of Oromia. With an estimated population of 2,739,551 inhabitants as of the 2007 census, it is the largest city in the country and the List of cities in Africa b ...

in 1937 and they never heard from him again. As mixed-race children they were marginalised at school and treated with contempt due to the

Italian racial laws The Italian racial laws, otherwise referred to as the Racial Laws (), were a series of laws promulgated by the government of Benito Mussolini in Fascist Italy from 1938 to 1944 in order to enforce racial discrimination and segregation in the King ...

. This led Luciano to drop out of school during the third grade and study as a mechanic at a railway workshop.Interview of Luciano Vassallo about his life (in Italian)
/ref> Luciano initially began playing football for Stella Asmarina, a team set up by the Vicarage Apostolic exclusively for Italo-Eritrean children. He started his footballing career as a left-back, before being moved to centre back then eventually into midfield where he became known as an advanced playmaker with a powerful shot.

Club career

Luciano played for GS Gejeret and GS Asmara, an Ethiopian team as Eritrea had been annexed in 1950. He signed to play for Cotton Factory Club of

Dire Dawa Dire Dawa (; , meaning"where the Dir (clan), Dir hit his spear into the ground" or "The true Dir", , Harari language, Harari: ድሬዳዋ, lit. "Plain of Medicine"; ) is a city in eastern Ethiopia near the Somali Region and Oromia, Oromo borde ...

in 1960, where, along with his half-brother, he won the Ethiopian First Division in 1960, 1962, 1963 and 1965. Luciano credited his experience as a mechanic for getting a job at the associated cotton plantation, which allowed him to receive a salary ten times that of a normal worker.

International career

Luciano played for the Ethiopia national team in the qualifying rounds for the

1962 FIFA World Cup The 1962 FIFA World Cup was the 7th edition of the FIFA World Cup, the quadrennial international football championship for senior men's national teams. It was held from 30 May to 17 June 1962 in Chile. The qualification rounds took place between ...

. With his half-brother Italo, Luciano was part of the

campaign, when Ethiopia won their only trophy to date. Prior to the campaign he was told to change his first and last name in order to sound like ''a real Ethiopian'', which he refused. Luciano, captain of the team, scored two goals in the semifinal against

Tunisia Tunisia, officially the Republic of Tunisia, is a country in the Maghreb region of North Africa. It is bordered by Algeria to the west and southwest, Libya to the southeast, and the Mediterranean Sea to the north and east. Tunisia also shares m ...

and the equalizer against

Egypt Egypt ( , ), officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, is a country spanning the Northeast Africa, northeast corner of Africa and Western Asia, southwest corner of Asia via the Sinai Peninsula. It is bordered by the Mediterranean Sea to northe ...

in the

final Final, Finals or The Final may refer to: *Final examination or finals, a test given at the end of a course of study or training *Final (competition), the last or championship round of a sporting competition, match, game, or other contest which d ...

, before winning in extra time, thus he was tied for top scorer in the tournament with three goals along with

Badawi Abdel Fattah Mohamed Badawi Abdel Fattah (, born 24 May 1935 – 6 December 2007), better known as Badawi Abdel Fattah, was an Egyptian football player and coach who played as a midfielder for the Egypt national team. He took part in the 1962 Africa Cup of ...

. He was handed the trophy by His Highness

Haile Selassie Haile Selassie I (born Tafari Makonnen or ''Ethiopian aristocratic and court titles#Lij, Lij'' Tafari; 23 July 189227 August 1975) was Emperor of Ethiopia from 1930 to 1974. He rose to power as the Ethiopian aristocratic and court titles, Rege ...

, despite an attempt to remove him from the captaincy in order to allow for an Ethiopian player to lift the trophy. In 2006, CAF began the selection for the best African footballer in the last fifty years. Luciano, along with legendary teammate and friend Mengistu Worku were selected in the group of the top 50 players, as the only Ethiopians, but were not selected in the final 30, where

Roger Milla Albert Roger Miller (born 20 May 1952), known as Roger Milla, is a Cameroonian former professional footballer who played as a forward. He was one of the first African players to be a major star on the international stage. He played in three Wo ...

was named number one. Many consider Vassallo to be the best Ethiopian footballer in history, after Worku and Ydnekatchew Tessema.

Managerial career

Vassallo then went to study as a coach at Coverciano in

Florence Florence ( ; ) is the capital city of the Italy, Italian region of Tuscany. It is also the most populated city in Tuscany, with 362,353 inhabitants, and 989,460 in Metropolitan City of Florence, its metropolitan province as of 2025. Florence ...

, Italy. He went on to coach Ethiopia national team on several occasions. During the

Red Terror The Red Terror () was a campaign of political repression and Mass killing, executions in Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic, Soviet Russia which was carried out by the Bolsheviks, chiefly through the Cheka, the Bolshevik secret police ...

, Luciano Vassallo was arrested after he denounced the use of the amphetamine

Captagon Fenethylline ( BAN, USAN) or fenetylline (INN) is a codrug of amphetamine and theophylline and so a mutual prodrug of both. It is also spelled phenethylline; other names for it are amphetaminoethyltheophylline and amfetyline. The drug was mar ...

that was being used by the Ethiopian national team. He was stripped of his duties as coach and was set to be taken away by

Mengistu Haile Mariam Mengistu Haile Mariam (, pronunciation: ; born 21 May 1937) is an Ethiopian former politician, revolutionary, and military officer who served as the head of state of Ethiopia from 1977 to 1991. He was General Secretary of the Workers' Party o ...

's soldiers however one of the colonels recognised his footballing hero and let him go. He was reinstated as national team manager in 1978 but, two weeks after a historic win over

East Germany East Germany, officially known as the German Democratic Republic (GDR), was a country in Central Europe from Foundation of East Germany, its formation on 7 October 1949 until German reunification, its reunification with West Germany (FRG) on ...

, he fled to

Djibouti Djibouti, officially the Republic of Djibouti, is a country in the Horn of Africa, bordered by Somalia to the south, Ethiopia to the southwest, Eritrea in the north, and the Red Sea and the Gulf of Aden to the east. The country has an area ...

then to

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, ...

, where he had sent his family to safety some months earlier.

After football

In exile in Italy, Luciano began repairing cars in Ostia before opening his own garage and finally obtaining citizenship. Later he founded a school for young footballers called ''Olimpia Ostia''. In 2000, he published a biography titled ''Mamma ecco I soldi'' or ''Mom here's the money''. After retiring, he lived in

Career statistics

International goals

:''Scores and results list Ethiopia's goal tally first, score column indicates score after each Vassallo goal.''

Honors

International

;Ethiopia *

Africa Cup of Nations The Africa Cup of Nations, commonly abbreviated as AFCON and officially known as the TotalEnergies Africa Cup of Nations for sponsorship reasons, is the main biennial international men's association football competition in Africa. It is s ...

1962 The year saw the Cuban Missile Crisis, which is often considered the closest the world came to a Nuclear warfare, nuclear confrontation during the Cold War. Events January * January 1 – Samoa, Western Samoa becomes independent from Ne ...

Individual

*Africa Cup of Nations Top Scorer: 1962 (shared with

)

Notes

References

Bibliography

* Felici, Antonio. ''Stella d'Africa – La vita straordinaria di Luciano Vassallo, mito del calcio africano anni '60, esule in Italia'' Edizioni Coralli, Roma, 2014
Excerpts
* Vassallo, Luciano. ''Mamma ecco i soldi''. Editore: Coralli. Roma, 2000 *

External links

Luciano Vassallo's official website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Vassallo, Luciano 1935 births 2022 deaths Sportspeople from Asmara Eritrean men's footballers Ethiopian men's footballers Saint George S.C. players Ethiopia men's international footballers Eritrean football managers Ethiopian football managers Ethiopia national football team managers Saint George S.C. managers Ethiopian people of Eritrean descent Ethiopian people of Italian descent Eritrean people of Italian descent 1962 African Cup of Nations players 1963 African Cup of Nations players 1965 African Cup of Nations players 1968 African Cup of Nations players 1970 African Cup of Nations players Africa Cup of Nations–winning players Men's association football midfielders