Mark Tullio Strukelj (born 23 June 1962) is an English-Italian former professional

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

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 ...

who is an assistant coach at

Triestina Unione Sportiva Triestina Calcio 1918, commonly referred to US Triestina or just Triestina, is an Italian football club based in Trieste, in the northern Friuli-Venezia Giulia region. Originally established in 1918, Triestina was one of the fo ...

Early life

Strukelj's parents emigrated from

Trieste Trieste ( , ; ) is a city and seaport in northeastern Italy. It is the capital and largest city of the Regions of Italy#Autonomous regions with special statute, autonomous region of Friuli-Venezia Giulia, as well as of the Province of Trieste, ...

to Australia before settling in England, where he was born to an Italian father and an English mother.

Playing career

Strukelj played one season in the

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 ...

for

A.S. Roma Associazione Sportiva Roma (''Rome Sport Association''; Italian pronunciation: ) is a professional football club based in Rome, Italy. Founded by a merger in 1927, Roma has participated in the top tier of Italian football for all of its exis ...

(1983–84), mostly as a backup to Brazilian star

Paulo Roberto Falcão Paulo Roberto Falcão (; born 16 October 1953), usually known as simply Falcão, is a Brazilian former footballer and football manager. He is universally considered one of the greatest Brazilian players of all time and one of the greatest defen ...

, winning the

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 ...

. He also came on as a substitute with 5 minutes to go in extra time in the 1984 European Cup Final against

Liverpool Liverpool is a port City status in the United Kingdom, city and metropolitan borough in Merseyside, England. It is situated on the eastern side of the River Mersey, Mersey Estuary, near the Irish Sea, north-west of London. With a population ...

, a club of which he is a fan; Roma lost in the subsequent

penalty shoot-out The penalty shootout is a method of determining a winner in sports matches that would have otherwise been drawn or tied. The rules for penalty shootouts vary between sports and even different competitions; however, the usual form is similar to pe ...

. His career was hampered by the chronic injury of his ankle that forced him to retire at the age of 30.

Coaching career

After starting a career as a youth coach at

, he became

Attilio Tesser Attilio Tesser (born 10 June 1958) is an Italian football manager and former player, currently in charge of club Triestina. Playing career A full-back, Tesser started his playing career with Treviso. He moved to Napoli in 1978, where he play ...

's right-hand man on all of his coaching roles from 2003 onwards.

Personal life

Strukelj was born in England to an Italian father and an English mother, and moved to

(the city of origin of his father) with his family at the age of 2. He spent occasionally time in England with his maternal grandparents, which led him to become a

fan. His son Kevin Strukelj is also a professional footballer.

Honours

Roma *

winner: 1983–84.

References

1962 births Living people Sportspeople from Dorking Footballers from Surrey Italian men's footballers English men's footballers Italian people of English descent Italian people of Slovenian descent English people of Italian descent Sportspeople of Italian descent English people of Slovenian descent Serie A players US Triestina Calcio 1918 players AS Roma players Pisa SC players Treviso FBC 1993 players SS Arezzo players FC Pistoiese SSD players SSD Castel San Pietro Terme Calcio players Men's association football midfielders 20th-century Italian sportsmen {{Italy-footy-midfielder-1960s-stub