Massimo Bonini (born 13 October 1959) is a Sammarinese former 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 coach, 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 ...

for Italian sides Bellaria Igea,

Forlì Forlì ( ; ; ; ) is a ''comune'' (municipality) and city in Emilia-Romagna, Northern Italy, and is, together with Cesena, the capital of the Province of Forlì-Cesena.The city is situated along the Via Emilia, to the east of the Montone river, ...

Cesena Cesena (; ) is a city and ''comune'' (municipality) in the Emilia-Romagna region of Italy; and - with Forlì - is the capital of the Province of Forlì-Cesena. Served by Autostrada A14 (Italy), Autostrada A14, and located near the Apennine M ...

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 ...

and

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 ...

. His greatest achievements in club football were at Juventus, where his work-rate enabled him to form a notable midfield partnership with French

playmaker In association football, a playmaker is a footballer who controls the flow of the team's play, and is often involved in offensively and defensively playing Passing (association football), passing moves which lead to Goal (sport), goals, through ...

Michel Platini Michel François Platini (; born 21 June 1955) is a French association football, football Administrator (business), administrator and former player and manager. Regarded as one of the greatest footballers of all time, Platini won the Ballon d'O ...

and ''mezzala''

Marco Tardelli Marco Tardelli (; born 24 September 1954) is an Italian former football player and manager. At club level, he played as a midfielder for several Italian clubs; he began his career with Pisa, and later played for Como, Juventus, and Internazion ...

, having won 3

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 ...

titles, 1

Italian Cup 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 ...

, 1

European Cup The UEFA Champions League (UCL) is an annual club association football competition organised by the Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) that is contested by top-division European clubs. The competition begins with a round robi ...

, 1

Cup Winners' Cup The UEFA Cup Winners' Cup was a European football club competition contested annually by the winners of domestic cup competitions. The competition's official name was originally the European Cup Winners' Cup; it was renamed the UEFA Cup Winne ...

, 1

European Super Cup The UEFA Super Cup is an annual super cup football match organised by UEFA and contested by the winners of the two main European club competitions: the UEFA Champions League and UEFA Europa League. The competition's official name was original ...

and 1 Intercontinental Cup and becoming the first and only Sanmarinese footballer to win a UEFA club competition. At the international level, he gained 19 caps for the

San Marino national football team The San Marino national football team () represents San Marino in men's international association football competitions. The team is governed by the San Marino Football Federation and represents the smallest population of any UEFA member. They ...

. Widely regarded as the best Sanmarinese player of all time, he is one of the few sportspeople from his country to have won a world title, alongside motorcyclist Manuel Poggiali, jumper Elisabetta Rossi, and fisherman Marino Michelotti For its 50th anniversary in 2004,

UEFA The Union of European Football Associations (UEFA ; ; ) is one of six continental bodies of governance in association football. It governs football, futsal and beach soccer, beach football in Europe and the List of transcontinental countries#A ...

asked each of its then 52 member associations to nominate one player as the single most outstanding player of the period 1954–2003, and Bonini was chosen as the Golden Player of San Marino by the San Marino Football Federation in November 2003.

Club career

Bonini began his career at Juvenes Dogana in 1973 but failed to make a league appearance during his 4 years at the club. After leaving Juvenes Dogana in 1977, he moved on to join Bellaria, going on to make 33 appearances scoring 1 goal. After leaving Bellaria in 1978, he moved on to join Forli, going on to make 23 appearances, scoring 1 goal. After leaving Forli in 1979, he moved to

, appearing 60 times and scoring 5 goals. After leaving Cesena in 1981, Bonini played for

between 1981 and 1988, in which he played 296 matches and scored 6 goals. He won 3 Scudetti, 1

, 1

and 1 Intercontinental Cup. He is the only Sammarinese footballer to have won an official international title. For his performances, he was awarded the

Bravo Award The Bravo Award was an annual award which was handed out by the Italian magazine ''Guerin Sportivo'' to the most outstanding young European Association football, footballer. The first winner of the award was Englishman Jimmy Case. The first no ...

in 1983, as the best under-23 player in European Competitions. After leaving Juventus in 1988, he moved to

going on to make 112 appearances and scoring 5 goals. Bonini retired in 1993.

International career

Since the San Marino Football Federation was not officially recognised by the Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) until 1990, players from San Marino were assimilated to Italian players. For this reason, Bonini was entitled to play for the

Italian Football Federation The Italian Football Federation (, ; FIGC ), known colloquially as (), is the governing body of football in Italy. It is based in Rome and Centro Tecnico Federale di Coverciano, the technical department is in Coverciano, Florence. It manages a ...

and actually played for the Italian Under-21 football team. Since he always refused to give up the citizenship of San Marino, he had to wait until 1990 in order to play for San Marino's first team, winning 19 full caps since then. He played his first match for San Marino against

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on 14 November 1990.

Managerial career

After his retirement, Bonini also briefly served as the head coach of the San Marino national football team, from 2 June 1996 to 10 September 1997.

Style of play

Bonini was a hardworking, energetic and versatile box-to-box midfielder, who was frequently deployed as a

central 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 ...

or as a

defensive midfielder In the sport of association football, a midfielder takes an outfield position primarily in the middle of the pitch. Midfielders may play an exclusively defensive role, breaking up attacks, and are in that case known as defensive midfielders. ...

during his time at Juventus. Although this position did not provide him with the freedom to contribute offensively or creatively that he had possessed in his early career, he excelled in his new role as a ball winner, and at breaking down opposition plays, due to his tactical intelligence, work-rate and positional sense, supporting his more creative teammates defensively, such as

, alongside

. He was known in particular for his pace and stamina, which earned him the nickname "Platini's lungs", due to his successful partnership in midfield with the Frenchman.

Honours

Juventus *

: 1981–82, 1983–84, 1985–86 *

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 ...

: 1982–83 *

: 1984–85 *

European Cup Winners' Cup The UEFA Cup Winners' Cup was a European association football, football club competition contested annually by the winners of domestic cup competitions. The competition's official name was originally the European Cup Winners' Cup; it was renam ...

: 1983–84 *

1984 Events January * January 1 – The Bornean Sultanate of Brunei gains full independence from the United Kingdom, having become a British protectorate in 1888. * January 7 – Brunei becomes the sixth member of the Association of Southeas ...

* Intercontinental Cup:

1985 The year 1985 was designated as the International Youth Year by the United Nations. Events January * January 1 ** The Internet's Domain Name System is created. ** Greenland withdraws from the European Economic Community as a result of a n ...

Individual *

: 1983 * UEFA Jubilee Awards - Golden Player of San Marino: 2004 *Medaglia d'oro al valore atletico CONS: 1989 *FIFA Centennial Golden Medal: 2005"To the sporting career", cf.

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Bonini, Massimo UEFA Golden Players 1959 births Living people Sammarinese men's footballers San Marino men's international footballers Italian men's footballers Italy men's under-21 international footballers Italian people of Sammarinese descent Forlì FC players AC Cesena players Juventus FC players UEFA Champions League–winning players Bologna FC 1909 players AC Bellaria Igea Marina players Serie A players Serie B players Sammarinese expatriate men's footballers San Marino national football team managers Men's association football midfielders Italian football managers Sammarinese expatriate sportspeople in Italy 20th-century Italian sportsmen