Massimo Bonini (born 13 October 1959) is a Sammarinese former professional football player and coach, who played as a

midfielder A midfielder is an outfield position in association football. Midfielders may play an exclusively defensive role, breaking up attacks, and are in that case known as defensive midfielders. As central midfielders often go across boundarie ...

for Italian sides Bellaria Igea,

Forlì Forlì ( , ; rgn, Furlè ; la, Forum Livii) is a ''comune'' (municipality) and city in Emilia-Romagna, Northern Italy, and is the capital of the province of Forlì-Cesena. It is the central city of Romagna. The city is situated along the Via Em ...

Cesena Cesena (; rgn, Cisêna) is a city and '' comune'' in the Emilia-Romagna region of Italy, served by Autostrada A14, and located near the Apennine Mountains, about from the Adriatic Sea. The total population is 97,137. History Cesena was ...

Juventus Juventus Football Club (from la, iuventūs, 'youth'; ), colloquially known as Juve (), is a professional football club based in Turin, Piedmont, Italy, that competes in the Serie A, the top tier of the Italian football league system. Founded in ...

and

Bologna Bologna (, , ; egl, label=Emilian language, Emilian, Bulåggna ; lat, Bononia) is the capital and largest city of the Emilia-Romagna region in Northern Italy. It is the seventh most populous city in Italy with about 400,000 inhabitants and 1 ...

. 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 player who controls the flow of the team's play, and is often involved in offensively and defensively playing passing moves which lead to goals, through their vision, technique, ball control, creativity ...

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'Or ...

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 Internazio ...

, having won 3

Serie A The Serie A (), also called Serie A TIM for national sponsorship with TIM, is a professional league competition for football clubs located at the top of the Italian football league system and the winner is awarded the Scudetto and the Copp ...

titles, 1 Italian Cup, 1

European Cup The UEFA Champions League (abbreviated as UCL, or sometimes, UEFA CL) is an annual club football competition organised by the Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) and contested by top-division European clubs, deciding the competi ...

, 1

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 cup was, chronologically, the second seasonal inter-European club competition organised ...

, 1

European Super Cup The UEFA Super Cup is an annual super cup Association football, 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 offici ...

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

San Marino national football team The San Marino national football team ( it, Nazionale di calcio di San Marino) represents San Marino in men's international association football competitions. The team is controlled by the San Marino Football Federation and represents the sma ...

. One of the solely two Sanmarinese sportsmen to have won a world title alongside motorcyclist Manuel Poggiali, he is regarded the most iconic athlete born in the country. For its 50th anniversary in 2004,

UEFA Union of European Football Associations (UEFA ; french: Union des associations européennes de football; german: Union der europäischen Fußballverbände) is one of six continental bodies of governance in association football. It governs foo ...

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 The San Marino Football Federation (FSGC) ( it, Federazione Sammarinese Giuoco Calcio) is the governing body of football in San Marino. It organises the San Marino football league (Campionato Sammarinese), a national cup ( Coppa Titano), a super ...

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 Italian Cup, 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 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. One of the solely two Sanmarinese sportsmen to have won a world title alongside motorcyclist Manuel Poggiali, he is regarded the most iconic athlete born in the country.

International career

Since the

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 ( it, Federazione Italiana Giuoco Calcio; FIGC), known colloquially as ''Federcalcio'', is the governing body of football in Italy. It is based in Rome and the technical department is in Coverciano, Florence. I ...

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 Switzerland 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 A midfielder is an outfield position in association football. Midfielders may play an exclusively defensive role, breaking up attacks, and are in that case known as defensive midfielders. As central midfielders often go across boundarie ...

or as a

defensive midfielder A midfielder is an outfield position in association football. Midfielders may play an exclusively defensive role, breaking up attacks, and are in that case known as defensive midfielders. As central midfielders often go across boundarie ...

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 The ("Italy Cup") is an annual knockout cup competition in Italian football organized by the FIGC until the 2009–10 season and the Lega Serie A ever since. History The beginning of the tournament was turbulent, due to the complexity ...

: 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 cup was, chronologically, the second seasonal inter-European club competition organised ...

: 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 Southeast As ...

* 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 ...

Individual * Bravo Award: 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

UEFA.com's article on San Marino's Golden Player
{{DEFAULTSORT:Bonini, Massimo UEFA Golden Players 1959 births Living people Sammarinese footballers San Marino international footballers Italian footballers Italy under-21 international footballers Italian people of Sammarinese descent Forlì F.C. players A.C. Cesena players Juventus F.C. players Bologna F.C. 1909 players A.C. Bellaria Igea Marina players Serie A players Serie B players Sammarinese expatriate footballers San Marino national football team managers Association football midfielders Italian football managers Sammarinese expatriate sportspeople in Italy