Michelangelo Rampulla (born 10 August 1962) is an Italian

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 ...

manager and former player who played as a

goalkeeper In many team sports that involve scoring goal (sport), goals, the goalkeeper (sometimes termed goaltender, netminder, GK, goalie, or keeper) is a designated player charged with directly preventing the opposing team from scoring by blocking or i ...

Club career

Born in Patti,

Sicily Sicily (Italian language, Italian and ), officially the Sicilian Region (), is an island in the central Mediterranean Sea, south of the Italian Peninsula in continental Europe and is one of the 20 regions of Italy, regions of Italy. With 4. ...

, Rampulla initially had short stints with Sicilian amateur clubs, such as his local team Pattese; he later also played for

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 ...

, where he competed for a starting spot with fellow future Serie A goalkeepers

Sebastiano Rossi Sebastiano Rossi (born 20 July 1964) is an Italian retired professional footballer who played as a goalkeeper. During a 21-year professional career, he appeared in 346 Serie A games, most notably representing AC Milan (12 seasons) with which he ...

and Alberto Fontana. After three seasons at

Varese Varese ( , ; or ; ; ; archaic ) is a city and ''comune'' in north-western Lombardy, northern Italy, north-west of Milan. The population of Varese in 2018 was 80,559. It is the capital of the Province of Varese. The hinterland or exurban part ...

, Rampulla joined

Cremonese Cremona ( , , ; ; ) is a city and (municipality) in northern Italy, situated in Lombardy, on the left bank of the Po (river), Po river in the middle of the Po Valley. It is the capital of the province of Cremona and the seat of the local city a ...

in 1985 and became a protagonist in the club's rise to 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 ...

league. On 23 February 1992, Rampulla was the first goalkeeper to score from open play in Serie A history, after he equalised the scoreline with a header at 1–1 away to

Atalanta Atalanta (; ) is a heroine in Greek mythology. There are two versions of the huntress Atalanta: one from Arcadia (region), Arcadia, whose parents were Iasus and Clymene (mythology), Clymene and who is primarily known from the tales of the Caly ...

, from a free-kick by Alviero Chiorri in the last minute of play. However, that hard-earned point was not enough to save them from relegation at the end of the season. After the 1991–92 season finished in relegation for Cremonese, Rampulla moved to

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 ...

in 1992, where he enjoyed a highly successful ten-year spell at the club; he initially played as a starter, replacing Juventus's former legendary goalkeeper

Stefano Tacconi Stefano Tacconi (; born 13 May 1957) is an Italian former professional footballer who played as a goalkeeper. He is the only goalkeeper to have won all international club competitions, a feat he managed during his time with Juventus. At interna ...

, and subsequently as back-up goalkeeper for the remainder of his career, behind

Angelo Peruzzi Angelo Peruzzi (; born 16 February 1970) is an Italian football coach and former goalkeeper, and a three-time winner of the Serie A Goalkeeper of the Year award. Peruzzi is regarded by pundits as one of the greatest Italian goalkeepers of all ...

Edwin van der Sar Edwin van der Sar (; born 29 October 1970) is a Dutch association football, football executive and former professional player who played as a Goalkeeper (association football), goalkeeper. He was most recently the chief executive of AFC Ajax, A ...

, and

Gianluigi Buffon Gianluigi Buffon (; born 28 January 1978) is an Italian former professional Association football, footballer who played as a Goalkeeper (association football), goalkeeper. Widely regarded as one of the greatest goalkeepers of all time, he is ...

, and later as the reserve goalkeeper behind

Andreas Isaksson Jan Andreas Isaksson (; born 3 October 1981) is a Swedish former professional footballer who played as a goalkeeper. Isaksson began his career at local Trelleborgs FF, before spending two years at Juventus. He would later return to Sweden, wher ...

and Fabian Carini, retiring from active football in 2002, following Juventus's Serie A title victory and Coppa Italia final defeat. Despite being predominantly a backup, he played matches in every competition for Juventus during almost every season of his Juventus career, in particular under Peruzzi during the mid 90s, when the latter was struggling with recurring injuries. During his time at the club, Rampulla won an UEFA Cup in 1993 (as a starter), a Coppa Italia in 1995 (as a starter), four

titles, two Supercoppe Italiane (he replaced Peruzzi after he had been sent off in the

1995 1995 was designated as: * United Nations Year for Tolerance * World Year of Peoples' Commemoration of the Victims of the Second World War This was the first year that the Internet was entirely privatized, with the United States government ...

edition of the tournament, contributing to his team's victory with several decisive saves), an

UEFA Champions League The UEFA Champions League (UCL) is an annual club association football competition organised by the UEFA, Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) that is contested by List of top-division football clubs in UEFA countries, top-divisio ...

, an

UEFA 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 offic ...

, an Intercontinental Cup, and an

UEFA Intertoto Cup The UEFA Intertoto Cup (from , "between" and , " betting pool"),Most precisely, from ( football pool); cf. originally called the International Football Cup, was a summer football competition between European clubs. The competition was dis ...

. His goal-scoring feat would be matched by fellow Italian keeper

Massimo Taibi Massimo Taibi (; born 18 February 1970) is an Italian former professional association football, footballer who played as a goalkeeper (association football), goalkeeper for several clubs, mostly in Italy's Serie A, Serie B, B, and Lega Pro Prima ...

nine years later.

International career

During his time with Varese, Rampulla was called up to the Italy U20 national team by manager

Azeglio Vicini Azeglio Vicini (; 20 March 1933 – 30 January 2018) was an Italian football coach and player, who also served as the President of the Technical Sector of the Italian Football Federation (FIGC). One of Italy's most important coaches during ...

, making his debut for the ''Azzurrini'' on 20 April 1983; in total he made ten appearances for the Italy under-21 side.

Style of play

Nicknamed ''

Big Ben Big Ben is the nickname for the Great Bell of the Great Clock of Westminster, and, by extension, for the clock tower itself, which stands at the north end of the Palace of Westminster in London, England. Originally named the Clock Tower, it ...

'', Rampulla was a large, solid and reliable shot-stopper, who stood out for his professionalism and longevity throughout his career. He was also known for his ability with the ball at his feet as a goalkeeper, and had initially always wanted to play as a

forward Forward is a relative direction, the opposite of backward. Forward may also refer to: People *Forward (surname) Sports * Forward (association football) * Forward (basketball), including: ** Point forward ** Power forward (basketball) ** Smal ...

in his youth, but his father insisted that he play in goal. Because of his skill on the ball and offensive instincts, Rampulla even took penalties on occasion, and he became the first goalkeeper ever to score a goal in Serie A, with a header off of a corner kick.

Coaching career

After his retirement, Rampulla accepted to stay at Juventus in the club's backroom staff, serving as goalkeeping coach for most of his time. He parted company with Juventus in October 2010. On 14 July 2011, he was introduced as new head coach of

Serie D The Serie D () is the highest level of semi-professional football in Italy, and the fourth tier of the Italian national league system. It sits beneath the third and lowest fully professional league, Serie C, and feeds in to it through promotion ...

club

Derthona Associazione Sportiva Dilettantistica HSL Derthona, also known as Derthona, is a football club based in Tortona, Piedmont, Italy. Derthona currently plays in Serie D The Serie D () is the highest level of semi-professional football in Ital ...

. On 5 December 2011, he terminated his contract by mutual consent with the club. On 17 May 2012, Rampulla joined former Juventus manager

Marcello Lippi Marcello Romeo Lippi (; born 12 April 1948) is an Italian former professional association football, football player and manager, who led the Italy national football team, Italy national team to victory in the 2006 FIFA World Cup. He was appoin ...

Chinese Super League The Chinese Football Super League (), commonly known as the Chinese Super League or the CSL (), also known as the China Resources Beverage Chinese Football Super League for sponsorship reasons, is a professional association football league in Ch ...

side

Guangzhou Evergrande Guangzhou Football Club (), previously Guangzhou Evergrande (), was a Chinese professional football club based in Guangzhou, Guangdong. Historically, Guangzhou FC played its home matches at various grounds in their home city, most notably at T ...

and became the club's goalkeeping coach. On 2 June 2016, Rampulla became the president of

substituting Luigi Simoni who had covered the presidential role for two years. Rampulla resigned from this post on 20 October 2016 and on 22 October 2016, he was announced as the China national football team goalkeeping coach, under the management of

. On 25 October 2021, he was appointed as new head coach Massimiliano Maddaloni's assistant at

Serie C The Serie C (), officially known as Serie C NOW for sponsorship purposes, is the third-highest division in the Italian football league system after the Serie B and Serie A. The Lega Italiana Calcio Professionistico (Lega Pro) is the governing ...

club

Siena Siena ( , ; traditionally spelled Sienna in English; ) is a city in Tuscany, in central Italy, and the capital of the province of Siena. It is the twelfth most populated city in the region by number of inhabitants, with a population of 52,991 ...

. They were both sacked on 15 December 2021, just less than two months since their appointment, due to negative results.

Honours

Juventus *

: 1994–95, 1996–97, 1997–98, 2001–02 *

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 ...

: 1994–95 *

Supercoppa Italiana The Supercoppa Italiana, also known as the Italian Super Cup, is an annual super cup tournament in Italian football. Founded in 1988 as a two-team competition, it has featured four teams since 2023 (the winners and runners-up of the previous ...

1997 Events January * January 1 – The Emergency Alert System is introduced in the United States. * January 11 – Turkey threatens Cyprus on account of a deal to buy Russian S-300 missiles, prompting the Cypriot Missile Crisis. * January 1 ...

: 1995–96 *

UEFA Cup The asterisk ( ), from Late Latin , from Ancient Greek , , "little star", is a Typography, typographical symbol. It is so called because it resembles a conventional image of a star (heraldry), heraldic star. Computer scientists and Mathematici ...

: 1992–93 *

1996 1996 was designated as: * International Year for the Eradication of Poverty Events January * January 8 – A Zairean cargo plane crashes into a crowded market in the center of the capital city of the Democratic Republic of the Congo ...

* Intercontinental Cup:

1999 1999 was designated as the International Year of Older Persons. Events January * January 1 – The euro currency is established and the European Central Bank assumes its full powers. * January 3 – The Mars Polar Lander is launc ...

Individual * Premio Nazionale Carriera Esemplare "Gaetano Scirea": 1999

References

External links

Career summary

Profile at lega-calcio.it
*
Profile at FIGC.it
{{DEFAULTSORT:Rampulla, Michelangelo 1962 births Living people Footballers from the Metropolitan City of Messina Men's association football goalkeepers Italian men's footballers AC Cesena players SSD Varese Calcio players US Cremonese players Juventus FC players Serie A players Serie B players Italian football managers UEFA Champions League–winning players UEFA Europa League–winning players Guangzhou F.C. non-playing staff Association football goalkeeping coaches 20th-century Italian sportsmen