Nevio Scala (; born 22 November 1947) 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 ...

sporting director, coach and former

player Player may refer to: Role or adjective * Player (game), a participant in a game or sport ** Gamer, a player in video and tabletop games ** Athlete, a player in sports ** Player character, a character in a video game or role playing game who i ...

. Throughout his footballing career, he 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 several Italian clubs, and won several titles during his time with

AC Milan (), commonly referred to as Milan or AC Milan () mainly outside of Italy, is an Italian professional Football club (association football), football club based in Milan, Lombardy. Founded in 1899, the club competes in the Serie A, the top tie ...

. As a manager, he is mostly known for his role as head coach of Parma during the club's golden age of the 1990s, which saw him lead the team from

Serie B The Serie B (), officially known as Serie BKT for sponsorship reasons, is the second-highest division in the Italian football league system after the Serie A. It has been operating for over ninety years since the 1929–30 season. It had b ...

to several European triumphs.

Playing career

Born in Lozzo Atestino,

Province of Padua The province of Padua () is a Provinces of Italy, province in the Veneto region of Italy. Its capital is the city of Padua. Geography It has an area of 2,142 km2, and a total population of 936,492 (2016) making it the most populated provi ...

, Veneto, Scala enjoyed a successful career as a midfielder for several Italian top-flight teams — Roma,

Milan Milan ( , , ; ) is a city in northern Italy, regional capital of Lombardy, the largest city in Italy by urban area and the List of cities in Italy, second-most-populous city proper in Italy after Rome. The city proper has a population of nea ...

Vicenza Vicenza ( , ; or , archaically ) is a city in northeastern Italy. It is in the Veneto region, at the northern base of the Monte Berico, where it straddles the Bacchiglione, River Bacchiglione. Vicenza is approximately west of Venice and e ...

and Internazionale — and subsequently played for lower-ranked clubs

Foggia Foggia (, ; ; ) is a city and ''comune'' (municipality) of Apulia, in Southern Italy, capital of the province of Foggia. In 2013, its population was 153,143. Foggia is the main city of a plain called Tavoliere delle Puglie, Tavoliere, also know ...

, Monza and Adriese in the final years of his career. As a player, with Milan, he won 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 ...

in 1967–68, the European Cup Winners' Cup also in 1967–68, and the

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 ...

in 1968–69.

Coaching career

As a coach, he led Calabrian third division club Reggina to

in 1988, and then moved to Serie B club

Parma Parma (; ) is a city in the northern Italian region of Emilia-Romagna known for its architecture, Giuseppe Verdi, music, art, prosciutto (ham), Parmesan, cheese and surrounding countryside. With a population of 198,986 inhabitants as of 2025, ...

. He held that position for six years, leading the Emilian club to its first promotion to the Italian top flight in

1990 Important events of 1990 include the Reunification of Germany and the unification of Yemen, the formal beginning of the Human Genome Project (finished in 2003), the launch of the Hubble Space Telescope, the separation of Namibia from South ...

, and subsequently turned the team into one of the major clubs in the Italian

, thanks also to the relevant financial backing from chairman and Parmalat founder Calisto Tanzi, winning several domestic and European titles. During his time at Parma, Scala won 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 ...

1992 1992 was designated as International Space Year by the United Nations. Events January * January 1 – Boutros Boutros-Ghali of Egypt replaces Javier Pérez de Cuéllar of Peru as United Nations Secretary-General. * January 6 ** The Republ ...

, the

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 ...

and the

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 ...

in 1993, and the

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 ...

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 ...

. He also managed runners-up medals in the Coppa Italia in

, in the Cup Winners' Cup in

1994 The year 1994 was designated as the " International Year of the Family" and the "International Year of Sport and the Olympic Ideal" by the United Nations. In the Line Islands and Phoenix Islands of Kiribati, 1994 had only 364 days, omitti ...

, and twice in the

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 ...

and

, while his best result in the league were third-place finishes during the 1992–93 and

1994–95 Serie A The 1994–95 Serie A was won by Juventus, who finished 10 points ahead of their nearest rivals Parma and Lazio. Two pieces of silverware were seized by Juventus, who won the Coppa Italia against Parma but were beaten by the same opponents in t ...

seasons. He left Parma in June 1996. During the 1996–97 season, Scala accepted an offer from Luciano Gaucci to become head coach of struggling

Perugia Perugia ( , ; ; ) is the capital city of Umbria in central Italy, crossed by the River Tiber. The city is located about north of Rome and southeast of Florence. It covers a high hilltop and part of the valleys around the area. It has 162,467 ...

, but did not manage to escape relegation to Serie B for his side, missing out on potential salvation by a single point. He successively pursued a number of experiences abroad, becoming head coach of German club

Borussia Dortmund Ballspielverein Borussia 09 e. V. Dortmund, often known simply as Borussia Dortmund () or by its initialism BVB (), or just Dortmund by International fans, is a German professional sports club based in Dortmund, North Rhine-Westphalia. It is ...

in 1997, with whom he won the Intercontinental Cup that season; he left the club in 1998. In 2000, he became another Italian coach after Giuseppe Meazza and Sandro Puppo to manage a Turkish team by accepting an offer from

Beşiktaş Beşiktaş () is a district and municipality of Istanbul Province, Turkey. Its area is 18 km2 and its population is 175,190 (2022). It is located on the European shore of the Bosphorus strait. It is bordered on the north by Sarıyer and ...

; hs time at the club was not positive, however. He then went on to serve as head coach of

Ukraine Ukraine is a country in Eastern Europe. It is the List of European countries by area, second-largest country in Europe after Russia, which Russia–Ukraine border, borders it to the east and northeast. Ukraine also borders Belarus to the nor ...

FC Shakhtar Donetsk Football Club Shakhtar Donetsk () is a Ukrainian professional Association football, football club that was based in the city of Donetsk until 2014 when, due to the War in Donbas (2014–2022), War in Donbas, the club was forced to move to Lvi ...

, where he won Ukrainian Championship and

Cup A cup is an open-top vessel (container) used to hold liquids for drinking, typically with a flattened hemispherical shape, and often with a capacity of about . Cups may be made of pottery (including porcelain), glass, metal, wood, stone, pol ...

in 2002, and Russians Spartak Moscow winning the 2003 Russian Cup, the latter role being his last head coaching experience to date. He currently lives in his hometown city of Lozzo Atestino, where he is member of the local city council since 2007, after running unsuccessfully as mayor in 2007. He is currently active as a football

pundit A pundit is a person who offers opinion in an authoritative manner on a particular subject area (typically politics, the social sciences, technology or sport), usually through the mass media. The term pundit describes both women and men, altho ...

for Rai Radio 1, where he regularly comments Serie A games and gives his answers to live phone comments and questions on Sunday late night show ''Domenica sport''. In the early 2010s, Scala expressed a desire to return to coaching, being linked with Motherwell F.C. and later with

AS Roma Associazione Sportiva Roma (''Rome Sport Association''; Italian pronunciation: Help:IPA/Italian, ) is a professional Association football, football club based in Rome, Italy. Founded by a merger in 1927, Roma has participated in the top tier ...

in 2010. In July 2015, he was confirmed as new chairman of a refounded Parma, after the original club folded due to financial issues, while former player Luigi Apolloni was chosen as head coach. Parma managed to return to the professional Italian leagues that season, and clinched promotion from

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 ...

into

Lega Pro The Lega Italiano Calcio Professionistico (Italian for Professional Football Italian League), commonly known as Lega Pro (Pro League), is the governing body that runs the third tier of professional football competitions in Italy, the Serie C. I ...

on 17 April 2016. Scala resigned from chairmanship in November 2016, in disagreement with the club owners' decision to sack head coach Luigi Apolloni and technical director Lorenzo Minotti, both former players of his during his days as Parma manager.

Style of management

Scala was a pragmatic manager, who was known for his high-tempo, offensive–minded, possession–based style, which was inspired by Dutch ''

total football Total Football () is a tactical system in association football in which any outfield player can take over the role of any other player in a team. A player who moves out of his position is replaced by another from his team, thus retaining the ...

''; he was also influenced by the calm style of

Nils Liedholm Nils Erik Liedholm (; 8 October 1922 – 5 November 2007) was a Swedish association football, football midfielder and coach. ''Il Barone'' (the Baron), as he is affectionately known in Italy, was renowned for being part of the Swedish "Gre-No-Li ...

and the charisma of

Nereo Rocco Nereo Rocco (; 20 May 1912 – 20 February 1979) was an Italian association football, football player and manager. Regarded as one of the greatest managers of all time, he is famous for having been one of the most successful head coaches in Italy ...

, under whom he had played. He was also influenced by

Helenio Herrera Helenio Herrera Gavilán (; 10 April 1910 – 9 November 1997) was an Argentina, Argentine and naturalised France, French association football, football player and Manager (association football), manager. He is best remembered for his success ...

and

Giovanni Trapattoni Giovanni Trapattoni (; born 17 March 1939), popularly nicknamed "Trap" or "Il Trap", is an Italian former Association football, football manager and former player, considered the most successful club coach of Football in Italy, Italian football ...

. His tactical approach was in stark contrast to other styles popular in Italy at the time, which were either the '' gioco all'italiana'' inspired by the

man-to-man marking In association football, marking is an organized defensive tactic which aims to prevent a member of the opposing team (usually a striker) from taking control of the ball. Several marking strategies exist in football, and they mostly differ from e ...

of '' catenaccio'', or Arrigo Sacchi's zonal 4–4–2. Scala instead used a fluid and innovative 5–3–2 formation, which could easily transform into a 3–5–2 formation when attacking, with the full-backs, such as Antonio Benarrivo and Alberto Di Chiara at Parma, frequently running into spaces to overload the flanks and give his team a numerical advantage. He used this system at almost every club he managed, except Spartak Moscow, where he did not have players suited to this formation and used a 5–2–3 instead. He is credited as being a pioneer of this 3–5–2 or 5–3–2 formation, which later became highly popular in Serie A. At Parma, Scala used a zonal marking system off the ball throughout most areas of the pitch, and a high defensive line, but also used elements of man-to-man marking in defence, with a non systematic use of the offisde trap. He also made use of a ball-playing sweeper – Lorenzo Minotti – flanked by two stoppers: Luigi Apolloni and Georges Grün. He also deployed an intelligent deep-lying

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 ...

in midfield, such as Daniele Zoratto. Scala also often used a sweeper-keeper, such as Cláudio Taffarel, Luca Bucci, or

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 ...

, who was adept with his feet, and who was also capable of rushing out of goal quickly to beat opponents who had beaten the offisde trap and clear the ball away from danger. Scala's Parma were known for being hard-working, compact defensively, and capable of scoring from swift counter-attacks. The team often made use of switches of play to stretch their opponents. His style was not only spectacular, but also successful. Scala also believed in the importance of the psychological aspect of the game, and in discussing issues with his players, as well as creating a united dressing room environment through fun, leadership, and good humour. Known for his ability to develop youth talent, he also felt it was important to give his younger players freedom rather than indoctrinate them through tactical discussions. He also found ways to incorporate several talented players into his team; for example, upon the arrival of

Gianfranco Zola Gianfranco Zola (; born 5 July 1966) is an Italian football executive, Manager (association football), manager, and former Association football, footballer who played predominantly as a Forward (association football), forward. He is currently v ...

at Parma, he successfully moved Swedish footballer Tomas Brolin into midfield, in order to accommodate for the Italian in the role of second striker. Scala's style even served as an inspiration for Zola as a manager.

Managerial

Honours

Player

Milan *

: 1967–68 *

: 1968–69 * European Cup Winners' Cup: 1967–68

Managerial

Parma *

: 1991–92; runner-up 1994–95 *European Cup Winners' Cup: 1992–93; runner-up 1993–94 *

1993 The United Nations General Assembly, General Assembly of the United Nations designated 1993 as: * International Year for the World's Indigenous People The year 1993 in the Kwajalein Atoll in the Marshall Islands had only 364 days, since its ...

: 1994–95 *

runner-up:

Borussia Dortmund * Intercontinental Cup:

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 ...

Beşiktaş *

Atatürk Cup The Atatürk Cup was a football competition in Turkey. The first edition was played between the winners of the Prime Minister's Cup and the Presidential Cup in 1998 to memorialize the 60th anniversary of Atatürk's death. Fenerbahçe defeated Be� ...

2000 2000 was designated as the International Year for the Culture of Peace and the World Mathematics, Mathematical Year. Popular culture holds the year 2000 as the first year of the 21st century and the 3rd millennium, because of a tende ...

Shakhtar Donetsk *

Ukrainian Premier League The Ukrainian Premier League ( ) or UPL is a professional association football league in Ukraine and the highest level of the Ukrainian football league system. Originally known as the Vyshcha Liha ( , ) it was formed in 1991 during the 1992 in ...

: 2001–02 *

Ukrainian Cup The Ukrainian Cup ( ) is an association football national knockout cup competition run by the Ukrainian Association of Football. The competition is conducted almost exclusively among professional clubs. Since the 2003–04 season, the Cup winner qu ...

: 2001–02 Spartak Moscow * Russian Super Cup runner-up:

2004 2004 was designated as an International Year of Rice by the United Nations, and the International Year to Commemorate the Struggle Against Slavery and Its Abolition (by UNESCO). Events January * January 3 – Flash Airlines Flight 60 ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Scala, Nevio 1947 births Living people Footballers from the Province of Padua Men's association football midfielders Calcio Foggia 1920 players Inter Milan players AC Milan players AC Monza players AS Roma players LR Vicenza players Serie A players Italian football managers Parma Calcio 1913 managers AC Perugia Calcio managers Serie A managers Borussia Dortmund managers Beşiktaş J.K. managers FC Shakhtar Donetsk managers FC Spartak Moscow managers Italian expatriate football managers Russian Premier League managers Expatriate football managers in Russia Süper Lig managers Expatriate football managers in Turkey UEFA Europa League–winning managers Bundesliga managers Expatriate football managers in Germany Ukrainian Premier League managers Expatriate football managers in Ukraine Italian expatriate sportspeople in Ukraine Parma Calcio 1913 chairmen and investors Italian football chairmen and investors Italian men's footballers 20th-century Italian sportsmen Italian expatriate sportspeople in Germany UEFA Champions League–winning players

Playing career

Coaching career

Style of management

Managerial

Honours

Player

Managerial

See also

References