Stefano Salvatori (29 December 1967 – 31 October 2017) was an Italian 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 ...

. A tenacious, physically strong, and hard-working player, known for his energetic and tough-tackling style of play, he usually played 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 ...

, but was also capable of playing 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. ...

, as a full-back or

centre-back In the sport of association football, a defender is an outfield player whose primary role is to stop attacks during the game and prevent the opposition from scoring. Defenders fall into four main categories: centre-backs, full-backs, sweepers ...

. He played for several clubs in his homeland, including

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, ...

Fiorentina ACF Fiorentina, commonly referred to as Fiorentina (), is an Italian professional Association football, football List of football clubs in Italy, club based in Florence, Tuscany. The original team was founded by a merger in August 1926, while ...

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 ...

and

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 ...

, and the Scottish club Heart of Midlothian. Salvatori also represented Italy in under-21 and B international matches.

Playing career

Club

After starting his youth career with local side Lodigiani, Salvatori joined the

youth system In sporting terminology, a youth system (or youth academy) is a youth investment program within a particular team or league, which develops and nurtures young talent in farm teams, with the vision of using them in the first team if they show en ...

in 1985; after struggling to find space in the first team, he was initially sent on loan to lower division teams Virescit Boccaleone and

in order to gain experience and playing time; with Virescit, he managed a third-place finish in the 1987–88 Serie C1/A, but the club lost out to Reggina in the

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 ...

play-offs. He later joined

in 1988, where he made his

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 ...

debut, helping the club to qualify for 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 ...

1989 1989 was a turning point in political history with the "Revolutions of 1989" which ended communism in Eastern Bloc of Europe, starting in Poland and Hungary, with experiments in power-sharing coming to a head with the opening of the Berlin W ...

. He returned to Milan for a second spell with the club, during which he won the 1989 European Super Cup over

Barcelona Barcelona ( ; ; ) is a city on the northeastern coast of Spain. It is the capital and largest city of the autonomous community of Catalonia, as well as the second-most populous municipality of Spain. With a population of 1.6 million within c ...

under manager

Arrigo Sacchi Arrigo Sacchi (born 1 April 1946) is an Italian former professional football coach, best known for having twice managed AC Milan. Sacchi is regarded as one of the greatest managers of all time, and his Milan side (1987–1991) is widely regarded ...

, appearing as a defender in the first leg, a 1–1 away draw. Milan also reached the

1990 European Cup Final The 1990 European Cup final was a football match between AC Milan of Italy and Benfica of Portugal, played on 23 May 1990 at the Praterstadion in Vienna, Austria. The winning goal came in the 68th minute for Milan, when Frank Rijkaard ran throug ...

that season, and subsequently won the competition following a 1–0 victory over Benfica, but Salvatori did not feature in the squad for the final; he made one appearance in the competition, in the first leg of the quarter-finals, against Belgian side

KV Mechelen Yellow Red Koninklijke Voetbalclub Mechelen (), often called KV Mechelen (, KVM) or simply by their former French name Malinois /ˌmalɪˈnwɑː/, is a Belgian professional association football, football club based in Mechelen in the Antwerp (pr ...

, coming on as a substitute for

Angelo Colombo Angelo Colombo (born 24 February 1961) is an Italian former association football, footballer who played for A.C. Milan, Milan as a midfielder, and was part of their UEFA Champions League, European Cup victories in 1988–89 European Cup, 1989 and ...

, and was an unused substitute in first leg of the semi-finals against

Bayern Munich Fußball-Club Bayern München e. V. (FCB, ), commonly known as Bayern Munich (), FC Bayern () or simply Bayern, is a German professional sports club based in Munich, Bavaria. They are most known for their men's professional football team, ...

. He also appeared as a substitute in the second leg of the Coppa Italia Final that year, which ended in a 1–0 home defeat 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 ...

, who ultimately won the tournament on aggregate. After still struggling to find space in the Milan first team, Salvatori returned to Fiorentina midway through the 1990–91 season, and remained with the club until 1992, making a total of 45 appearances in Serie A across his three seasons with the team, and scoring one goal. He then transferred to

SPAL Società Polisportiva Ars et Labor, commonly referred to by the acronym SPAL (), is a professional football club based in Ferrara, Emilia-Romagna, Italy. During the 2024–25 season the team played in Serie C, the third tier of the Italian foot ...

, and later joined

, helping the latter club to win promotion to Serie A in 1995, and subsequently reach the Coppa Italia final in 1996. In 1996, Salvatori moved abroad to play for Hearts in Scotland. He was a member of the side that won the 1998 Scottish Cup Final in a 2–1 victory over

Rangers A ranger is typically someone in a law enforcement or military/paramilitary role specializing in patrolling a given territory, called "ranging" or "scouting". The term most often refers to: * Park ranger or forest ranger, a person charged with prot ...

on 16 May, the first time the Edinburgh-based side had won the title in 42 years; as a result, he still remains a popular figure with the club's fans. He scored one league goal during his spell at Hearts, in a 3–1 win at

Dunfermline Athletic Dunfermline Athletic Football Club is a Scottish professional football club based in the city of Dunfermline, Fife. Founded in 1885, the club currently compete in the after winning the 2022–23 Scottish League One title. Dunfermline play at ...

. After three seasons in Scotland, collecting a total of 84 appearances and 3 goals across all competitions, Salvatori returned to Italy in 1999, where he ended his career in the lower divisions with Alzano Virescit, AlbinoLeffe, and

Legnano Legnano (; or ''Lignàn'') is a town and ''comune'' (municipality) in the Metropolitan City of Milan, province of Milan, about from central Milan. With 60,259, it is the thirteenth-most populous township in Lombardy. Legnano is located in the ...

, retiring in 2002.

International

At international level, Salvatori was capped 13 times for the Italy Under-21 side between 1989 and 1990.

After retirement

After retiring from professional football, Salvatori worked as a coach in Italy with Legnano and

Voghera image:Voghera Castle.jpg, The Castle of Voghera in a 19th-century etching. Voghera (Emilian dialect, Vogherese dialect of Emilian: ''Vughera''; Latin language, Latin: ''Forum Iulii Iriensium'') is a town and ''comune'' in the Province of Pavia i ...

; he later returned to Scotland in 2011 to work as a football agent, before moving to Australia in 2013, where he managed a series of football academies, focussing on the development of young local talent in the areas of Brisbane and Sydney.

Death

Salvatori died on 31 October 2017, aged 49, from cancer.

Honours

;Milan *

runner-up: 1989–90. *

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 ...

runner-up: 1989–90. *

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 ...

winner:

. *

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 ...

winner: 1989–90. ;Hearts *

Scottish Cup The Scottish Football Association Challenge Cup,1998 1998 was designated as the ''International Year of the Ocean''. Events January * January 6 – The ''Lunar Prospector'' spacecraft is launched into orbit around the Moon, and later finds evidence for Lunar water, frozen water, in soil i ...

References

External links

*
Profile at tuttocalciatori.net
*
Profile at FIGC
*

Personal website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Salvatori, Stefano 1967 births 2017 deaths Italian men's footballers Italy men's under-21 international footballers Parma Calcio 1913 players Serie A players Serie C players ACF Fiorentina players AC Milan players SPAL players Atalanta BC players Italian expatriate men's footballers Expatriate men's footballers in Scotland Italian expatriate sportspeople in Scotland Scottish Premier League players Heart of Midlothian F.C. players UC AlbinoLeffe players AC Legnano players SSD Virtus CiseranoBergamo 1909 players Scottish Football League players Men's association football midfielders Italy men's B international footballers Footballers from Rome 20th-century Italian sportsmen