Armando Picchi

Armando Picchi

Picchi with Inter (1960s)
Personal information
Date of birth	(1935-06-20)June 20, 1935
Place of birth	Livorno, Italy
Date of death	May 27, 1971(1971-05-27) (aged 35)
Place of death	Sanremo, Italy
Height	1.71 m (5 ft 7 1⁄2 in)
Playing position	Defender/Libero
Youth career
1949–1954	Livorno
Senior career*
Years	Team	Apps	(Gls)
1954–1959	Livorno	99	(5)
1959–1960	SPAL	27	(1)
1960–1967	Inter Milan	206	(1)
1967–1969	Varese	46	(0)
National team
1964–1968	Italy	12	(0)
Teams managed
1968–1969	Varese
1969–1970	Livorno
1970–1971	Juventus
* Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only.

Armando Picchi (Italian pronunciation: [arˈmando ˈpikki]; June 20, 1935 – May 27, 1971) was an Italian football player and coach. Regularly positioned as a sweeper, he captained the Internazionale side known as "La Grande Inter".

Club career

Early career

Born in Livorno, Picchi started his by career playing for A.S. Livorno Calcio. In 1959 he moved to SPAL, before later at the peak of his time, and most of his career, at Milanese powerhouse F.C. Internazionale Milano.

Captain of Grande Inter

A versatile defender, Picchi started to play in Internazionale as a right back, a role he previously held at SPAL. During the course of 1961–62 season, the legendary Grande Inter coach Helenio Herrera experimented by placing him as a libero. The new position was successful; he became a strong figure at the defence, and indirectly set examples for teammates Tarcisio Burgnich and Giacinto Facchetti. During that time, Internazionale was still captained by Bruno Bolchi.

When Bolchi moved to Verona, Picchi was then selected as team captain. It was in his captaincy that Internazionale evolved into the era famously known as Grande Inter, when they won three scudetti, two European Champions Cups and two Intercontinental Cups in the 1960s.^[1]

Later career

After his time at Inter, he played for two seasons at Varese before retiring at the age of 34.

International career

He made his debut for Italy several months after becoming Intercontinental champion with Internazionale, in a 6–1 victory over Finland in November 1964. However, Italy coach at that time, Edmondo Fabbri, deemed him unsuitable for the team's scheme, and subsequently left him out of the squad for 1966 World Cup in England.

Under the management of Ferruccio Valcareggi, he was regularly called for the qualifying matches of Euro 1968. Yet a fractured pelvis injury in a match against Bulgaria in April 1968, ruled him out of the competition, which concluded his last match with the Azzurri, totalling 12 international appearances.^[2]

Coaching

After his playing career was over, he went on to coach Varese, Livorno, and then Juventus, but he died early because of cancer.

The football stadium of Livorno is named after him.

Legacy

After his death in 1971, a memorial tournament, Memorial Armando Picchi, was played in his honour.

Honours

Club

Internazionale

• Serie A: 1962–63, 1964–65, 1965–66
• European Cup: 1963–64, 1964–65
• Intercontinental Cup: 1964, 1965

References