ROMA
They called him the “coach-eater”, because he changed at least a couple of them a season. Volcanic, gruff, but also a visionary sports and business man with an inordinate flair for football talent.
Maurizio Zamparini, who died at the age of 80 in a clinic a few kilometers from Ravenna, was this and much more. The “Cenerentole” Venice and Palermo are the companies in which he left an indelible mark. He led the lagoon club from 1985 to the summer of 2002 when, after a brief and intense negotiation, he acquired the shares of the rosanero club from the Sensi family for the sum of 45 million, payable in three installments of 15. In reality, then, by uncovering the “Cauldron” in the corridors of Viale del Fante, he found himself not a few debts to pay.
Friuliano doc, after dragging Venezia from Serie C / 2 to Serie A, granted an encore in Palermo, bringing back the top football championship after 32 years. His slow decline began with the legal events that had led to his arrest and the bankruptcy of Palermo, restarted from Serie D. In October, the death of his 23-year-old son Armando. In December he was hospitalized but, after returning home, his condition worsened. –