Nereo Rocco

Nereo Rocco

Personal information
Date of birth	(1912-05-20)20 May 1912
Place of birth	Trieste, Austria-Hungary
Date of death
Place of death	Trieste, Italy
Position(s)	Midfielder
Youth career
1927-1930	Triestina
Senior career*
Years	Team	Apps	(Gls)
1930–1937	Triestina	232	(66)
1937–1940	Napoli	52	(7)
1940–1942	Padova	47	(14)
1942–1943	94° Reparto Distretto Trieste	-	(-)
1943–1944	Libertas Trieste	14	(1)
1944–1945	Padova	-	(-)
International career
1934	Italy	1	(0)
Managerial career
1947–1950	Triestina
1950–1953	Treviso
1953–1954	Triestina
1954–1961	Padova
1961–1963	A.C. Milan
1963–1967	Torino
1967–1973	A.C. Milan
1974–1975	Fiorentina
1977	A.C. Milan
*Club domestic league appearances and goals

Nereo Rocco (20 May 1912, Trieste – 20 February 1979, Trieste) was an Italian association 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, winning several domestic and international titles during his tenure with A.C. Milan, and was the first proponent of catenaccio in the country.

Playing career

Rocco played as a wing, had a modest playing career, spent mainly with Triestina, Napoli and Padova. He played 287 Serie A matches within 11 seasons, scoring 69 goals. Rocco was also capped one time for the Italy national football team.

Coaching career

Triestina

Rocco made his coaching debut for Triestina in 1947. He obtained a surprising second place in the Serie A, which is still the highest result ever reached by the team. He left Triestina a few years later because of disagreements with the club chairmanship. In 1951 he briefly coached Treviso, then returning to Triestina.

Padova

In 1953 Rocco signed as coach of Serie B team Padova, being able to avoid a relegation and obtaining promotion into Serie A the following season. The Serie A period of Rocco's Padova is still remembered as the team's most successful in their history, despite having a small team, they were able to score a third place during the 1957/58 season.

A.C. Milan

In 1961, Rocco was appointed as new AC Milan coach, starting one of the most successful periods for the rossoneri, winning the Italian league and the European Cup in 1963. After a good stint at Torino, where he obtained the best results since the disappearance of the Grande Torino, in 1967 Rocco returned to AC Milan, where he immediately won another scudetto and the Cup Winners' Cup.

He left AC Milan in 1973, after having won also another European Cup in 1969, an Intercontinental Cup, an Italian Cup and another Cup Winners' Cup. After one year in Fiorentina, Rocco decided to end his coaching career in 1974. In 1977 he was appointed by AC Milan as Technical Director and Assistant of coach Nils Liedholm. Rocco is Milan's longest-serving manager, managing the club for 459 matches (323 as head coach and 136 as technical director).

Rocco died in 1979, aged 66, in Trieste.

Posthumous

On 18 October 1992, a new stadium in Trieste, named after Rocco, was inaugurated.

Rocco, popularly known as El Paròn (Triestin for The Master), was popular also for his strong use of the Triestine dialect.

Honours

Manager

A.C. Milan

• Italian League (2): 1961–62, 1967–68
• Italian Cup (3): 1971–72, 1972–73, 1976–77
• European Cup (2): 1962–63, 1968–69
• UEFA Cup Winners' Cup (2): 1967–68, 1972–73
• Intercontinental Cup (1): 1969

Individual

• Seminatore d'Oro: 1962–63
• Italian Football Hall of Fame: 2012

References

Awards and achievements
Preceded by Béla Guttmann	European Cup Winning Coach 1962-63	Succeeded by Helenio Herrera
Preceded by Matt Busby	European Cup Winning Coach 1968-69	Succeeded by Ernst Happel