Arrigo Sacchi

Early career

Sacchi had grown up watching attacking sides, such as Budapest Honvéd, Real Madrid, Brazil and the Netherlands. He started his career managing his local club, Baracca Lugo, because he was not good enough to play for them. Of the challenge he faced, Sacchi said, "I was twenty-six, my goalkeeper was thirty-nine and my centre-forward was thirty-two. I had to win them over." He next coached at Bellaria before joining Cesena, who were in the Serie B, as a youth team coach. He then took over at Rimini, who were playing in the Serie C1, and almost led them to a title. He received his breakthrough when he moved to Fiorentina as a youth coach. His achievements with the youth team earned interest from Parma, who were then playing in Serie C1. He led Parma to promotion in his first season, and in the following season took them to within 3 points of promotion to Serie A. Of greater importance to his time at Parma, however, was the team's performance in the Coppa Italia; they beat AC Milan 1–0 in the group stages, and beat them again 1–0 on aggregate in the first knockout round. This was enough to attract interest from Milan club owner Silvio Berlusconi, who promptly appointed Sacchi as manager.

AC Milan

In Milan, Sacchi again faced problems of credibility. The press argued that such an inadequate player could never go on to be a successful coach, and that even Berlusconi – who had played football at amateur level – was probably a better player. Sacchi…

Nicknamed "The Prophet of Fusignano", Sacchi is regarded as one of the greatest managers of all time. He favored a fluid, yet highly organised attacking 4–4–2 formation, discarding the traditional libero in an era where Italian football was mainly focussed on strong defensive play, and Helenio Herrera's Catenaccio tactics were still a strong influence. Defensively, Sacchi's teams adopted a zonal marking system, which had already been introduced by his predecessor Nils Liedholm, and were known for their defensive strength, conceding few goals; indeed, the defensive quartet of Maldini, Baresi, Costacurta, and Tassotti, which Sacchi deployed both at Milan and with the Italy national team, is regarded as one of the greatest defences of all-time. Sacchi believes in the Dutch concept of Total Football, insisting that young players should be coached in all aspects of football rather than into specialist positions, helping the team both with or without the ball. He is credited as an innovator, popularising high pressing from his teams, the offside trap, and a high defensive line with no more than 25 metres between defence and attack. This style of pressing has been emulated successfully by José Mourinho's Porto, Pep Guardiola's Barcelona, Jürgen Klopp's Borussia Dortmund and Jupp Heynckes's Bayern Munich. His successor at Milan, Fabio Capello, retained aspects of Sacchi's tactics and went on to win four Scudetti in five seasons and the 1993–94 Champions League. Spanish coach Rafael…

Parma

Serie C1: 1985–86 Milan

Serie A: 1987–88 Supercoppa Italiana: 1988 European Cup: 1988–89, 1989–90 European Super Cup: 1989, 1990 Intercontinental Cup: 1989, 1990 Coppa Italia runner-up: 1989–90 Italy

FIFA World Cup runner-up: 1994 Individual

Seminatore d'Oro: 1988, 1989 World Soccer Awards Manager of the Year: 1989 Greatest Manager of All Time – one of 5 managers ranked top 10 by France Football, World Soccer and ESPN 3rd place (France Football): 2019 6th place (World Soccer): 2013 6th place (ESPN): 2013 6th place (FourFourTwo): 2023 Sports Illustrated Greatest Manager of All Time: 2nd place (2019) Italian Football Hall of Fame: 2011 UEFA President's Award: 2022