Luigi Maifredi

Born in Lograto (Province of Brescia), started out playing in his hometown club's youth system, and later played for Rovereto and Portogruaro. Maifredi's coaching career began in 1976 with amateur side Real Brescia. He later served as assistant manager of Crotone, and also had spells in the lower divisions of Italian football with Lumezzane and Orceana, as well as Pspitaletto, with whom he won the Serie C2, Girone B title during the 1986–87 season. In 1987, Maifredi was appointed as manager of Serie B side Bologna, under the club's president Luigi Corioni. During his three seasons with Bologna, his attacking style of play proved to be highly effective; after joining the team, he helped the club win the Serie B title and achieve promotion to Serie A in his first season, and later helped the team avoid relegation in his second season, and subsequently qualify for the UEFA Cup in 1990. Maifredi is most noted for his short spell with Juventus, whom he joined after replacing Dino Zoff in 1990. During his only season in Turin, the club were known for their inconsistent performances. After a strong first half of the season, the club suffered a loss of form, during which they lost six games in a row. Maifredi was eventually sacked at the end of the season, following the club's failure to qualify for European football after placing seventh in Serie A, also losing out 5–1 to Napoli in the 1990 Supercoppa Italiana final; however, he managed to reach the semi-finals of the Cup Winners'…

Maifredi's footballing approach, which made use of tactics based on a defensive line which employed zonal marking, and an overall fast, attractive, and dynamic playing style, has been famously described as calcio champagne ("champagne wine football", in Italian) in the media; this was due to both his teams' prominent attacking and entertaining style of play, and also as a reference to his former professional career as a champagne wine representative for Veuve Clicquot Ponsardin. His tactics were likened to the system used by Arrigo Sacchi in the Italian media. During his time with Orceana and Bologna, Maifredi used a 4–3–3 formation. With Juventus, he instead used a 4–2–2–2 formation. His teams often used sweeper-keeper.