Giovanni Trapattoni, sometimes popularly known as "Trap" or "Il Trap", is an Italian football manager and former player, considered the most successful club coach of Italian football.
36 Facts About Giovanni Trapattoni
2.
One of the most celebrated managers in football history, Trapattoni is one of only five coaches, alongside Carlo Ancelotti, Ernst Happel, Jose Mourinho and Tomislav Ivic to have won league titles in four different European countries; in total, Trapattoni has won 10 league titles in Italy, Germany, Portugal and Austria.
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Giovanni Trapattoni is one of the rare few to have won the European Cup, the Cup Winners' Cup and Intercontinental Cup as both a player and manager.
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Giovanni Trapattoni was most recently the manager of the Republic of Ireland national football team.
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Giovanni Trapattoni led them to their first European Championships in 24 years, enjoying a successful UEFA Euro 2012 qualifying campaign.
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Giovanni Trapattoni won two Serie A titles and two European Cups during his time with Milan, and was one of the stars of the 1963 European Cup Final against Benfica, successfully man-marking Eusebio in the second half.
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Giovanni Trapattoni played for the Italy national football team between 1960 and 1964, earning 17 caps and scoring 1 goal.
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Giovanni Trapattoni was part of Italy's squad at the 1960 Summer Olympics.
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Giovanni Trapattoni began coaching at Milan as a youth team coach, before becoming caretaker coach.
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Giovanni Trapattoni was caretaker coach from 9 April 1974 to 30 June 1974.
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Giovanni Trapattoni was head coach for Juventus for ten consecutive years, from 1 July 1976 to 30 June 1986.
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Giovanni Trapattoni was renowned for combining expert man-management with almost unmatched tactical knowledge.
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Giovanni Trapattoni coached Inter Milan from 1 July 1986 to 30 June 1991.
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Giovanni Trapattoni became coach of Bayern Munich in the summer of 1994, after the end of his second spell with Juventus.
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The club's board of directors decided to dismiss him in February 1996, after a string of bad results; Giovanni Trapattoni was thus fired for the first time in his career.
16.
In July 2000, Giovanni Trapattoni took charge of the Italy national football team after the resignation of Dino Zoff.
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Giovanni Trapattoni led the team to the 2002 FIFA World Cup, qualifying undefeated to that tournament.
18.
On 5 July 2004, Giovanni Trapattoni was named as new coach of Benfica.
19.
Giovanni Trapattoni returned to management in the German Bundesliga in June 2005, by signing at VfB Stuttgart.
20.
Giovanni Trapattoni immediately responded by dropping both players to the bench.
21.
Giovanni Trapattoni initially cast doubt on this report, claiming he had not signed any contract.
22.
On 11 February 2008, Giovanni Trapattoni "agreed in principle" to take over the Republic of Ireland manager's job, but finished the season with Red Bull before taking up the Irish position on 1 May Former Ireland midfielder Liam Brady was expected to be part of the Italian's backroom staff, while Marco Tardelli was confirmed as Giovanni Trapattoni's assistant manager.
23.
Giovanni Trapattoni appeared on The Late Late Show without Trapattoni.
24.
Giovanni Trapattoni finished the qualifying campaign unbeaten, becoming only the third Irish manager to do so, qualifying for a playoff place for the 2010 World Cup.
25.
Giovanni Trapattoni was rewarded with a new two-year contract by the Football Association of Ireland.
26.
Giovanni Trapattoni parted ways with the Republic of Ireland national team on 11 September 2013 by mutual consent, after a defeat by Austria effectively ended their chances of qualification for the 2014 World Cup.
27.
Giovanni Trapattoni has managed the Vatican City national football team which is a member of neither FIFA nor UEFA.
28.
In 2015, Trapattoni was symbolically appointed S Pietro e Paolo Desio's manager during the related patronal feast.
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Giovanni Trapattoni comes from a working-class background and lost his father as a child.
30.
Giovanni Trapattoni missed the Argentina game due to his surgery.
31.
In 2014, Giovanni Trapattoni attributed his success and tactical intelligence as a manager to his time playing in midfield throughout his playing career, which allowed him to understand both the offensive and defensive phases of the game.
32.
Giovanni Trapattoni was noted throughout his career for his ideological confrontations with more attack-minded managers he faced, most famously Johan Cruyff, a rivalry that started in their playing days, with Giovanni Trapattoni remembering that, in order to stop Cruyff in a match between Italy and the Netherlands, he had to resort to "dirty" tactics, such as pulling at his shirt.
33.
Giovanni Trapattoni is a popular figure in Italy for his original press conference speeches and trademark quotes, one of the most famous being "don't say cat until you've got it in the bag".
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Giovanni Trapattoni is known for a two-fingered whistle he used to capture the attention of his players during games.
35.
Giovanni Trapattoni brought a bottle of holy water during 2002 FIFA World Cup games when he was in charge of the Italy national team.
36.
Giovanni Trapattoni kept the same tradition while in charge of Benfica.