16 Facts About Luciano Vassallo

Luciano Vassallo, spelled Luciano Vassalo, was a footballer who played as a midfielder.

Luciano Vassallo was known for his skill, and mostly for his volleys, free kicks and penalties.

Luciano Vassallo played professionally with Cotton Factory Club along with his half-brother Italo.

Luciano Vassallo initially began playing football for Stella Asmarina, a team set up by the Vicarage Apostolic exclusively for Italo-Eritrean children.

Luciano Vassallo started his footballing career as a left-back, before being moved to centre back then eventually into midfield where he became known as an advanced playmaker with a powerful shot.

Luciano Vassallo played for GS Gejeret and GS Asmara, an Ethiopian team as Eritrea had been annexed in 1950.

Luciano Vassallo signed to play for Cotton Factory Club of Dire Dawa in 1960, where, along with his half-brother, he won the Ethiopian First Division in 1960,1962,1963 and 1965.

Luciano Vassallo credited his experience as a mechanic for getting a job at the associated cotton plantation, which allowed him to receive a salary ten times that of a normal worker.

Luciano Vassallo played for the Ethiopia national team in the qualifying rounds for the 1962 FIFA World Cup.

Luciano Vassallo was handed the trophy by His Highness Haile Selassie, despite an attempt to remove him from the captaincy in order to allow for an Ethiopian player to lift the trophy.

Many consider Luciano Vassallo to be the best Ethiopian footballer in history, after Worku and Ydnekatchew Tessema.

Luciano Vassallo then went to study as a coach at Coverciano in Florence, Italy.

Luciano Vassallo went on to coach Ethiopia national team on several occasions.

Luciano Vassallo was stripped of his duties as coach and was set to be taken away by Mengistu Haile Mariam's soldiers however one of the colonels recognised his footballing hero and let him go.

Luciano Vassallo was reinstated as national team manager in 1978 but, two weeks after a historic win over East Germany, he fled to Djibouti then to Rome, where he had sent his family to safety some months earlier.

In exile in Italy, Luciano Vassallo began repairing cars in Ostia before opening his own garage and finally obtaining citizenship.