Italian former coach and football figure Carlo Mazzone, a discoverer of Francesco Totti and one of the most emblematic names in Italian football, passed away this Saturday at the age of 86.
Born in Rome in 1937 and affectionately known as Sor Carletto in Italy, the late coach leaves a lasting imprint on the Eternal City. He set a record for the most appearances as a Serie A manager, totaling 797 games on the touchline.
A former player for Roma, SPAL, Siena, and Ascoli, whom he left behind in 1969, Mazzone will be remembered for his expansive managerial career. He led numerous clubs, including Ascoli, Fiorentina, Bologna, Cagliari, Roma, Napoli, and Brescia, among others, until 2006, a year that marked the end of his long bench career. Leghorn and beyond recognized his influence on Italian football.
During a Brescia derby against Atalanta, the 64-year-old Mazzone made a controversial remark directed at his late mother after a 1-3 defeat by Atalanta supporters. For the crowd, he shouted, If we hit the third, I’ll race you all. The match finished 3-3, and the moment faded into history on social media and in the annals of Italian football lore.
Two promotions in three years with Ascoli in 2018 highlighted his ability to lift teams toward higher levels of competition. In recognition of his contributions, a stadium stand bears his name, and he was inducted into the Italian Football Hall of Fame. Alongside Fiorentina, he helped promote the Italian-English League Cup in 1975 and achieved promotion to Serie A with Lecce. He also guided Bologna to the UEFA Intertoto Cup and reached the UEFA Cup semifinals, with the hope of returning Cagliari to European competition in subsequent years.
He coached his boyhood club in Rome for three seasons, a period when trophies eluded the team, yet it was during this time that he unearthed one of the sport’s greatest legends. He fostered the development of Francesco Totti, who would become synonymous with the club and a lifelong symbol of Roman football success. This period cemented Mazzone’s reputation for discovering and nurturing talent within a club’s own ranks.
But Mazzone’s eye for talent did not stop there. In Brescia, with Roberto Baggio as a central figure in attack, he helped shape Andrea Pirlo’s emergence in midfield, a move that would influence the trajectory of Italian football for years. The Brescia chapter also connected him with Pep Guardiola, forging a personal and professional bond that endured beyond the dugout. In 2009, Guardiola invited Mazzone to watch Barcelona compete in the Champions League final against Manchester United, underscoring the mutual respect between two generations of coaches.
Across the football world, many teams and fans paid tribute to the legendary Italian coach on social networks. Rome, Naples, Bologna, Lecce, Fiorentina, and Lazio publicly offered condolences to the family. Gianluigi Buffon, the famed goalkeeper who had recently retired, expressed his sorrow as well. Buffon described Mazzone as a football icon who poured extraordinary passion into his teams, a character that left a lasting impression on countless players and fans. According to Buffon, a memorable Parma-Brescia match ended 3-0, a game that remains a testament to Mazzone’s influence on the sport’s history. In Buffon’s recollection, during a tense moment early in the game, Mazzone approached him and uttered a line that has since become part of football lore, a reminder of the personal connections that defined his career. The void left by Mazzone is profound, but his impact endures through the generations he shaped and mentored. According to football archives, his legacy lives on in the strategic innovations and the culture of serving as a mentor to young talents for decades to come.