Zdeněk Zeman

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Zdeněk Zeman
Personal information
Full name	Zdeněk Zeman
Date of birth	March 12, 1947 (age 59)
Place of birth	Prague, Czech Republic
Nickname	Zdengo, Il Maestro di Praga (The Prague Maestro)
Club information
Current club	U.S. Lecce
Teams managed
1981-1983 1983-1986 1986-1987 Jul-Oct 1987 1988-1989 1989-1994 1994-1997 1997-1999 1999-2000 Jul-Nov 2000 Jul 2001-Nov 2002 2003-2004 2004-2005 Mar-Jun 2006 2006-	Palermo youth squad Licata Foggia Parma Messina Foggia Lazio AS Roma Fenerbahçe SK Napoli Salernitana Avellino Lecce Brescia Lecce

Zdeněk Zeman (born March 12, 1947 in Prague) is a Czech-Italian renowned football (soccer) coach.

[edit] Biography

Son of a medician and a housewife, Zeman grew up in Prague with a strong passion for sport, passed on by his uncle Čestmír Vycpálek, former Juventus player and then coach. In 1968 Zeman moved in Palermo to visit his uncle, but exactly during that period his country was invaded by the USSR troops, so he decided to stay in Italy. He obtained Italian citizenship in 1975.

His first coaching experiences were for amateur football teams from Palermo neighborhood (Cinisi, Bacigalupo, Carini, Misilmeri, Esacalza). In 1974, thanks to his uncle's aid, he begins his first notable experience, for the Palermo Calcio youth team, which ends in 1983.

In 1975 he graduated with honours at the ISEF of Palermo (a sports school) with a dissertation about sports medicine. In 1979 he finally obtained the patentino (a kind of license for coaching football at the professional level) at the Coverciano's school for football coaches.

His first opportunity as professional head coach came from Licata, a small-medium city in the province of Agrigento, where he won Serie C2 with a team mainly composed of youngsters. In 1986, he then left Licata in order to join Foggia Calcio of Serie C1, but he was sacked before the end of the championship. In 1987 he became coach for Parma of Serie B, but was fired after just seven matches. In 1988 he returned to Sicily as coach of Messina, classified at the 8th place for the end of the season, also thanks to the goals of Salvatore Schillaci.

In 1989 the Foggia chairman Pasquale Casillo, repented of having fired him a few years before, signs on Zeman again. It was to be the beginning of the miracle Foggia, also known as Zemanlandia (after Zeman himself), a team of, in those days, unknown players; amongst them, Giuseppe Signori and Francesco Baiano who regularly punched above their weight in the league. In two years the team got promoted to top-level Serie A.

The first appearances of Foggia in Serie A are still quite unimaginable, with a team considered as absolutely weak verging on the UEFA Cup qualification for three consecutive years. This was achieved playing an impressive, attacking style of play, with the 4-3-3 module a clear trademark of Zdeněk Zeman's football views. During those years at Foggia, players like Roberto Rambaudi, Igor Shalimov, José Antonio Chamot, Dan Petrescu and Igor Kolyvanov came through.

In 1994, Zeman left Foggia for the greater challenge of Lazio, bringing the Biancocelesti to a 2nd and a 3rd place, before being fired in January 1997. He is credited with launching the career of Alessandro Nesta whilst managing Lazio, giving the young defender many first team opportunities. In the next season, Zeman decided to stay in Rome, becoming the coach of AS Roma and the burgeoning talent of Francesco Totti.

After a good fourth place with some sparkling play, Zeman launches violent allegations about the doping issue, especially accusing Juventus and players like Gianluca Vialli and Alessandro Del Piero of using steroids in July 1998. It is possible that these allegations have prevented Zeman from greatly furthering his coaching career. In the 1998/1999 season he got a fifth place finish with AS Roma, but was replaced by Fabio Capello at the end.

His next coaching adventures, for Fenerbahçe SK and SSC Napoli, were not lucky; weighing of Zeman's coaching abilities quickly lost stock, leaving him unable to find a team willing to hire him. After three Serie B years at Salernitana Sport (2 years, a 6th place, and a dismissal), and U.S. Avellino (second-last placed, with a young Vitali Kutuzov on team), in 2004 Serie A team Lecce gambled on him. Zeman, who had one of the youngest Serie A rosters as his disposal, answered with a good season, leading the team to a mid-table position giving talented youngsters like Valeri Bojinov and Mirko Vucinic. At the end of the season, Zeman resigned. After nine months without a team, Zeman was appointed on March 5, 2006 as new coach of Brescia, taking in his first time ever a team in the half-season. However, Brescia, that was third-placed when Zeman was called, suffered a heavy falling down in terms of results, and the team wasn't either able to maintain a place in the promotion playoffs, with 8 points in 11 matches. After the end of the season, Zeman resigned from Brescia, criticizing his players for not having accepted his figure.

On June 21, 2006, Zeman returned to Lecce, signing a one-year contract with the giallorossi, which relegated to Serie B in 2005/2006.

[edit] Tactics

Zdeněk Zeman is probably the strongest advocate and forerunner in Italy for the 4-3-3 tactic, defined by him as "geometry", and also for a football philosophy clearly based on the attacking side, the offside, and zone marking. His teams are well-known for their easiness to score goals, but also vice versa for the corresponding tendency to be easily scored on. In fact, during the 2004/2005 season his Lecce team captured the hearts of many neutrals with their Cavalier approach even against the might of Juventus and the Milanese teams.

His coaching techniques, especially on the athletic schedule (a field for which he particularly matters), are also proverbial for their effort and diligence.

Zeman is also celebrated for his insistence on fair play and respect for opponents from his teams, and for his long-time battles against doping and everything that somehow soils a fair football culture.

[edit] External links

• Official Zdeněk Zeman's website (Italian) (English)

Preceded by: Rıdvan Dilmen

Fenerbahçe S.K. managers 1999-2000

Succeeded by: Turan Sofuoğlu

U.S. Lecce - Current Squad
1 Benussi | 2 Camorani | 3 Rullo | 4 Petráš | 5 Diamoutene | 6 Ângelo | 7 Vives | 8 Polenghi | 9 Tulli | 10 Osvaldo | 11 Caccavallo | 13 Babù | 15 Mihoubi | 16 Tundo | 17 Petrachi | 18 Giacomazzi | 19 Cozzolino | 20 Valdés | 22 Rosati | 23 Schiavi | 24 Camisa | 25 Herzán | 26 Arrieta | 27 Juliano | 28 Franceschini | 29 Mingozzi | 30 Triarico | Coach: Zeman