Pietro Vierchowod

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Pietro Vierchowod
Personal information
Full name	Pietro Vierchowod
Date of birth	April 6, 1959 (age 47)
Place of birth	Calcinate, Italy
Nickname	The Russian, The Zar
Playing position	Defender
Club information
Current club	none
Youth clubs
1973-1976	Romanese
Senior clubs1
Years	Club	App (Gls)*
1976-1981 1981-1982 1982-1983 1983-1995 1995-1996 1996-1997 1997-2000	Como Fiorentina Roma Sampdoria Juventus Milan Piacenza	115 (6) 28 (2) 30 (0) 358 (25) 21 (2) 16 (1) 79 (6)
National team2
1982-1993	Italy	45 (2)
Teams managed
2001 2002 2005	Catania Florentia Viola Triestina
1 Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only and correct as of December 17, 2006. 2 National team caps and goals correct as of December 17, 2006. * Appearances (Goals)

Pietro Vierchowod (born April 6, 1959 in Calcinate) is an Italian former footballer turned coach.

An old-style defender, Vierchowod was nicknamed the zar because he was the son of a Ukrainian Red Army soldier. Vierchowod was a world-class man-marker, and a great tactical reader of the game. He also possessed lightning pace and acceleration, attributes he held even in the last year of his career at the age of 41. It is often said that Vierchowod was never outsprinted on the football pitch during his long and distinguished career.

Vierchowod started his professional football career for Como, before moving to Fiorentina. However, his first successes came when he moved to AS Roma, winning a Serie A scudetto in 1983. Then, he moved to Sampdoria, with whom he won four Italian Cups, one Cup Winners' Cup and another scudetto, in 1991.

In 1995 he signed for Juventus, where he acted as an experienced defender and won his only UEFA Champions League in 1996 at the age of 37. However even at this late stage of his career Vierchowod was still very much world-class. He is particularly remembered for his superb performance in the final in Rome against Ajax Amsterdam which Juve won on penalties. He then moved on to AC Milan and Piacenza Calcio, for whom he continued to play regularly despite being 41 years of age. He eventually retired in 2000.

Vierchowod played 562 Serie A matches, being fourth only to Paolo Maldini, Gianluca Pagliuca and Dino Zoff. He also performed 45 times with the Italy national football team, and scored 2 goals. He was one of the players who participated, but without playing any game, to the Italian victory in the Football World Cup 1982. He is also the oldest goalscorer in history of the Italy national team: he scored in a qualification match against Malta played in March 24, 1993 and ended to a 6-1 win for the azzurri. As with many Italian defenders of his era, Vierchowod would have gained many more caps had it not been for the abundance of world-class defenders Italy boasted during this time-period. Nevertheless there is no doubting that Vierchowod was just another in a long-line of world-class Italian defenders.

As coach, Vierchowod had experiences with Catania of Serie C1, Florentia Viola (now Fiorentina) of Serie C2 and Triestina of Serie B. In all these cases, he had been fired before the end of the season.

[edit] Palmarés

• 1 Football World Cup: Italy, 1982
• 1 Champions' League: Juventus, 1996
• 1 Cup Winners' Cup: Sampdoria, 1990
• 2 Serie A leagues (scudetti): AS Roma, 1983; Sampdoria, 1991
• 4 Italian Cups: Sampdoria, 1985, 1988, 1989, 1994
• 2 Italian Supercups: Sampdoria, 1991; Juventus, 1995

	Italy squad - 1982 FIFA World Cup Champions (3rd Title)
1 Zoff | 2 Baresi | 3 Bergomi | 4 Cabrini | 5 Collovati | 6 Gentile | 7 Scirea | 8 Vierchowod | 9 Antognoni | 10 Dossena | 11 Marini | 12 Bordon | 13 Oriali | 14 Tardelli | 15 Causio | 16 Conti | 17 Massaro | 18 Altobelli | 19 Graziani | 20 Rossi | 21 Selvaggi | 22 Galli | Coach: Bearzot

	Italy squad - 1986 FIFA World Cup
1 Galli | 2 Bergomi | 3 Cabrini | 4 Collovati | 5 Nela | 6 Scirea | 7 Tricella | 8 Vierchowod | 9 Ancelotti | 10 Bagni | 11 Baresi | 12 Tancredi | 13 De Napoli | 14 Di Gennaro | 15 Tardelli | 16 Conti | 17 Vialli | 18 Altobelli | 19 Galderisi | 20 Rossi | 21 Serena | 22 Zenga | Coach: Bearzot

	Italy squad - 1990 FIFA World Cup Third Place
1 Zenga | 2 Baresi | 3 Bergomi | 4 De Agostini | 5 Ferrara | 6 Ferri | 7 Maldini | 8 Vierchowod | 9 Ancelotti | 10 Berti | 11 De Napoli | 12 Tacconi | 13 Giannini | 14 Marocchi | 15 Baggio | 16 Carnevale | 17 Donadoni | 18 Mancini | 19 Schillaci | 20 Serena | 21 Vialli | 22 Pagliuca | Coach: Vicini