Giuseppe Viani

Giuseppe Viani was an Italian footballer and coach and an indelible figure in the technical and tactical evolution of Italian football. Inside right first, centre half second, Viani first played with Treviso and then from 1929-34, with Ambrosiana-Inter. With the Milano team, he played alongside Allemandi, Meazza and Serantoni, with the team led by Olympian Árpád Weisz in winning the 1929-30 championship. After the Milanese period, Viani played with S.S. Lazio (1934-38), U.S. Livorno (1938-39), Juventus F.C. (1939-40), and A.S. Siracusa (1940-41), leaving an imprint as a coach first in Salerno where he won the Serie C Championship in 1943.

Two years later in 1945, “Gipo” led them to further victories, although the ownership attributed this to Nereo Rocco (1912-79). After training Lucchese and Palermo, in 1951-52 Viani coached A.S. Roma on his return to Serie A. With Bologna from 1952-56, Viani was signed by A.C. Milano, where he won the 1956-57 title as coach, and in 1958-59 and 1961-62 as sports director (with Rocco as coach). Viani’s strong personality was sometimes the origin of a problematic relationship with Rocco, however, the two led the Italian team to the 1960 Olympic Games in Roma, where they were beaten 3-1 by Hungary in the bronze medal match. While Viani was eventually the senior manager of Genoa CFC and Udinese, he retired from coaching in 1964 following a traffic accident.