Enzo Bearzot was born in Aiello del Friuli on 26 September 1927. He had a successful career as a player for Inter and Torino amongst other clubs, but no doubt his greatest achievement was bringing the National Team to the World Cup trophy in Spain in 1982. He spent his playing days at Pro Gorizia, Catania, Inter and Torino (having two spells at both of the last two), earning one Azzurri cap along the way. He began his coaching career at Torino first as a goalkeeping coach, then as assistant to Nereo Rocco and Edmondo Fabbri. In the second half of the 1968/69 season he became Head Coach of Prato in Serie C, then moved to the national set-up as selector of the Under-23s. He was appointed assistant to Ferruccio Valcareggi, then deputy to Fulvio Bernardini.

Then, in 1975, Enzo Bearzot was named as Coach of the Senior National Team. Although he did not succeed in qualifying for EURO ‘76, he remained in the Italian technical area, reaching fourth place both at the Argentina World Cup in 1978 and at the European Championships in 1980, which were played in Italy. The great turning point arrived in 1982. After a difficult first phase, the period that followed in his reign is the one that went down in the history of Italian football, with epic victories against both Argentina and Brazil. The Coach proved time and time again his great ability to prepare for matches, coming up with extraordinary tactical decisions: more than anything, the choice to man-mark Diego Maradona with Claudio Gentile and to stick by Paolo Rossi despite all the criticism he received. The results were there for all to see: Maradona rendered almost completely ineffective and Paolo Rossi winning the World Cup Golden Boot with six goals. After having eliminated Poland in the semi-finals (2-0), the Italians triumphed 3-1 over West Germany at the Bernabeu. An unforgettable night, with Italy crowned as world champions for the third time in their history and the whole country in celebration. All thanks to the excellent decisions of a truly splendid leader.