Ten more stars have been inducted into the Italian Football Hall of Fame, which was created in 2011 by the FIGC and Fondazione Museo del Calcio in order to celebrate the players, coaches, referees and directors, who have made history in our game.

FIGC President Gabriele Gravina and General Secretary Marco Brunelli were in attendance as the commission met to select the ten entrants to be named in the eleventh round of Hall of Fame inductions. The commission was comprised of the president of the Italian Sports Press Union Gianfranco Coppola and various directors of sports publications in Italy, these were: Federico Ferri (Sky Sport), Guido Vaciago (Tuttosport), Stefano Barigelli (Gazzetta dello Sport), Alberto Brandi (NewsMediaset Sports), Ivan Zazzaroni (Corriere dello Sport and Guerin Sportivo), Piercarclo Presutti (Sport ANSA). Matteo Marani – President of the Fondazione Museo del Calcio – was also on the commission.

Inductees as follows: Gianfranco Zola (Italian Player), Zinedine Zidane (Foreign Player), Jose Mourinho (Coach), Alessandro Altobelli (Italian Veteran), Cristiana Girelli (Italian Female Footballer), Ernesto Pellegrini (Italian Director), Sinisa Mihajlovic and Erno Egri Erbstein (Memorials). The Special Award, which was given in the past to Gianni Brera, now goes to another giant in Italian sports journalism who passed away three months ago, Mario Sconcerti. The Davide Astori Fair Play Award was given to Luca Martelli, the young referee from Tuscany who, last Sunday, stopped a game in the Seconda Categoria (8th tier) in order to give medical attention to his own father, who suffered a medical emergency in the stands, saving his life with a defibrillator.

As is tradition, when the new names are formally inducted into the Hall of Fame, the entrants will be asked to donate a piece of memorabilia from the careers to be kept at the Museo del Calcio.