Zdenek Zeman
Encyclopedia
Zdeněk Zeman is a Czech
-Italian
football coach
. He has managed numerous different teams, mostly in Italian football, over the years, and is currently in charge of Serie B
club Pescara.
, passed on by his uncle Čestmír Vycpálek
, former Juventus
player and then coach. In 1968 Zeman went to Palermo
to visit his uncle, but at that time his country was invaded by the USSR troops, so he decided to stay in Italy. He obtained Italian citizenship in 1975 and later married a woman from Palermo, Chiara Perricone, with whom he had two children named Karel and Andrea; Karel successively went on into following his father's footsteps by becoming a football manager at amateur level himself, and he was last in charge of Eccellenza
club Manfredonia
.
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 extremely 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
, Luigi di Biagio
, Igor Shalimov
, José Antonio Chamot, Dan Petrescu
and Igor Kolyvanov
came through. It is said that Zeman's tactics were inspired by his time playing, not football, but handball as a student.
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 launched allegations about the doping
issue, especially accusing Juventus and players like Gianluca Vialli
and Alessandro Del Piero
of using steroids in July 1998. His allegations were later found to be completely false by the international Court of Arbitration for Sport
in Lausanne
, Switzerland
. In the following 1998–1999 season he reached a fifth place finish with AS Roma, but was replaced by Fabio Capello
during the summer of 1999.
His next coaching adventures, for Fenerbahçe SK and S.S.C. Napoli
, were not lucky; Zeman's coaching reputation quickly lost stock, leaving him unable to find a team willing to hire him. After three Serie B
years at Salernitana
(2 years, a 6th place, and a dismissal), and 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 Vučinić
. 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. Because of poor results, he was then fired on December 24 and replaced by Giuseppe Papadopulo
.
On June 17, 2008 Red Star Belgrade
unveiled Zeman as their new head coach. However, after only five competitive games as Red Star's head coach, on September 6, 2008 Zeman was sacked because of catastrophic results in Serbian League
and UEFA Cup
. During Zeman's management, Red Star haven't managed to score in three matches of the domestic league and club found themselves on the bottom of the table for the first time in 24 years. Red Star were also eliminated in the qualifying round of the UEFA Cup by APOEL F.C. from Cyprus
.
On July 20, 2010 it was confirmed that Zeman would take over as new head coach of his former club Foggia
, rejoining chairman Pasquale Casillo and director of football Giuseppe Pavone
as part of the trio who led the satanelli into Serie A back in the 1990s. He left the club at the end of May, after ending the regular season in sixth place, and failing to qualify to the promotion playoffs despite his Foggia team being the team with the highest goalscoring ratio among all Italian professional leagues.
On 21 June 2011 Zeman was announced as new head coach/technical director of Serie B club Pescara, signing a one-year contract with the Adriatici.
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 ability to score goals, but also for the corresponding tendency to concede them. In fact, during the 2004–2005 season his Lecce
team captured the hearts of many neutrals with their cavalier approach to the game, specificially against the might of Juventus and the Milan
ese teams.
His coaching techniques, especially in regards to training (a field for which he has a particular interest), are also proverbial for their effort and diligence.
Zeman is also celebrated for his insistence on fair play and respect for his opponents, and for his long-time battles against doping
and everything that soils, in any way, a fair football culture.
His appeal has stretched outside the football world, with singer/songwriter (and well-known AS Roma fan) Antonello Venditti
, dedicating a song called La coscienza di Zeman (Zeman's conscience) to him. Zeman was also the "guru" who inspired the character Frengo by Italian comedian Antonio Albanese
.
Czech Republic
The Czech Republic is a landlocked country in Central Europe. The country is bordered by Poland to the northeast, Slovakia to the east, Austria to the south, and Germany to the west and northwest....
-Italian
Italy
Italy , officially the Italian Republic languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Italy's official name is as follows:;;;;;;;;), is a unitary parliamentary republic in South-Central Europe. To the north it borders France, Switzerland, Austria and...
football coach
Coach (sport)
In sports, a coach is an individual involved in the direction, instruction and training of the operations of a sports team or of individual sportspeople.-Staff:...
. He has managed numerous different teams, mostly in Italian football, over the years, and is currently in charge of Serie B
Serie B
Serie B, currently named Serie bwin due to sponsorship reasons, is the second-highest division in the Italian football league system after the Serie A. It is contested by 22 teams and organized by the Lega Serie B since July 2010, after the split of Lega Calcio that previously took care of both the...
club Pescara.
Biography
Son of a medician and a housewife, Zeman grew up in Prague with a strong passion for sportSport
A Sport is all forms of physical activity which, through casual or organised participation, aim to use, maintain or improve physical fitness and provide entertainment to participants. Sport may be competitive, where a winner or winners can be identified by objective means, and may require a degree...
, passed on by his uncle Čestmír Vycpálek
Cestmír Vycpálek
Čestmír Vycpálek was a former Czech football player and manager. He was an uncle of noted football manager Zdeněk Zeman.-Playing career:...
, former Juventus
Juventus F.C.
Juventus Football Club S.p.A. , commonly referred to as Juventus and colloquially as Juve , are a professional Italian association football club based in Turin, Piedmont...
player and then coach. In 1968 Zeman went to Palermo
Palermo
Palermo is a city in Southern Italy, the capital of both the autonomous region of Sicily and the Province of Palermo. The city is noted for its history, culture, architecture and gastronomy, playing an important role throughout much of its existence; it is over 2,700 years old...
to visit his uncle, but at that time his country was invaded by the USSR troops, so he decided to stay in Italy. He obtained Italian citizenship in 1975 and later married a woman from Palermo, Chiara Perricone, with whom he had two children named Karel and Andrea; Karel successively went on into following his father's footsteps by becoming a football manager at amateur level himself, and he was last in charge of Eccellenza
Eccellenza
Eccellenza is the sixth level of Italian football. It is a regional league, composed of 28 divisions divided geographically. All 20 regions are represented by at least one division except for Piedmont and Aosta Valley which share 2 divisions...
club Manfredonia
S.S. Manfredonia Calcio
Associazione Sportiva Dilettantistica Manfredonia Football 1932 is an Italian association football club, based in Manfredonia, Apulia.-Overview:...
.
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
U.S. Città di Palermo
Unione Sportiva Città di Palermo is an Italian football club from Palermo, Sicily which currently plays in Serie A, the top level of Italian football. Formed in 1900 as Anglo Panormitan Athletic and Football Club, the club had various names before assuming its final form in 1987 and is currently...
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
S.S.D. Licata 1931
Associazione Sportiva Dilettantistica Licata 1931 is an Italian association football club located in Licata, Sicily. The traditional club colours of Licata is yellow and blue; known in Italy as giallloblu...
, a small-medium city in the province of Agrigento
Province of Agrigento
Agrigento is a province in the autonomous island region of Sicily in Italy. It has an area of 3,042 km², and a total population of 454,370...
, where he won Serie C2
Serie C2
Lega Pro Seconda Divisione is the name of the fourth highest football league in Italy, the lowest with a professional status. Usually it consists of 54 teams, but in the season 2010–11 the teams are only 49 divided geographically into three divisions of 17, 16 and 16 teams each...
with a team mainly composed of youngsters. In 1986, he then left Licata in order to join Foggia Calcio of Serie C1
Serie C1
Lega Pro Prima Divisione is the name of the third highest football league in Italy. It consists of 36 teams, divided geographically into two divisions of 18 teams each. Until 2008 it was known as Serie C1....
, but he was sacked before the end of the championship. In 1987 he became coach for Parma
Parma F.C.
Parma Football Club , commonly referred to as just Parma, is an Italian professional football club based in Parma, Emilia–Romagna that will compete in Serie A for the 2011–12 season, having finished in twelfth position last season. Founded as Verdi Foot Ball Club in July 1913, the club changed its...
of Serie B, but was fired after just seven matches. In 1988 he returned to Sicily
Sicily
Sicily is a region of Italy, and is the largest island in the Mediterranean Sea. Along with the surrounding minor islands, it constitutes an autonomous region of Italy, the Regione Autonoma Siciliana Sicily has a rich and unique culture, especially with regard to the arts, music, literature,...
as coach of Messina, classified at the 8th place for the end of the season, also thanks to the goals of Salvatore Schillaci
Salvatore Schillaci
Salvatore Schillaci , commonly referred to by his nickname Totò is a former Italian football player. During his career, he played for Messina , Juventus , Internazionale and Júbilo Iwata...
.
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
Giuseppe Signori
Giuseppe "Beppe" Signori is a retired Italian football striker, one of the top scorers in Serie A history and widely regarded as one of the best football players to have never received a winners medal in competitive football. He was a fast, left footed striker who was prolific goalscorer...
and Francesco Baiano
Francesco Baiano
Francesco Baiano was an Italian football and currently a coach. He is a well-known striker famous for his shooting technique....
who regularly punched above their weight in the league. In two years the team got promoted to top-level Serie A
Serie A
Serie A , now called Serie A TIM due to sponsorship by Telecom Italia, is a professional league competition for football clubs located at the top of the Italian football league system and has been operating for over eighty years since 1929. It had been organized by Lega Calcio until 2010, but a new...
.
The first appearances of Foggia in Serie A are still quite unimaginable, with a team considered as extremely weak verging on the UEFA Cup
UEFA Cup
The UEFA Europa League is an annual association football cup competition organised by UEFA since 1971 for eligible European football clubs. It is the second most prestigious European club football contest after the UEFA Champions League...
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
Roberto Rambaudi
Roberto Rambaudi is an Italian professional football coach and a former player.-External links:*...
, Luigi di Biagio
Luigi Di Biagio
Luigi Di Biagio , is an Italian former football defensive midfielder, who last played for Ascoli Calcio 1898 .Di Biagio was born in Rome. Prior to joining Ascoli, he played for Lazio , Monza , Foggia , Roma , Internazionale , and Brescia Calcio . He was capped 31 times for Italy, scoring two goals...
, Igor Shalimov
Igor Shalimov
Igor Mihailovich Shalimov , is a retired football midfielder.Shalimov started his playing career in Spartak Moscow. After a few successful seasons with Spartak Moscow he transferred to Foggia. He impressed enough to garner the attention and eventual transfer to Internazionale...
, José Antonio Chamot, Dan Petrescu
Dan Petrescu
Daniel Vasile Petrescu is a Romanian football manager and former player, currently the manager of Kuban Krasnodar in the Russian Premier League....
and Igor Kolyvanov
Igor Kolyvanov
Igor Vladimirovich Kolyvanov is an association footballer and coach. During his playing career he accumulated 90 goals scored in 333 games at the Top level in the Soviet Union as well as in Italy....
came through. It is said that Zeman's tactics were inspired by his time playing, not football, but handball as a student.
In 1994, Zeman left Foggia for the greater challenge of Lazio
S.S. Lazio
Società Sportiva Lazio, commonly referred to as Lazio, is a professional Italian football club based in Rome. The team, founded in 1900, play in the Serie A and have spent most of their history in the top tier of Italian football...
, 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
Alessandro Nesta
Alessandro Nesta, Ufficiale OMRI , is an Italian World Cup-winning footballer who plays as a defender for Serie A club Milan. Considered by many as one of the best centre backs to have ever played the game, he is a four-time member of the annual UEFA Team of the Year.-Early life:Nesta was raised in...
whilst managing Lazio
S.S. Lazio
Società Sportiva Lazio, commonly referred to as Lazio, is a professional Italian football club based in Rome. The team, founded in 1900, play in the Serie A and have spent most of their history in the top tier of Italian football...
, giving the young defender many first team opportunities. In the next season, Zeman decided to stay in Rome
Rome
Rome is the capital of Italy and the country's largest and most populated city and comune, with over 2.7 million residents in . The city is located in the central-western portion of the Italian Peninsula, on the Tiber River within the Lazio region of Italy.Rome's history spans two and a half...
, becoming the coach of AS Roma
A.S. Roma
Associazione Sportiva Roma, commonly referred to as simply Roma, is a professional Italian football club based in Rome. Founded by a merger in 1927, Roma have participated in the top-tier of Italian football for all of their existence but one season in the early 50s...
and the burgeoning talent of Francesco Totti
Francesco Totti
Francesco Totti, Ufficiale OMRI, is an Italian footballer who is the captain of Serie A club Roma. His primary position is that of a trequartista, though he has also been successfully utilized as a lone striker. Totti has spent his entire career at Roma, is the number-one goalscorer and the most...
.
After a good fourth place with some sparkling play, Zeman launched allegations about the doping
Doping (sport)
The use of performance-enhancing drugs in sport is commonly referred to by the term "doping", particularly by those organizations that regulate competitions. The use of performance enhancing drugs is mostly done to improve athletic performance. This is why many sports ban the use of performance...
issue, especially accusing Juventus and players like Gianluca Vialli
Gianluca Vialli
Gianluca Vialli is an Italian football manager and former player. Since retiring, he has gone into management and punditry and is a commentator for Sky Sport Italia....
and Alessandro Del Piero
Alessandro Del Piero
Alessandro Del Piero Ufficiale OMRI is an Italian World Cup-winning footballer who plays for Serie A club Juventus, of which he is also club captain....
of using steroids in July 1998. His allegations were later found to be completely false by the international Court of Arbitration for Sport
Court of Arbitration for Sport
The Court of Arbitration for Sport is an international arbitration body set up to settle disputes related to sport. Its headquarters are in Lausanne and its courts are located in New York, Sydney and Lausanne, Switzerland...
in Lausanne
Lausanne
Lausanne is a city in Romandy, the French-speaking part of Switzerland, and is the capital of the canton of Vaud. The seat of the district of Lausanne, the city is situated on the shores of Lake Geneva . It faces the French town of Évian-les-Bains, with the Jura mountains to its north-west...
, Switzerland
Switzerland
Switzerland name of one of the Swiss cantons. ; ; ; or ), in its full name the Swiss Confederation , is a federal republic consisting of 26 cantons, with Bern as the seat of the federal authorities. The country is situated in Western Europe,Or Central Europe depending on the definition....
. In the following 1998–1999 season he reached a fifth place finish with AS Roma, but was replaced by Fabio Capello
Fabio Capello
Fabio Capello is an Italian football manager and former player. He is the manager of the England national football team.Capello has the distinction of winning the domestic league title with every club he has coached throughout his career...
during the summer of 1999.
His next coaching adventures, for Fenerbahçe SK and S.S.C. Napoli
S.S.C. Napoli
Società Sportiva Calcio Napoli, commonly referred to as Napoli, is a professional Italian football club based in Naples and founded in 1926. The club has spent most of its history in Serie A, where it currently plays its 2011–12 season....
, were not lucky; Zeman's coaching reputation quickly lost stock, leaving him unable to find a team willing to hire him. After three Serie B
Serie B
Serie B, currently named Serie bwin due to sponsorship reasons, is the second-highest division in the Italian football league system after the Serie A. It is contested by 22 teams and organized by the Lega Serie B since July 2010, after the split of Lega Calcio that previously took care of both the...
years at Salernitana
Salernitana Calcio 1919
Salerno Calcio, or simply Salerno is an Italian association football club from Salerno, Campania.The club is not the legitimate heir of the former Salernitana Calcio 1919, but there is however a sports continuity between the two companies thanks to Article 52 NOIF of FIGC, and the fact that they...
(2 years, a 6th place, and a dismissal), and Avellino
U.S. Avellino
Associazione Sportiva Avellino 1912 , since summer 2010, is the new name of the Italian football club, based in Avellino, Campania. The club was founded in 1912 and its traditional colours are green and white...
(second-last placed, with a young Vitali Kutuzov
Vitali Kutuzov
Vitali Vladimirovich Kutuzov is a Belarusian football player, who plays the Belarusian national team.- Career :In 2001 he joined Italian side A.C. Milan from BATE Borisov, Belarus. During the half of the season he spent with the team he failed to establish himself in the first team, playing only...
on team), in 2004 Serie A
Serie A
Serie A , now called Serie A TIM due to sponsorship by Telecom Italia, is a professional league competition for football clubs located at the top of the Italian football league system and has been operating for over eighty years since 1929. It had been organized by Lega Calcio until 2010, but a new...
team Lecce
U.S. Lecce
Unione Sportiva Lecce or simply U.S. Lecce is an Italian football club based in Lecce, Apulia who play in the Italian Serie A. After being crowned Serie B champions in 2009–10, the team successfully managed to avoid relegation in 2010-11....
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
Valeri Bojinov
Valeri Emilov Bozhinov , commonly known as Valeri Bojinov, is a Bulgarian footballer who currently plays for Sporting CP.-Biography:Born in the Bulgarian town of Gorna Oryahovitsa, Bozhinov moved to Malta at the age of 12 with his mother Pepa, a former Bulgarian national basketball team player and...
and Mirko Vučinić
Mirko Vucinic
Mirko Vučinić is a Montenegrin footballer who plays as a striker for Serie A club Juventus. Originally from the city of Nikšić, Vučinić found himself playing for the local team there during his early teen years...
. 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
Brescia Calcio
Brescia Calcio , known simply as Brescia, is the largest football club in the Lombard city of Brescia, where it was founded in 1911.In the 2009–10 season, in the return leg of the Serie B playoff final, they defeated Torino 2-1 at home , returning to Serie A after a 5-year absence...
, 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. Because of poor results, he was then fired on December 24 and replaced by Giuseppe Papadopulo
Giuseppe Papadopulo
Giuseppe Papadopulo is an Italian football manager and former player, last in charge as head coach of Torino.-Career:...
.
On June 17, 2008 Red Star Belgrade
Red Star Belgrade
Red Star Belgrade is a football club from Belgrade, Serbia. The club is a part of the Red Star Sports Society.Red Star Belgrade is the most successful Serbian club, with a record of 25 national championships and 23 national cups in both Serbian and ex-Yugoslav competitions...
unveiled Zeman as their new head coach. However, after only five competitive games as Red Star's head coach, on September 6, 2008 Zeman was sacked because of catastrophic results in Serbian League
Serbian Superliga
Serbian SuperLiga is a Serbian professional league for football clubs. At the top of the Serbian football league system, it is the country's primary football competition. It is contested by 16 clubs, operating a system of promotion and relegation with the Serbian First League...
and UEFA Cup
UEFA Cup
The UEFA Europa League is an annual association football cup competition organised by UEFA since 1971 for eligible European football clubs. It is the second most prestigious European club football contest after the UEFA Champions League...
. During Zeman's management, Red Star haven't managed to score in three matches of the domestic league and club found themselves on the bottom of the table for the first time in 24 years. Red Star were also eliminated in the qualifying round of the UEFA Cup by APOEL F.C. from Cyprus
Cyprus
Cyprus , officially the Republic of Cyprus , is a Eurasian island country, member of the European Union, in the Eastern Mediterranean, east of Greece, south of Turkey, west of Syria and north of Egypt. It is the third largest island in the Mediterranean Sea.The earliest known human activity on the...
.
On July 20, 2010 it was confirmed that Zeman would take over as new head coach of his former club Foggia
U.S. Foggia
Unione Sportiva Foggia is an Italian football club, based in Foggia, Puglia. The club was founded in 1920. Foggia currently plays in Lega Pro Prima Divisione, having last been in Serie A in 1995....
, rejoining chairman Pasquale Casillo and director of football Giuseppe Pavone
Giuseppe Pavone
Giuseppe Pavone is a retired Italian professional football player, best famous for having been director of football of Foggia during the club's most successful period, when the Satanelli played in the Serie A in the 1990s under the guidance of head coach Zdeněk Zeman and chairman Pasquale Casillo...
as part of the trio who led the satanelli into Serie A back in the 1990s. He left the club at the end of May, after ending the regular season in sixth place, and failing to qualify to the promotion playoffs despite his Foggia team being the team with the highest goalscoring ratio among all Italian professional leagues.
On 21 June 2011 Zeman was announced as new head coach/technical director of Serie B club Pescara, signing a one-year contract with the Adriatici.
Tactics
U.S. Lecce
Unione Sportiva Lecce or simply U.S. Lecce is an Italian football club based in Lecce, Apulia who play in the Italian Serie A. After being crowned Serie B champions in 2009–10, the team successfully managed to avoid relegation in 2010-11....
team captured the hearts of many neutrals with their cavalier approach to the game, specificially against the might of Juventus and the Milan
Milan
Milan is the second-largest city in Italy and the capital city of the region of Lombardy and of the province of Milan. The city proper has a population of about 1.3 million, while its urban area, roughly coinciding with its administrative province and the bordering Province of Monza and Brianza ,...
ese teams.
His coaching techniques, especially in regards to training (a field for which he has a particular interest), are also proverbial for their effort and diligence.
Zeman is also celebrated for his insistence on fair play and respect for his opponents, and for his long-time battles against doping
Doping (sport)
The use of performance-enhancing drugs in sport is commonly referred to by the term "doping", particularly by those organizations that regulate competitions. The use of performance enhancing drugs is mostly done to improve athletic performance. This is why many sports ban the use of performance...
and everything that soils, in any way, a fair football culture.
His appeal has stretched outside the football world, with singer/songwriter (and well-known AS Roma fan) Antonello Venditti
Antonello Venditti
Antonello Venditti is an Italian singer-songwriter who became famous in the 1970s for the social themes of his songs.-Biography:...
, dedicating a song called La coscienza di Zeman (Zeman's conscience) to him. Zeman was also the "guru" who inspired the character Frengo by Italian comedian Antonio Albanese
Antonio Albanese
Antonio Albanese is an Italian comedian, actor, director and writer.Born in Lombardy to Sicilian parents, he studied at the Civic Drama School in Milan, then opted to pursue an acting career. His first experiences as a comedian date back to 1992, when he made his debut at the Zelig Theatre in Milan...
.