Zdenek Zeman is an Italian football coach with Czech roots. Interest in his person is caused by the fact that the specialist himself, whose coaching career began in the late sixties of the last century, never played football at a professional level.
Zdenek Zeman: biography and facts from life
Zeman was born in May 1947 in Prague to a family of a doctor and a housewife. The love for the game of millions was instilled in the boy by his uncle Chestmir Vytspalek, who once played in a number of Czechoslovak and Italian clubs.
At the end of the sixties of the last century, hostilities took place in Prague. Therefore, 21-year-old Zdenek was forced to emigrate to Italy, where he later married an Italian Chiara Perricone and received a second citizenship. Zeman received his ISEF Diploma in Sports Medicine in Palermo, Italy.
During a long coaching career, Zdenek Zeman changed about two dozen clubs, working mainly in Italy. Outside the Apennine Peninsula, the specialist led top teams fromchampionships of Turkey, Serbia and Switzerland.
Coaching
For thirteen years, Zdeněk Zeman coached exclusively Italian teams from amateur leagues. After this kind of "warm-up", the young specialist received his first position in the Serie A club - Palermo. True, only in the role of a mentor for the backup team.
At the post of coach of the Eagles, Zeman, as before, stayed for a year, after which he spent two very powerful seasons in Foggia and Parma, both in Serie B. Crusaders, the Italian mentor made a lot of noise by beating Real Madrid itself in the pre-season match, and during the season, knocking out the main contender for the title, Milan, from the Italian Cup.
By the way, Zdenek Zeman will return to Foggia more than once and will spend 5 years in a row in the club in the early 90s of the last century. So long an Italian with Czech roots, neither before nor after, no longer lingered. Zeman's "Foggia" was remembered for its bright, reckless, attacking football, played by young, unknown football players who recently took to the field in Serie C. It should be noted that the coach continued to practice his favorite 4-3-3 scheme in all clubs, which he trained.
It should be noted that among others, Zeman happened to coach Italian top clubs from time to time. So, the Italian specialist worked as the head coach of Lazio and Napoli, but for sure it is the fans of the capital Roma who will remember who Zdenek Zeman is for a long time to come. Coach photorepeatedly meets "wolves" in the club's museum, although he did not win any trophies with the capital's club. As, however, did not win with his other teams. Zeman caused great sympathy of the fans with completely different qualities.
Coaching career outside of Italy
Outside the Apennine Peninsula, the Czech Italian coached Fenerbahce, Red Star and Lugano. It should be noted right away that the coach did not work outside of Italy, and in all three cases he did not work even a year. In Turkey and Serbia, the coach was fired altogether just a few months after his appointment.
In the summer of 2016, rumors were actively spreading in the press that the Italian specialist was going to the Russian championship. In particular, for a long time there was one topical question: "Will Zdenek Zeman end up in Anji?" In the end, the rumors turned out to be just rumors, and the coach soon led Serie A outsider Pescara.
Playstyle
Zdenek Zeman is a supporter of power attacking football. All his teams, regardless of the rank and the presence of top-level performers, demonstrated a bright reckless game, for which the coach received the love of fans throughout Italy. The coach still believes to this day that his favorite 4-3-3 formation is the perfect combination of defensive and offensive players.
Zeman has long and firmly become known as perhaps the best coach among non-top Italian teams. HisFoggia, Cagliari and Lecce gathered full stadiums, and the audience came to see the Zeman team.
In his almost fifty-year coaching career, the Italian can boast of only two championships in Serie B, which is negligible for any specialist who classifies himself as a “top”. Nevertheless, Zeman Zdenek, even today, in his old age, remains a desirable manager for most Italian teams.
