the former FIGC president died at the age of 79 – Corriere.it

Carlo Tavecchio had fire inside. He had led the Football Association in a particularly tough moment, after Brazil’s elimination from the World Cup, which had led to the resignation of Giancarlo Abete and up to the missed trip to Russia, to the 2018 World Cup. passed away on Friday 27 January, at the age of 79, due to a series of complications due to bilateral pneumonia and his funeral will take place on Monday in Ponte Lambro, his small center of the world, where at the age of 33 he ran for mayor on the Christian Democrat lists. Because politics, especially sports, was in Tavecchio’s blood. state the star performer of the Amateur Leagueas he often said, between pride and melancholy, a safe haven.

His climb has been constant: councilor of the Lombardy Regional Committee in ’87, vice president of the National Amateur League in ’92, president of the Lombardy Regional Committee in ’96, president of the Amateurs in ’99 following the resignation of Elio Giulivi. Since May 2007 he has been vice president of the Football Federation, two years later he became its vicar. Tavecchio knew the rules and dynamics of that world, but always let himself be guided by instinct who sometimes betrayed him, such as during the elections for the presidency of the FIGC against Demetrio Albertini in the summer of 2014.

The one about opti-pob was meant to be a joke, but instead it caused pandemonium and three federal investigations. That of UEFA also cost him six months of disqualification at international level. But Tavecchio overcame the storm and responded to the criticisms by hiring Antonio Conte, a first tier coach, for the national team and during his two mandates he rode the scene, always staying on the spot as a willing and pragmatic Lombard, following politics with particular attention abroad and favoring the election of Ceferin to the presidency of UEFA.

More than on the wrong jokes and there have been quite a few, eventually slipped on the 2018 World Cup. After Conte, he had hired Gian Piero Ventura, advised by Marcello Lippi who should have been technical director. A plan gone quickly. On November 20, 2017 Tavecchio resigned, after having sacked Ventura and having tried the surprise hit, attempting to sign Ancelotti. It was precisely his own Lega Dilettanti who betrayed him, denying him support. I feel like a victim of political looting, he had said as he left Via Allegri and cast one last melancholy glance towards his bedroom window. But, embittered as he was, he hadn’t lost his taste for a joke: Maybe I should have sacked Ventura at half-time against Sweden.