Former Italian national team coach and football legend Roberto Mancini opened up about his life and career in a heartfelt interview as he celebrated his 60th birthday. The interview revealed a man deeply passionate about football, shaped by early sacrifices, and now grappling with the loss of dear friends.
“I was born with a ball,” Mancini declared, emphasizing how football has been an integral part of his life from the very beginning. This passion led him to make significant sacrifices, including leaving school after middle school—a decision he now regrets—and moving away from his family at a young age to pursue his dream of becoming a professional player. “It was certainly traumatic, especially the first year away, which was really tough,” he recalled.
Mancini’s journey to stardom wasn’t without its challenges. He shared an amusing anecdote about his first tryout at Bologna’s youth academy: “During the first trial at Casteldebole, they took me off at half-time and didn’t let me play anymore. I thought they had rejected me and that I wasn’t good enough. It had gone badly. I was very sad. In reality, they had taken me off to hide me. They didn’t want scouts from other teams to see me. The trial had gone very well; they had decided to take me after less than half an hour of play.”
The former striker also remembered his surprise at receiving his first paycheck as a footballer. “After the first month, they called me and gave me 40,000 lire. I remember asking, ‘Why are you giving me 40,000 lire?’ They replied that it was an expense reimbursement. I said, ‘What, you pay us to play football?’ It was 1978. I couldn’t understand why they were paying me to have fun.”
Mancini spoke fondly of his time at Sampdoria, particularly praising the club’s president, Alfredo Mantovani: “A wonderful president. He put together an incredible team: we were united, we all lived for the shirt. We won a Scudetto, we reached the Champions Cup final—15 years of wonderful life. With his death in 1993, an era ended.”
The interview took an emotional turn when Mancini discussed the recent losses of close friends and colleagues. Speaking about Gianluca Vialli, Sinisa Mihajlovic, and Sven Goran Eriksson, Mancini said, “You can’t even imagine how much… What loneliness, what a desert they have left in my heart.”
Reflecting on his transition from player to coach, Mancini recalled his time at Lazio under President Sergio Cragnotti: “Yes, the Lazio president was Cragnotti, and I went there with Eriksson, who was the Sampdoria coach and moved to Lazio. Those were three important years as a player too—seven trophies. After winning the Scudetto and the Italian Cup, I stopped playing and started as Eriksson’s assistant on the bench for six months while getting my coaching license.”
