Giorgio Bocca (Italian writer)
Vittorio Pozzo found himself at the head of the Azzurri without having been either a coach by trade or a football administrator. Instead, he was simply a Piedmontese native who felt a strong attachment to the values of his region and a man for whom words and work were sacred. He was an officer in the mountain infantry at the height of Fascism. He liked the trains to run on time but he never locked himself into a rigid structure.
Gianpaolo Ormezzano (Italian writer)
Vittorio Pozzo managed to lead the Azzurri by keeping them distant from pressures at a time when the Fascist regime wanted to use them as a propaganda tool. Pozzo never pretended to be an anti-fascist but he was never used by those in power. That discretion was the only way of preventing the Azzurri from becoming Mussolini's team.
Vittorio Pozzo - What they said
Did You Know?
- Pozzo ordered the team bus back to the hotel when crowds blocked Italy’s route to the 1938 FIFA World Cup™ final with Hungary in Paris.
- Waving off concerns about the nationality of imported players, Pozzo said: “If they can die for Italy, they can play football for Italy.”
- Pozzo carried two good luck charms. One was a piece of glass from a broken trophy and the other was an unused return ticket to England.
- Many of the players closest to Pozzo were from his hometown club Torino. The whole team died in the tragic Superga airplane crash of 1949.
- When Vittorio Pozzo left his job as Pirelli manager to take charge of the national team, he did so on the condition that he was not paid.