Walter Zenga (; born 28 April 1960) is an Italian professional football manager and former player, currently club manager at Serie C club Siracusa.
He is regarded as one of the greatest goalkeepers of his generation, and one of Italy's best keepers ever.
He was a long-time goalkeeper for Inter Milan and the Italy national team. During his playing career, Zenga was part of the Italian squad that finished fourth at the 1984 Olympics in Los Angeles and was the starting goalkeeper for the Italian team that finished third in the 1990 FIFA World Cup tournament held in Italy, keeping a World Cup record unbeaten streak. A three-time winner of the IFFHS World's Best Goalkeeper Award, Zenga is regarded by pundits as one of the best goalkeepers of all time, and in 2013 was voted the eighth best goalkeeper of the past quarter-century by IFFHS. In 2000, he also placed 20th in the World Keeper of the Century Elections by the same organisation.
After retiring as a player, Zenga briefly became an actor in an Italian soap opera and also a pundit on Italian TV. Since 1998 he has worked as a head coach and managed clubs in the United States, Italy, Turkey, Romania, Serbia, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates and England.
The next season would prove to be bittersweet for Zenga: although he continued to play excellently, he did not manage to win any trophies. In Italy, Inter was the main rival of Hellas Verona who won the first and, to this day, only Scudetto of its history in 1985, while in Europe he had to suffer two bitter and quite controversial defeats at the hands of Spanish giants Real Madrid, both times in the UEFA Cup semi-finals. However, personal success was growing: he became a fan favourite due to his qualities and his love for the team, his fame was now nationwide thanks to his larger than life personality and he quickly established himself as one of the premier goalkeepers of the country, which led to him being called up to Italy's squad for the 1986 World Cup.
Apart from enjoying the selection for a World Cup, the summer of 1986 proved to be important for Zenga also at club level. In fact, Inter signed Giovanni Trapattoni, who left Juventus FC after a highly successful 10-year stint, to manage the team. Meanwhile, the trio formed by Zenga, Giuseppe Bergomi and Riccardo Ferri (who respectively occupied the positions of goalkeeper, right-sided full-back, and man-marking centre-back/stopper) was becoming the cornerstone of the team and of the Italian team also. In the 1986–87 season. Inter closely fought Napoli for the Scudetto, finishing third despite a series of injuries which plagued the team in the final weeks of the season (among others, Marco Tardelli, Alessandro Altobelli and Karl-Heinz Rummenigge had to watch the final matches from the bench). However, Zenga imposed himself as the best goalkeeper in Italy, finishing the 30 matches-long season conceding only 17 goals and by being picked by new Italy's manager Azeglio Vicini as the starter in the goalkeeping position.
The next season would prove to be disappointing for Inter and Zenga: the team struggled all the season, due to lack of compatibility between the two main forwards (team's captain Altobelli and the newly acquired Aldo Serena) and between the two offensive midfielders Gianfranco Matteoli and the Belgian Vincenzo Scifo. Plus Zenga, dissatisfied with the way the club was managed, decided to leave Inter and join the then dominant Napoli. However, the move did not materialize and Zenga remained with Inter. The highlight of the season for Zenga was the participation in the 1988 UEFA European Championships with Italy.
However, the next season would prove to be one of the best for Inter and Zenga. The team, reinvigorated by the acquisitions of the young Italians Alessandro Bianchi and Nicola Berti, the Germans Andreas Brehme and Lothar Matthäus from Bayern Munich and the Argentine Ramón Díaz dominated the season, winning the league title with a record haul of 58 points and breaking several other records during the year. Such a performance is even more impressive if the whole quality of the tournament is taken in consideration: in second position there was the Diego Maradona-led Napoli and in third position the star-studded and future European champion Milan. Zenga ended the season conceding only 19 goals, the best goalkeeper again in that respect.
The 1989–90 and 1990–91 seasons proved to be bittersweet for Inter: although the team remained a title contender, it didn't manage to take another success on home soil, except for the victory in the Supercoppa Italiana played in November 1989 against Sampdoria. The 1991 season turned out to be a close fight between Inter and Sampdoria, with the title decided in a match played in Milan, which Inter would lose 0–2 allowing Gianluca Vialli and Roberto Mancini to win the league title. However, Inter won the UEFA Cup that year, defeating, among the others, Aston Villa, Atalanta and Sporting CP on the road to the final against Roma. Inter won the first match 2–0 and lost only 1–0 in Rome, achieving the first European success since the 1960s. After that match, manager Giovanni Trapattoni left the team, as he decided to return as coach of Juventus.
On a personal scale, Zenga experienced in these seasons the peak of his career. For three consecutive years (1989–1991) he was nominated by IFFHS the best goalkeeper in the world, ahead of goalkeepers like Michel Preud'homme, Rinat Dasaev and Andoni Zubizarreta. Zenga was at his best between the posts, as his great explosiveness and sharp reflexes enabled him to make great and spectacular saves. Not known for being a great penalty saver (frequently dropping down to the ground in the middle of the goal), in his career he did however save penalty kicks from Roberto Baggio, Michel Platini and Paul Merson.
Zenga continued to play for Inter until 1994, winning the UEFA Cup in 1991 and 1994, his last season with the club.
In 1994, Zenga transferred to Sampdoria, and then to Calcio Padova two years later.
In June On July 20, the club placed Zenga on injured reserve following a knee injury. He would fly to Italy following the Revolution's 4–2 victory over Tampa Bay on July 18 for arthroscopic surgery. Scott Coufal and Jeff Causey would fill in for Zenga until his return to net on September 12. Zenga was awarded MLS Player of the Month honors for the month of September, the first Revolution player to ever win the award. Despite missing time, Zenga was a finalist for the 1997 MLS Goalkeeper of the Year Award. He additionally represented the Revolution in the 1997 MLS All-Star Game, and won the team's Most Valuable Player Award. Prior to the All-Star game, at a fan event in Federal Hill, Providence, Rhode Island, then-Providence Mayor Buddy Cianci presented Zenga with a bottle of his personal marinara sauce, "Mayor’s Own Marinara Sauce." The Revolution supporter's group the Midnight Riders named Zenga their 1997 "Man of the Year."
On January 15, 1998, Zenga announced his retirement. He had led the Revolution to their first playoff berth in team history, and he finished the 1997 season with the second best goals-against average (1.27), second highest win total (15), and best league shootout record, allowing only 12 goals in 41 attempts. Despite his retirement, Zenga would continue his affiliation with the club as a part-time European scout.
Zenga departed the Revolution to pursue an acting career (he and his girlfriend starred in an Italian soap opera), however he would return on August 24, 1998, being named Revolution head coach after the resignation of Thomas Rongen on the same day. Zenga led the Revolution to a 3–3 record in the final 6 matches of the 1998 New England Revolution season.
Zenga stipulated that he would only return to the Revolution for the 1999 season if he could play as well as coach, and he became the Revolution's (and league's) first-ever player/coach on October 28, 1998. As a player-manager, Zenga led the Revolution to a 10–20 record. After issuing an ultimatum, demanding contract extension discussions begin prior to the season's end, Zenga was relieved of his duties on September 30, with interim manager Steve Nicol being brought in to conclude the season.
Zenga became the Italy national side's starting goalkeeper under manager Azeglio Vicini, ahead of his perceived career rival, Stefano Tacconi. During the 1988 UEFA European Championships, Zenga played all four of Italy's matches (a 1–1 draw against West Germany, a 1–0 victory over Spain, and a 2–0 win over Denmark in the group stage matches, and a 0–2 loss against the Soviet Union in the semi-final). Here again Zenga was at the centre of controversy: in the first match against West Germany he conceded a free kick inside the penalty area due to having made too many steps while carrying the ball in his hands (an infringement rarely penalised). Andreas Brehme, who would become Zenga's teammate at Inter only a few months later, scored from the resulting free kick to tie the game for West Germany. Italy reached the semi-finals of the competition.
Zenga remained first choice goalkeeper when Italy hosted the World Cup in 1990, and helped the team to a third-place finish, during which he set a record of five consecutive clean sheets, and a total of 518 minutes without conceding a goal, a record still standing. His unbeaten streak was ended by Claudio Caniggia's header in the semi-finals against defending champions Argentina, after Zenga had made an error when coming out to collect a cross; following a 1–1 draw after extra-time, Argentina advanced to the final 4–3 on penalties, while Zenga failed to stop a single spot kick in the shoot-out. In the third-place match against England, Zenga conceded his second goal of the tournament when he was beaten by a David Platt header, although Italy managed to capture the bronze medal with a 2–1 victory.
After Italy had failed to qualify for the 1992 European Championship, Arrigo Sacchi was appointed as Italy's new manager, and he eventually excluded Zenga from his side, in favour of goalkeepers who were more suited to his zonal marking defensive system, such as Gianluca Pagliuca, and Luca Marchegiani.
His other nickname, L'Uomo Ragno ("Spider-Man"), is not related to his goalkeeping skills, but rather to a curious circumstance: in 1992, while answering questions about his exclusion from the Italy national team, Zenga softly sang a song by the Italian band 883, called Hanno ucciso l'Uomo Ragno ("Someone killed Spider-Man"), which led pundits and supporters to call him like the Marvel Comics character.
After a short stint with Milanese Serie D team Brera Calcio, Zenga moved to Romania in 2002, first managing Naţional București and then FCSB, where he won the Liga I and reached the Round of 16 of the 2004–05 UEFA Cup after eliminating UEFA Cup winners Valencia CF from the competition.
In the summer 2005, after being fired from Steaua București before the end of the season, Zenga joined Red Star Belgrade, leading the Serbo-Montenegrin team to a double (national league and national cup).
In the summer 2006, Zenga was appointed as coach of Turkish Süper Lig side Gaziantepspor; however, after a poor start (five wins in 17 league matches), he resigned in January 2007 in order to accept an offer from United Arab Emirates club Al-Ain.
After just five months in charge, Al-Ain sacked Zenga, who was announced in September 2007 as new Dinamo București coach, replacing Mircea Rednic, but he resigned only two months later following a 1–0 loss in a local derby lost to Steaua. He then accepted a job as a football commentator and pundit for Italian public broadcasting service RAI.
Confirmed at the helm of Catania for the 2008–09 season, Zenga proved to be fit for the Italian top flight, leading the rossoazzurri to impressive results in the early part of the season, and agreeing a one-year contract extension with the Sicilian club.
Catania's playing style under Zenga was notable for the coach's focus on free kick planning; his assistant manager Gianni Vio is known to work exclusively on this particular side of football tactics during the weekly training sessions. He guided Catania to a mid-table finish and the Serie A points record for the eastern Sicilian side; at the final home game of the season he announced he was parting company with his club by mutual consent.
On 6 January 2011, Zenga was appointed as new head coach of Al Nasr in the UAE Pro-League. Inter and Italy legend Zenga appointed as Al Nasr coach | GulfNews.com
In his first game on 6 August, Zenga's team drew 2–2 away to Rotherham United, coming back from a 2–0 deficit with ten players; he described his first game as an "amazing experience". Zenga took Wolves on a six-game unbeaten run in all competitions, and eight points from his first four league games, including a 3–1 win at local rivals Birmingham City. He praised the Wolves players' spirit and credited them with leading them to the unbeaten start.
Following the end of the summer transfer window, Zenga, having made ten new signings since his appointment, claimed that the Wolves squad was so strong that he could field two different teams if needed. Following a 4–0 loss to Barnsley, Wolves beat promotion favourites Newcastle United, to end their five-game winning run. Zenga claimed his team's subsequent performances showed that the defeat to Barnsley was "an accident". Wolves then went on a five-game winless run, losing four, that would lead to his dismissal.
Despite the insistence of Dave Edwards that Zenga retained the support of the Wolves players, he was dismissed on 25 October following only 4 wins out of the club's first 14 Championship fixtures and Wolves 18th in the table. On 7 April 2017, Wolves director Jeff Shi said: "I liked Walter. He was passionate, a really lovely guy... Later we found out it was not a good match. We had to change very quickly... The only big mistake in my mind was the coach appointment at the beginning of the season."
Zenga returned into management on 11 October 2018 as he was named new head coach of Serie B club Venezia in place of Stefano Vecchi. He was sacked on 5 March 2019, after a run of four losses in five games had the club fighting relegation.
On 3 March 2020, Zenga was appointed new head coach of Serie A club Cagliari Calcio, signing a contract until 30 June 2021, with Under-19 coach Max Canzi named as his assistant. His debut for the club was delayed due to the coronavirus pandemic and subsequent nationwide lockdown. He won three and drew four of his 13 games in charge as the team finished 14th, and was replaced by Eusebio Di Francesco in August.
On 27 September 2024, Italian Serie D club Siracusa announced the hiring of Zenga as a "club manager" and "brand ambassador", in a non-coaching role within the club.
Two years into Zenga's relationship with Termali, the couple's first child, son Nicolò, was born out-of-wedlock in December 1989. Zenga and Termali wed in September 1992 in a notable ceremony at the Via Palestra gardens in Milan with Zenga's Inter teammate Davide Fontolan as the groom's best man and a prominent guest list that included Milan mayor Giampiero Borghini, Inter head coach Osvaldo Bagnoli, Inter vice-chairman Giuseppe Prisco, Italy national team manager Azeglio Vicini as well as footballers such as Gianluca Vialli and Ruud Gullit. Their second child, son Andrea, was born in September 1993. The couple divorced in 1997.
After divorcing Termali, now veteran professional footballer Zenga entered into a relationship with television presenter , sixteen years his junior. With Zenga winding down his playing career in the United States, the couple lived in the country as he began transitioning into football coaching. Still unsure as to what he ultimately wants to pursue after finishing playing professional football, Zenga also took media jobs in Italy, often with his new partner. The couple ended up spending six years together during which they notably co-hosted home shopping programs on privately owned television channels in Italy, selling appliances and consumer goods such as vacuum cleaners and electro-stimulators.
In May 2005 while coaching in Bucharest, Zenga married 23-year-old woman Raluca Rebedea, 22 years his junior. Three years later, in June 2008, the couple organized another wedding ceremony while on vacation in Las Vegas; held in a Vegas chapel, Zenga posted the wedding footage on his YouTube channel. On 19 November 2009, Rebedea gave birth to their daughter Samira Valentina. Though the family resided in Dubai, in April 2010, Zenga stated his willingness to take Romanian citizenship, which he reportedly obtained in April 2012. The couple's second child, son Walter Jr., was born in 2012. In October 2020, Zenga made the dissolution of his and Rebedea's 14-year marriage public via a lengthy Instagram post, revealing that the two "hadn't been a couple for some time" and identifying the reasons for the split in "both the distance, created because of Zenga's work as a football coach, as well as due to Rebedea's radical change", adding he had already filed for divorce at the Dubai Court of Appeal before concluding that "the freedom I've always given her has somehow turned against us as". Zenga's particular statement about "the freedom he had given to his wife" triggered a reaction by Italian journalist who criticized the former goalkeeper for "considering his wife's freedom a concession". The resulting controversy online in Italy led to Zenga removing the post.
The younger of Zenga's two sons with Termali, Andrea Zenga, also pursued professional football for a few years before turning to modelling and celebrity reality television in Italy. In September 2018, he appeared with his fiancé Alessandra Sgolastra on the of on Canale 5 as well as on the fifth season of Grande Fratello VIP (Italian Celebrity Big Brother) in December 2020. The Grande Fratello VIP appearance was marked by his opening up about harbouring ill feelings regarding his father Walter's alleged absentee parenting, a claim that received a lot of press in Italy including reaction from the parties involved.
Sampdoria
Italy U21
Individual
Steaua București
Red Star Belgrade
Al Ain
Al Jazira
Club career
New England Revolution
International career
Style of play
Managerial career
Early career
Catania
Palermo
Middle East
Return to Italy
Wolverhampton Wanderers
Return to Italy
Style of management
Personal life
Marriages and relationships
Children
Career statistics
Club
+ Appearances and goals by club, season and competition Salernitana (loan) 1978–79 Serie C1 0 Savona (loan) 1979–80 Serie C2 0 Sambenedettese (loan) 1980–81 Serie C1 0 1981–82 Serie B 0 Inter Milan 1982–83 Serie A 0 1983–84 0 1984–85 0 1985–86 0 1986–87 0 1987–88 0 1988–89 0 1989–90 0 1990–91 0 1991–92 0 1992–93 0 1993–94 0 Sampdoria 1994–95 Serie A 0 1995–96 0 Calcio Padova 1996–97 Serie B 0 New England Revolution 1997 Major League Soccer 0 1999 0
International
+ Appearances and goals by national team and year Italy 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
Managerial statistics
+ Managerial record by team and tenure New England Revolution 24 August 1998 30 September 1999
Brera Calcio 31 October 2000 18 January 2001
Naţional București 24 July 2002 10 September 2003
FCSB 1 July 2004 20 May 2005
Red Star Belgrade 22 July 2005 12 June 2006
Gaziantepspor 1 August 2006 3 January 2007
Al Ain 7 January 2007 30 June 2007
Dinamo București 3 September 2007 24 November 2007
Calcio Catania 1 April 2008 30 June 2009
US Palermo 1 July 2009 23 November 2009
Al-Nassr FC 11 May 2010 24 December 2010
Al-Nasr 6 January 2011 13 June 2013
Al Jazira 21 October 2013 14 May 2014
UC Sampdoria 11 June 2015 10 November 2015
Al-Shaab CSC 1 December 2015 20 February 2016
Wolverhampton Wanderers 30 July 2016 25 October 2016
Crotone 8 December 2017 19 June 2018
Venezia 12 October 2018 5 March 2019
Cagliari Calcio 3 March 2020 2 August 2020
Emirates Club 5 January 2024 23 April 2024
Honours
Player
1999
Coach
Orders
Notes
External links
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