He will turn 47 next August, but the enthusiasm still seems to truly be that of the best days. So much so that, until now, he has never really considered retiring. Indeed, a few days ago he gained another satisfaction: gaining promotion to the second category having his son as a teammate.
It is the latest feat accomplished in chronological order by Ighli Vannucchi, who in the season that is coming to an end played (and made the difference, by virtue of the 15 overall goals) in the third category of Lucca among the ranks of Pieve San Paolo. An adventure that the former professional footballer from Prato shared with his son Niccolò, born in 2003. Vannucchi himself “junior” also scored one of the two goals that allowed the Lucca club to win the playoff final against Cascio and conquer the category leap.
“We wanted to win together and we succeeded – the playmaker who grew up in Maliseti commented on his Facebook page, at the end of the decisive match for promotion via play-offs – father and son: a football story to tell to the grandchildren”. It’s not even a given that Ighli will definitively hang up his boots at this point.
During his professional career he certainly did not lack satisfaction: for example, he wore the shirts of Empoli, Salernitana and Venezia in Serie A, making over 200 appearances in the top division. And in his palmarès he also has the title of European champion won in 2000 with the Under 21 national team which then had Marco Tardelli as technical commissioner, in an era in which the Italian football movement was churning out talents at an impressive rate.
Vannucchi will return to the field today at Arechi in Salerno, a pitch he has already played in the 1998/99 Serie A: his name is also included in the list of former footballers from the 90s and early 2000s who will compete in the “Operation Nostalgia” rally. And who knows, maybe the affection and warmth of the fans might induce him to continue on, another year, as an amateur. After all, if the results arrive…
Giovanni Fiorentino
