Mourinho entered the Italian Football Hall of Fame
On March 16th, the Italian Football Federation (FIGC) added Jose Mourinho to the Italian Hall of Fame for his achievements as the manager of Inter Milan and AS Roma.
The Italian Hall of Fame was established in 2011 as part of the Calcio Museum to honor the legends who have contributed to Serie A and the Italian national team, including players, coaches, directors, and referees.
On March 16th, the jury, consisting of representatives from the FIGC and the heads of Italy’s major sports media channels, announced 10 people to be added to the Italian Hall of Fame in 2022, with each person representing a category. Mourinho was honored as a coach.
Mourinho led Inter Milan from 2008-2010, winning an unprecedented treble in the 2009-2010 season. This was the first and only time a team in Italy has won all three major competitions, including the Champions League, Serie A, and the Italian Cup.
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“The Special One” also won Serie A with Inter in 2009 and the Italian Super Cup in 2008.
Returning to Serie A in the summer of 2021, Mourinho helped Roma become the first champion of the Europa Conference League. This is also Roma’s first continental cup in 61 years since the Inter-Cities Fairs Cup in the 1960-1961 season (predecessor of the Europa League).
The Italian capital club also ended their 14-year trophy drought since the 2007-2008 Italian Cup. This season, Roma is currently ranked fifth in Serie A and has advanced to the quarter-finals of the Europa League.
Before Mourinho, the Hall of Fame Italy had inducted coaches Arrigo Sacchi (2011), Marcello Lippi (2011), Giovanni Trapattoni (2012), Fabio Capello (2013), Carlo Ancelotti (2014), Roberto Mancini (2015), Claudio Ranieri (2016), Osvaldo Bagnoli (2017), Max Allegri (2018), Carlo Mazzone (2019), and Antonio Conte (2021).
Former Italian player Gianfranco Zola was also inducted into the Hall of Fame this time. His career peaked when he played for Chelsea from 1996-2003, scoring 80 goals in 331 appearances.
And he won a series of titles, including the FA Cup in 1997, and 2000, the Cup Winners’ Cup in 1998, the League Cup in 1998, the UEFA Super Cup in 1998, and the FA Community Shield in 2000. In the 1998 Cup Winners’ Cup final, Zola scored the only goal against Stuttgart.
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Former midfielder Zinedine Zidane has been honored as a foreign player by the Italian Hall of Fame.
He played for Juventus from 1996-2001, scoring 31 goals in 214 appearances, winning six titles, and finishing as a runner-up in the Champions League in 1997 and 1998.
Zidane has often admitted that he still holds fond memories of his time at Juventus and hopes to one day return to the club as a coach.
In the latest update, the Italian Hall of Fame also awarded a special commemorative prize to Sinisa Mihajlovic, who passed away at the age of 53 after a battle with leukemia at the end of 2022.
During his playing career at the club level, Mihajlovic played for Red Star Belgrade, Roma, Sampdoria, Lazio, and Inter, and was famous for his direct free-kick ability.
As a coach, he led Bologna from 2008-2009, then went on to manage Fiorentina, the Serbian national team, Sampdoria, and Milan, before returning to Bologna in January 2019.
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