Giovanni Lodetti (Italian pronunciation: [dʒoˈvanni loˈdetti]; 10 August 1942 – 22 September 2023) was an Italian professional footballer who played as a midfielder. A hard-working player, he usually supported his more creative teammates defensively, excelling as a defensive midfielder due to his stamina and his ability to read the game. Despite his supporting role in midfield, he also possessed good technique and creativity, as well as an eye for goal, which also saw him participate in his teams attacking moves.^[1]

You can help expand this article with text translated from the corresponding article in Italian. (September 2023) Click [show] for important translation instructions. View a machine-translated version of the Italian article. Machine translation, like DeepL or Google Translate, is a useful starting point for translations, but translators must revise errors as necessary and confirm that the translation is accurate, rather than simply copy-pasting machine-translated text into the English Wikipedia. Consider adding a topic to this template: there are already 3,075 articles in the main category, and specifying|topic= will aid in categorization. Do not translate text that appears unreliable or low-quality. If possible, verify the text with references provided in the foreign-language article. You must provide copyright attribution in the edit summary accompanying your translation by providing an interlanguage link to the source of your translation. A model attribution edit summary is Content in this edit is translated from the existing Italian Wikipedia article at [[:it:Giovanni Lodetti]]; see its history for attribution. You should also add the template {{Translated|it|Giovanni Lodetti}} to the talk page. For more guidance, see Wikipedia:Translation.

Quick Facts Personal information, Date of birth ...

Giovanni Lodetti

Lodetti with AC Milan in 1968
Personal information
Date of birth	(1942-08-10)10 August 1942
Place of birth	Caselle Lurani, Kingdom of Italy
Date of death	22 September 2023(2023-09-22) (aged 81)
Place of death	Milan, Italy
Height	1.66 m (5 ft 5 in)
Position(s)	Defensive midfielder
Youth career
1960–1963	A.C. Milan
Senior career*
Years	Team	Apps	(Gls)
1961–1970	A.C. Milan	216	(16)
1970–1974	Sampdoria	117	(0)
1974–1976	Foggia	61	(1)
1976–1978	Novara	38	(0)
Total		432	(17)
International career
1964–1968	Italy	17	(2)
Medal record Men's football Representing  Italy (as player) UEFA European Championship Winner 1968 Italy
*Club domestic league appearances and goals

Close

Lodetti is mostly remembered for his time as a defensive midfielder with Italian club Milan, with which he achieved great domestic and international success in the 60s alongside playmaker Gianni Rivera, winning two Serie A titles (the first during his debut season), a Coppa Italia, two European Cups, a Cup Winners' Cup, and an Intercontinental Cup. He later also played for Sampdoria, Foggia, and Novara, before retiring in 1978.^[2][3][4]

Lodetti also represented the Italy national side at the 1966 World Cup in England, where they were eliminated in the first round. He was also a member of the Italy national squad at the UEFA Euro 1968 victorious campaign on home soil. Although he was set to participate in the 1970 World Cup, in which Italy reached the final, he was dropped at the last minute due to an injury to Anastasi, which led manager Ferruccio Valcareggi to call up Roberto Boninsegna and Pierino Prati in his place.^[4] In total he represented his national team 17 times between 1964 and 1968, scoring two goals. He also represented the under-21 side in their victorious campaign at the 1963 Mediterranean games.^[2]

Giovanni Lodetti died on 22 September 2023, at the age of 81.^[5]

AC Milan^[1]

• Serie A: 1961–62, 1967–68
• Coppa Italia: 1966–67
• European Cup: 1962–63, 1968–69
• Cup Winners' Cup: 1967–68
• Intercontinental Cup: 1969

Italy

• UEFA European Football Championship: 1968

Individual

• AC Milan Hall of Fame^[1]