Bruno Pizzul

Bruno Pizzul
Bruno Pizzul in 1958
Personal information
Date of birth (1938-03-08) 8 March 1938 (age 86)
Place of birth Udine, Italy
Height 1.93 m (6 ft 4 in)
Position(s) Midfielder
Senior career*
Years Team Apps (Gls)
?–1958 Pro Gorizia ? (?)
1958–? Catania ? (?)
1960–1961 Ischia 5 (0)
?–? Catania ? (?)
?–? Cremonese ? (?)
*Club domestic league appearances and goals

Bruno Pizzul Commendatore OMRI (Italian pronunciation: [ˈbruːno ˈpittsul]; born 8 March 1938) is an Italian journalist and a former professional football player. He is best known for being the TV commentator of matches involving the Italy national football team from 1986 to 2002.[1]

Biography and career

Born in Udine, he started his football career in an amateur club of Cormonese Cormons, a town in the Province of Gorizia. From the end of the 1950s to the beginning of the 1960s he played as a professional midfielder for Pro Gorizia, Catania, Ischia and Cremonese.[2]

Graduated in jurisprudence, in 1969 he was hired by RAI, the Italian public service broadcaster, as a sports commentator. The first match commented was Juventus–Bologna of 1969–70 Coppa Italia and the first international match was the UEFA Euro 1972 Final (USSR–West Germany). In 1986, starting with the Mexican FIFA World Cup, he became the official commentator of Italy national football team, succeeding to Nando Martellini [it].

He kept this role until 21 August 2002, when he commented his last match of Italy, in a friendly against Slovenia, played in Trieste and lost by the Azzurri 0–1.[3][4] After his official leave-taking from RAI, in 2007 Pizzul commented for La 7 the replicas of Italian matches at 2006 FIFA World Cup and several matches of 2007–08 Coppa Italia.

He considers himself Roman Catholic.[5] On 2 June 2022 he was awarded the title of Commander of the Order of Merit of the Italian Republic.[6]

Cinema

Bruno Pizzul played the role of himself in the Italian 1974 film L'arbitro (lit. 'The Referee'), directed by Luigi Filippo D'Amico, with Lando Buzzanca and Joan Collins.[7]

In 1996, he lent his voice in the final scenes of the film Fantozzi - Il ritorno, directed by Neri Parenti, with Paolo Villaggio.

References

  1. ^ "The Azzurri get a new voice". The Offside. 26 July 2010. Archived from the original on 7 October 2011.
  2. ^ "Bruno Pizzul, memorie di un cronista". Storie di Calcio (in Italian).
  3. ^ Padovan, Giancarlo (29 July 2002). "Pizzul, è ora di salutare l'Italia". Corriere della Sera (in Italian). p. 32. Archived from the original on 11 September 2012.
  4. ^ "Italia-Slovenia, poco calcio tra cariche e scontri". Corriere della Sera (in Italian). 22 August 2002.
  5. ^ Giordano, Lucio (6 January 2023). "Lo sentivo al mio fianco durante le telecronache e mi aiutava a non sbagliare". Dipiù (in Italian). No. 1. pp. 74–77.
  6. ^ "Le onorificenze della Repubblica Italiana - Pizzul Dott. Bruno" (in Italian). 2 June 2022.
  7. ^ L'arbitro (1974) at IMDb.
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