Valerio Bertotto


Valerio Bertotto is an Italian football manager and former professional footballer, who played as a defender.

Club career

Bertotto started his professional career during the 1990–91 season with Alessandria in the Italian Serie C2. He joined Udinese in 1993, quickly becoming a historical masterpiece for the team, and spending thirteen seasons with the Friuli side, also captaining his side to what is to date their only appearance in the UEFA Champions League, and also becoming the Udinese player with the highest number of matches ever played for the team.
In July 2006, aged 33, he left Udinese to join Siena, another Serie A team, playing two seasons as a regular for the Tuscan side. He was successively released as a free agent in June 2008, and in January 2009 he accepted an offer from Lega Pro Prima Divisione club Venezia. He was released for free after the club was excluded from the Italian football panorama due to financial issues.
In 2010, he obtained his UEFA A coaching license, which made him eligible to coach Lega Pro teams, however he had not yet started his coaching career at the time; he finally pursued a coaching career in 2012.

International career

Bertotto has played 4 times for the Italy national football team between 2000 and 2001, all during his spell at Udinese, with his senior international debut coming in a World Cup qualifying match against Georgia on 11 October 2000, held in Ancona, under manager Giovanni Trapattoni. He missed out on the 2002 FIFA World Cup due to a knee injury.

Style of play

Bertotto was a hard-tackling and uncompromising central or right-sided defender, who was solid in the air, and effective in the timing of his challenges. Although he was neither particularly quick nor technically gifted, he made up for his lack of pace and skill with his experience and positional sense, and his greatest strength was his ability to defend opposing forwards in one-on-one situations. He also stood out for his leadership throughout his career.

Managerial career

Italy U20 Lega Pro

On 9 August 2012 he was named head coach of the Italy U20 Lega Pro in place of Giorgio Veneri.

Honours

Udinese