When Zdeněk Zeman began his coaching career with Palermo in 1974, it quickly became clear
that he was different to his colleagues. His ideas were radical, his methods unique, and
his ideology like nothing that had been seen in Italian football before.
When he came to the fore as an innovator and nonconformist, Italian football was based
primarily on strong defences. But Zeman thought differently. “A 0-0 is boring,” he said.
“It’s better to lose 5-4; at least it gives you some entertainment.” This outlook
earned him the nickname Il Boemo: The Bohemian. Born in 1947 in Prague, Zeman never played
football. Instead, while a teenager, he took up volleyball and handball, both of which
later influenced his ideas as a coach. He played ice hockey, too, and even reached the
international stage in the sport. A career in football seemed unlikely. But,
in the summer of 1968, the threat of the Cold War convinced Zeman to flee Czechoslovakia,
the country of his birth. He left for Siciliy, to live with his uncle Čestmír Vycpàlek,
who had played for Juventus and Palermo before beginning a managerial career.
It was Vycpàlek who gave Zeman his break in football, offering the youngster a role
as a youth coach at Palermo. He had spent his first few years in Italy helping out in
training at local amateur clubs, cutting his teeth in the lower levels before making the
step up. He completed a degree, too, studying sports medicine at the University of Palermo.
In 1974, Zeman began working at Palermo. He stayed for nine years, developing his ideas
and obtaining his coaching licence from Coverciano, where he studied alongside Arrigo Sacchi.
By 1984, Zeman felt ready to embark on his own managerial career.
He was handed his first job as head coach with Licata, and he immediately put his principles
in place. Zeman insisted on a policy of trusting young players, building the foundations of
his team on youth. And he was equally assertive when it came to his style of play: Zeman’s
4-3-3 was unapologetically attacking, with forward-thinking wing-backs and advanced midfielders.
A year after taking the Licata job, Zeman guided the club to the Serie C2 title.
In 1987, he made the first of many moves, joining Foggia, but his first spell with the
Apulia-based club was brief. He joined Parma after less than a season, replacing Sacchi,
and was sacked after just seven games. Then it was on to an equally brief spell at Messina,
before his eventual return to Foggia in 1989. It was there that Zeman truly made his name.
In five years, he guided the club from the third tier of Italian football to Serie A,
and then helped them consolidate in the top flight. Foggia’s success was based on their
fluid, almost reckless attacking play: having top-scored with 67 goals in their 1990-91
Serie B promotion campaign, they continued to score freely in Serie A. Only title-winners
Milan scored more than Foggia’s 58 in the 1991-92 season. And only relegated Ascoli
conceded more than Foggia’s 58. Still, despite falling to an 8-2 defeat against Milan, they
finished the season in ninth. Foggia, under their chain-smoking, idealistic
coach, were a team of extremes. Zeman earned praise and condemnation in equal measure for
his refusal to bow to pragmatism. When catenaccio ruled in Italy, he preached the importance
of going out to win, and win well. Avoiding defeat was not something he cared about. “If
you score 90 goals then it shouldn’t really matter how many you concede,” he said.
The glory days at Foggia became known as Zemanlandia, and the club’s success soon earned Zeman
a move to a bigger club. In 1994, Lazio came calling, clearly impressed, not deterred,
by his work with modest resources at Foggia. At Lazio, Zeman continued to play a refreshing
brand of attacking football. He guided the club to second and third finishes in his first
two seasons and was credited with kickstarting the career of the great Alessandro Nesta.
Twenty years into his managerial career, Zeman had managed to maintain a reasonable level
of stability. But that changed when he moved across the capital to join Roma in 1997. His
time with the Giallorossi was most memorable for his controversial accusations of doping
at Juventus. An investigation was carried out and the club’s doctor Riccardo Agricola
was sentenced to 22 months in prison. The result, for Zeman, was a newfound reputation
as something of a troublemaker. Top jobs in Italy became harder to come by after he left
Roma in 1999, and so he headed to Turkey, taking charge at Fenerbahce.
Since then, Zeman has not stayed in a role for longer than two years, taking on a series
of jobs in the lower leagues of Italy. He coached at Avellino, Lecce and Brescia, and
made brief returns to Foggia and Roma. Most recently, he was enjoying a second stint at
Pescara, although he was unable to guide the club away from relegation in Serie A.
Tangible success has been difficult to come by for Zeman. But that will not concern him.
“Sometimes the losers have taught more than the winners,” he once said. “I like to
think I’ve given something more and something different to football.”