Cards, Cigarettes and a lot of Goals: When Foggia Rose to Serie A
In the late ’80s and early ’90s, Italian football was dominated by defense. Coaches preached the gospel of “keep a clean sheet first, and if a goal happens to come our way, great.” High-scoring matches were a rare luxury. A 1-0 win wasn’t seen as a hard-fought, nerve-wracking victory—it was the national score and a triumph of tactical discipline. This was an era when Serie A’s average goals per game barely scraped past two (compared to nearly three today). It was a league where, in the 1993-94 season, AC Milan clinched the title with just 36 goals in 34 matches! A league where some teams ended the season with 17, 18, or 20 goals—roughly half a goal per game (for the entire team, not just their top scorer!).
Into this era of defensive orthodoxy arrived Zdeněk Zeman’s Foggia in the summer of 1991. The 44-year-old Czech was a bohemian figure, perpetually sporting a cigarette between his lips. Despite having spent two decades in Italy, his footballing philosophy remained entirely untouched by the prevailing trends. Zeman didn’t believe in stifling the opponent’s game or eking out 1-0 victories. To him, football was entertainment, and his sole objective was for everyone to leave the match entertained: his players, the fans in the stands, the viewers at home, and himself. “In Italy, coaches are afraid that if they lose one match, they might lose their job. That’s why most teams focus on disrupting the opponent’s play rather than playing their own game. That’s miles away from my philosophy,” Zeman explained.
Pasquale Casillo shared Zdeněk Zeman’s bold footballing vision. Having inherited a successful family business, Casillo expanded it to such heights that he earned the nickname “The King of Cereals.” Like any quintessential middle-aged Italian, he eventually decided to invest in football. In 1986, he purchased Foggia, a team competing in Serie C at the time. One day, one of his advisors mentioned a Czech coach who was rumored to be doing impressive work. Intrigued, Casillo went to watch Zeman’s Licata in action. Licata lost 4-1 that day, but the astute businessman saw enough to be convinced.
Zeman soon moved to Foggia, taking charge of a struggling team with a thin roster, captained by 26-year-old midfielder Delio Rossi. However, the experiment didn’t work out. Off-field issues, including a five-point penalty carried over from previous seasons, weighed the team down. When promotion wasn’t achieved, Zeman and Casillo parted ways—but only temporarily.
In the summer of 1989, Casillo asked Zeman to give it another shot. The revamped Foggia dominated Serie B during the 1990-91 season, scoring 20 more goals than the league’s second-best attack and earning promotion to Serie A after a 13-year absence. Few believed they could survive in the top flight. Their unconventional, high-risk approach had worked mysteriously well in Serie B, but Serie A was a different beast. The defenses were impenetrable, and any smaller team that dared to attack so recklessly would leave gaping holes at the back—an invitation for the league’s clinical forwards. Many assumed Zeman would adapt, adopting a more conservative approach. Instead, the enigmatic Czech doubled down on his philosophy.
In Zeman’s first Serie A match as a coach, he sent out an ultra-attacking Foggia against UEFA Cup holders and title favorites Inter. At the San Siro, no less. The drubbing many anticipated never came. Foggia didn’t sit back; they created chances, posed threats, and even took the lead in the second half. They left Milan with a stunning 1-1 draw. Zeman’s message was clear: We won’t compromise our philosophy. We don’t care who the opponent is. We’ll play our game.
What exactly was their game? Foggia always lined up in a 4-3-3 formation that often morphed into a daring 2-3-5. The goalkeeper acted as a sweeper, the defensive line pushed high, and the fullbacks bombed forward relentlessly to create numerical advantages. These tactics, commonplace today, were groundbreaking at the time. The team’s biggest asset was relentless movement. Foggia ran—constantly. In an era when football was often slow and fitness levels weren’t a primary focus, Zeman’s players resembled commandos. And in a way, they were.
Behind the artistic and attacking nature of Zeman’s football lay a carefully hidden military discipline. The Czech tactician knew that for his vision to succeed, his players had to outrun their opponents. This led to a grueling training regimen, which soon became the stuff of legend. Anecdotes from players often ended with stories of vomiting or legs so heavy they couldn’t climb their home stairs. Foggia trained as if preparing for war—at dawn, under the scorching midday sun, in the evenings, through forests, up hills, and especially on the stadium steps.
Zeman’s favorite endurance drill was a punishing routine of running up and down the stands of their stadium, which lacked a proper training facility. When journalists asked him about player complaints, he would take a drag of his cigarette and quip, “In Pescara, I lived by the beach. Every morning at 6, I saw countless people running. And mind you, no one was paying them to do it.”
While his rigorous training methods initially caused discomfort, this tension rarely lasted beyond a few weeks. Once the players stepped onto the pitch and executed the tactics drilled during pre-season, they saw the purpose behind the grueling preparation. Foggia’s youth was central to their success. The squad’s average age was just 23, with no starter over 27. Their relentless energy and commitment made Zeman’s physically demanding system possible.
Giuseppe Signori, Francesco Baiano, and Roberto Rambaudi were young, relatively unknown players when Zeman took charge. At 23 and 25 years old, respectively, they had combined for 46 goals in Serie B the previous season. Under Zeman, they transformed into one of Italy’s deadliest attacking trios.
The most striking example was “Beppe” Signori. Initially puzzled by Zeman’s greeting, “Welcome, executioner,” Signori insisted, “I’m a playmaker, not a finisher. I’d scored just five goals last season, and even that seemed like a lot.” Zeman, however, saw what others didn’t. Under his guidance, Signori became a prolific striker, earned national team call-ups, won Serie A’s Golden Boot three times, and ended his career as the league’s 9th all-time top scorer.
The 1-1 draw at Inter on opening day set the tone for what was to come. Home matches became festive events, drawing more than 20,000 fans. Away from home, Foggia maintained their fearless style, earning results that defied expectations. In the first half of the season, they held Roma to a 1-1 draw at the Olimpico, secured a thrilling 3-3 tie at Napoli’s San Paolo, and defeated Fiorentina 2-1 at the Artemio Franchi after a comeback. Their second half was equally impressive: a 2-1 victory over Lazio, a 1-0 win against Napoli, and a 1-1 draw away at reigning champions Sampdoria. Even their draws were spectacles: 2-2 against Inter, 3-3 with Fiorentina, 2-2 versus Cagliari, and an unforgettable 4-4 thriller against Atalanta.
However, for Foggia fans, nothing topped the double over arch-rivals Bari—a 4-1 triumph in the first leg, with Baiano scoring a hat trick, followed by a commanding 3-1 away win at a packed San Nicola. Zeman’s bond with his players was unique. Despite his strictness, he was approachable and often joined them in informal moments. Zeman and his players became the new heroes of Foggia, promoting the city with their captivating football. The Czech coach was adored everywhere. Fans would gift him sweets before matches as a good-luck charm, and Zeman never missed an opportunity to connect with the people. Whether it was a group of elderly men playing cards in a park or factory workers after a long shift, Zeman would join in, effortlessly blending into their world.
“When I was at Foggia, there was a night when Signori, Rambaudi, Barone, and I stayed up late playing cards. Zeman caught us but, instead of scolding us, he sat down and played until dawn. The next day, we arrived at the training center to find a notice board with fines for the night’s escapade. The incredible part? Under our names, Zeman had listed himself too—with a fine twice as large as ours!”
Foggia finished 9th in Serie A, comfortably achieving their survival goal. At one point, dreams of European qualification seemed within reach. They ended the season with the league’s second-best attack, scoring 58 goals—second only to Fabio Capello’s star-studded AC Milan. Remarkably, this tally was higher than any Serie A team had managed in the previous two seasons. While their frail defense was the second-worst in the league, no one seemed to mind. Foggia’s exhilarating style had captured the hearts of fans and established Zeman as one of football’s most unique and innovative minds.
As often happens in such cases, the initial shock and admiration were soon followed by offers. That summer, Pascuale Casillo’s office was flooded with bids for nearly every protagonist of what would later be called “the Foggia miracle.” Among those offers were some directed at Zeman himself. The Czech tactician declined them, but for some of his players, the offers were of the “offer you can’t refuse” variety, as another Italian might say. Within weeks, Foggia’s celebrated attacking trio had disbanded: Signori joined Lazio, Baiano moved to Fiorentina, and Rambaudi headed to Atalanta in Bergamo.
Even with these significant losses, Zeman managed to maintain the team at an impressive level for its stature. Over the next two seasons, Foggia finished 12th and then 9th, narrowly missing out on a UEFA Cup spot. However, in the summer of 1994, Lazio convinced Zeman to take a chance in the capital. Without their visionary coach, Foggia was relegated the following season and has never returned to Serie A since.
Despite its brief tenure in the top flight, Foggia’s presence during those three years left an indelible mark on Italian football. Their story was immortalized in the documentary “Zemanlandia,” and Italian media continue to celebrate that era even today. The club gained a special place in the hearts of neutral fans, who remember it fondly. Moreover, several of Foggia’s young, unheralded players of that time went on to represent the national team and secure significant transfers, cementing the legacy of a team that transcended its humble roots.