Ezio Vendrame

footballer, who played as a midfielder.^[1][2][3]

Napoli; however, he only remained with the latter side for a season, as he soon fell out of favour with the club's strict manager – Luís Vinício

Juniors Casara, with whom he was disqualified in 1981 after behaving aggressively towards a referee during a match.^{[4][5][6][7][8][9][10][11][12][13]}

winger. Possessing excellent technique, flair, dribbling skills, and an eye for the final pass, he was regarded as one of the most promising young Italian players early in his career, even earning the nickname "the Italian George Best," due to his physical appearance (namely his beard and long hair), skills, playing style, movements, position, rebellious personality, and anti–conformist "hippy" lifestyle off the pitch, which made him a symbol of Italian football during the 1970s, and highly popular with the fans, but also made his relationships with his managers difficult (indeed, Vendrame was known for both smoking and drinking throughout his career). He was also occasionally known in the Italian media by the nickname "il poeta del gol" ("the goal poet," in Italian), and was also compared to Mario Kempes on occasion throughout his career, due to his hairstyle and playing position. Despite his skill and talent, however, he ultimately failed to live up to his potential and establish himself at the top level due to his strong character, behaviour, and lack of tactical discipline on the pitch; as such, certain pundits accused him of "wasting his talent." Moreover, his career was often marked by inconsistency, and he frequently alternated excellent performances with disappointing ones.^{[4][5][6][7][9][11][12][13][14]}

Sanvitese, but often came into conflict with the parents of the members of the youth teams he coached. As he favoured the technical aspect of the game over tactics, he was known for his rigorous training sessions which focussed predominantly on technique and his teams' play while in possession of the ball, rather than on athletic preparation, tactics, or set plays, with one of his former players once remarking: "he only ever made us run as a punishment."^{[4][5][6][7][8][9][13]}

Luigi Meroni, Gianfranco Zigoni, and Diego Maradona. Vendrame was also deeply interested in music and poetry; he also wrote songs, poems, and even played the guitar.^{[5][7][8][12]}