Champions League winner. Youth coaching guru. Football blogger. AC Milan great Filippo Galli has spent his whole life tied to the game – both at the elite and grassroots levels. And his passion for the sport remains as strong as ever…
Five Serie A titles. Three Champions League winner’s medals. Galli is a genuine Rossonero legend – and that was just on the pitch. Now 60, Galli has spent the majority of his life connected to Milan, serving also as Primavera, Academy and senior assistant coach over a 12 year period. If ever there was a ‘Mr AC Milan’, Galli is it.
In a playing career which spanned over two decades, Galli was part of the teams of Arrigo Sacchi and Fabio Capello which not only dominated Serie A, but also Europe. It was a golden age for Milan and Serie A.
“It was very beautiful to work with Sacchi because he was a genius, he brought to Italy a football revolution,” Galli told Tribalfootball.com.
“I think there was a football before Sacchi and a football after Sacchi, he brought the mentality of the attack also when the team was playing away from their stadium.
“In contrast, (Fabio) Capello was very intelligent in the fact that he didn’t make a lot of changes when he came to the club, and also he gave more freedom to the attacking players.”
And in terms man-management, Galli adds, “We can say that Capello in regards to human resources management was better than Sacchi.”
As mentioned, Galli played in Serie A at it’s absolute peak. The game’s greats flocked to Italy at the time and the former centre-half admits it’s difficult to name just the one opponent who stood out from others.
“I had the chance to play against the most important players like Diego Maradona, Zico, (Karl-Heinz) Rummenigge and (Michel) Platini. What now is the Premier League back then was Serie A.
“It was the best championship in the world where the most talented and important players played there. I could give you a long list of players regarding who was the best I played against.”
And in terms of teammates, Galli finds the question of ‘the best’ just as difficult. The icons simply roll off the tongue.
He continued: “It’s very difficult to choose someone because they were all huge players.
“For the Italian players, I would choose Franco Baresi and Paolo Maldini, and for the foreigners, I would choose (Marco) Van Basten, (Ruud) Gullit, (Frank) Rijkaard, (Zvonimir) Boban and (Dejan) Savicevic.”
Galli spent a decade playing alongside Baresi at the back and it was Milan’s current honourary president who would eventually bring him back to the club as a youth coach.
After playing his final years with the likes of Reggiana, Brescia and Watford – “Gianluca Vialli helped realise my dream of playing in the UK” – Galli was offered a return to Milan to work inside the academy.
It was there that Galli discovered his passion for coaching, particularly youth development. It’s a ‘sector’ he remains committed to even today.
“When I finished my career for some months I was out of the football world, or more exactly I stayed in the football world but in another dimension. For 6-7 months I worked in a football sportswear company, but I couldn’t resist the call for long and I came back to work on the field.
“I was called back to Milan by Ariedo Braida, who was then the sporting director, and was offered a coaching position. I worked as an assistant to Baresi with Milan U21 for two years, and for another two years I was responsible for the youth sector and also had the chance to part of Carlo Ancelotti’s first team staff.
“But eventually I chose to go back with the youth sector because I wanted to work with the young players and help them get better.”
Youth development remains Galli’s passion today. But his coaching has expanded from not only focusing on the development of youth players, but also those whom coach young players in Italy today.
“I was responsible for the youth sector at Milan for nine years,” says Galli. “This topic (of youth development) is a long range discussion and is something I speak also about on my blog.
“The problems are so much and are different. It is not true that there is no talent because we are producing great young players. But I think the focus must be more on the system of football, where we could do better.
“I think we need to change the way we teach young players to play regarding the complexity of the game and the way this complexity is taught to young players. I think we are still using old models in the youth sectors which should have been changed a long time ago.”
And as he mentions, Galli is hoping to pass on his wisdom from over 40 years at the top of Italian game through his recently launched blog: FilippoGalli.com. Just as a player and a coach, Galli has tackled this new venture with a passionate – and professional – approach.
“To be honest I don’t know exactly what the future will reserve for me. For the moment I am working on this blog I opened recently where I speak about the youth sectors, the methodology of training, regarding Milan, and stories about clubs or players that have created football history.
“The theme of the blog is the complexity of football because I think football is very complex and has a lot to teach every day.
“I invite everyone reading to take a look at my blog.”
