Former Perugia President Luciano Gaucci has died at the age of 81, a legendary eccentric figure in 1990s Serie A and a man linked with a thousand strange tales.
He had been living in Santo Domingo for many years, but was famous for numerous attention-seeking initiatives.
Gaucci signed Ahn Jung-Hwan, then announced he was firing the player because he scored the winning goal for South Korea against Italy in the 2002 World Cup.
Former Perugia President Luciano Gaucci has died at the age of 81, a legendary eccentric figure in 1990s Serie A and a man linked with a thousand strange tales.
He had been living in Santo Domingo for many years, but was famous for numerous attention-seeking initiatives.
Gaucci signed Ahn Jung-Hwan, then announced he was firing the player because he scored the winning goal for South Korea against Italy in the 2002 World Cup.
This was a bit of showmanship from Gaucci, seeing as Ahn was only ever on loan and Perugia had no intention of keeping him anyway.
Gaucci then signed the son of Libyan dictator Colonel Muammar Gaddafi, Al-Saadi, who was on the club’s books from 2003 to 2005.
Al-Saadi Gaddafi made only three competitive appearances in a Perugia shirt and spent much of that time suspended for anti-doping violations.
Gaucci tried to take advantage of a loophole by fielding the first female player in a Serie A team, but all those he approached turned him down.
He did eventually appoint the first female coach in Italian football, hiring Carolina Morace to Viterbese in 1999.
There were famous arguments with many other Presidents, including a classic stomach-to-stomach altercation outside a team bus with Bari President Vincenzo Matarrese.
He brought Hidetoshi Nakata to Italian football, fired a coach for taking his dog to a press conference and fled the country in 2005 after he and his son Riccardo were charged with fraudulent bankruptcy.