Manchester City’s Sport Therapist Mario Pafundi has joined Norway’s medical staff to follow Erling Haaland’s daily routine, and Football Italia looks at the Italian’s career which began in cycling.
Pafundi has officially joined Norway’s staff during the international break, the first since Haaland’s move to the Etihad Stadium this summer.
The Italian is from Pietragallia, a small town with less than 4,000 citizens in Basilicata, south Italy.
His career didn’t start with football but in cycling. He moved North at the age of 15 to prepare for his professional career attending national races, but he quit in 2004, becoming a technical trainer for Team Barloworld, based in the UK.
He left in 2009, joining the Sky Professional Cycling Team the following year when he worked, among the others, with Bradley Wiggins, Chris Froome and his compatriot Elia Viviani.
Pafundi worked as a massage therapist until 2016 when he joined Manchester City’s medical staff. He has become the first team Sport Therapist and will follow Haaland during the international breaks, including at the 2022 World Cup.
According to reports, his role is to maintain the daily routine Haaland has undergone at City.
Pafundi is one of the many Italian personalities working behind the scenes in some of Europe’s top clubs.
The most prominent is probably Antonio Pintus, currently at Real Madrid and part of Antonio Conte’s staff at Inter in 2020-21. Gian Piero Ventrone has followed the Italian tactician, becoming Tottenham’s fitness coach in November 2021.
Gianni Bianchi has spent several years at Bayern Munich, while nutritionist Giuliano Poser is not contracted by any club but helped Leo Messi to change his diet in 2013.
Pic via: Tuttosport
If a new Italian restaurant opened in Manchester, I expect you to report on that please.
We need any excuse to squeeze in that EPL goodness, right?
You know, The amount of articles on how the Three Lions are relegated to Poule B of the Nations League is underwhelming.
Write an article on how buying mostly foreign talent has always been the achilles heel of English football. I’d read that!