L'allenatore nel pallone

Oronzo Canà, a modest coach from Serie B, is hired to take charge of Longobarda, a small-town club from northern Italy that has just been promoted to the top division. Keeping the team from relegation is the stated aim, but the club's president has other ideas: top-flight football costs more than he wants to spend, and he works against his own coach. When the side's most promising players are sold, Oronzo travels to Brazil with an obscure scout to find replacements, and comes back with a striker whose homesickness weighs on him.

Sergio Martino directed this Italian comedy, the ninth of the thirteen films he made in chronological order, following The Wife on Vacation... The Lover in Town and preceding Half Right Half Left - 2 Footballers Without a Ball. He wrote the screenplay with Franco Verucci and Lino Banfi, who plays Oronzo; Luciano Martino produced. Camillo Milli appears as President Borlotti, with Andrea Roncato, Gigi Sammarchi, Giuliana Calandra and Stefania Spugnini among a credited cast of thirty-eight.

Released in October 1984 and running ninety-eight minutes, the film rates 6.9 out of 10 on IMDb from around 2,900 votes, and 6.5 out of 10 on TMDB from over 400 votes. Both figures point to a comedy that has held a steady, modest following rather than wide acclaim.