Bruno Pizzul, a historic voice in Italian sports journalism, has died. He was 86 years old (he would have turned 87 in a few days) and for almost twenty years, from 1986 to 2002, he had been the commentator of the National team's matches on Rai. Many commentaries, but also the hosting of prominent programs such as Domenica Sprint and La Domenica Sportiva, always on state television.

Born in Udine on March 8, 1938, Pizzul died in the hospital in Gorizia where he had been hospitalized for a couple of weeks . He joined Rai in 1969, a year after his first commentary in a play-off to access the Coppa Italia finals, Juventus-Bologna, played in Como on April 8, 1970 (four days before Cagliari won the championship). From then on, he became an icon of Italian sports journalism and commentated on the main football matches at national and international level. Before dedicating himself to journalism, he had been a footballer and - among the various teams - had played for Catania, Udinese and Ischia.

In 1986, in place of Nando Martellini who had taken ill due to the altitude in Mexico, Pizzul became the commentator for Italy for Rai. He commentated on all the national team matches broadcast on public television, with the exception of the third-fourth place final of Italia '90 against England (he was busy in the final the following day in Rome, West Germany-Argentina), until 2002. On 21 August, in Trieste, the last time in a friendly with Slovenia. Unforgettable, among the many, those of the World Cup played at home in 1990 and the run to the final at USA '94.

After leaving Rai, Pizzul continued his career as a commentator with Gioco Calcio, La7, Cartapiù. He recently had a column on Dazn, within the program Supertele. In recent years he returned to live in his Friuli, an area with which he had never broken off relations .

Among the many messages, there is also that of Cagliari Calcio, which "shares its condolences for the passing of Bruno Pizzul, whose voice has recounted memorable pages of football and sport history with professionalism and competence. A warm embrace to his family and all his loved ones. Thank you, Bruno ."

Enrico Pilia's memory of Bruno Pizzul: an unmistakable voice in black and white.

(Unioneonline/r.sp.)

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