Vito Chimenti, born 9 December 1953, Bari, Apulia, Italy.
PART ONE
Vito Chimenti, a man with a moustache as legendary as his footwork, didn’t just play football—he danced with it and at times fooled both defenders and goalkeepers with a dribble so cheeky it was named the bicicletta.
Chimenti first began playing for Avis Edilsport where he learned to treat the ball like a trusted friend. He took his first professional steps with Matera, making his Serie C debut in the 1972–73 season. And although goals were not exactly pouring in just yet, his talent was unmistakable, shimmering just beneath the surface like a gem still coated in earth.
Despite a brief and uneventful spell with Lazio, a club then more focused on consolidating their top-flight status than nurturing an unpredictable talent, Chimenti refused to fade into the background. On the contrary, he dropped back down into the lower leagues, playing for Lecco, Salernitana, and eventually Matera once again. These formative years may not have garnered headlines, yet they were instrumental in sharpening his craft and instilling the resilience that would serve him well in the turbulent years to come.
However, it was not until 1977 when he signed for Palermo, that the Chimenti legend truly began to blossom. Palermo, a club perennially flirting with greatness but never quite sealing the deal, found in Chimenti a goalscorer of instinct and invention. In his first season in Serie B, he began to thrive, but it was the 1978–79 campaign that truly lit up his name in pink and black neon.
While with Palermo, he scored a staggering 29 goals across two seasons, with his most iconic contribution coming in the 1979 Coppa Italia final against Juventus. Chimenti needed only one minute to make an impact, latching onto a loose ball and firing home to send Palermo fans into ecstasy. Unfortunately, Chimenti’s match was cut short at half-time, the result of a knee-wrenching foul by a young Antonio Cabrini who would go on to lift the World Cup in 1982.
As a result, Palermo would go on to lose 2–1, and Chimenti would nurse a knee injury that hampered him for months. Nevertheless, his stock was rising, and so was his reputation for technical skill, creativity, and a dribble that made defenders dizzy—and not from exhaustion, but sheer embarrassment.
Thus, in the summer of 1979, Chimenti got his long-awaited break in Serie A with Catanzaro, a club that had clawed its way into the top tier and hoped to stay there. However, dreams don’t always go to plan. Though he made his top-flight debut on 16 September 1979, goals were hard to come by. He scored only once in the league, and though the team battled valiantly, Chimenti was clearly a square peg in a round tactical hole.
In contrast, his next move to Pistoiese in 1980 would prove far more productive—at least on a personal level. Despite the club enduring a disastrous season, finishing bottom of the Serie A table, Chimenti scored nine goals, making him the club’s top scorer in their only ever top-flight campaign.
Following relegation, Chimenti took his talents to Avellino in 1981, where he found the back of the net three times. This spell was relatively short-lived, and perhaps uneventful in the grand scheme of his career, but it kept him in the top division and in the minds of managers who were always on the lookout for a striker who could do something different—because if there was one thing Chimenti never did, it was blend in.
PART TWO
Vito Chimenti´s next chapter was arguably one of his most important, albeit away from the glamorous spotlight of Serie A. He signed with Taranto in Serie C1, and it was there, in the modest stadiums of southern Italy, that Chimenti found his scoring touch once more.
He netted 13 goals in the 1982–83 season, finishing as the league’s top scorer, and playing a pivotal role in Taranto’s promotion to Serie B. Fans adored him—not just for the goals, but for the joy with which he played the game. He didn’t shoot; he caressed the ball into the net and if defenders dared to press, he would whip out the bicicletta and leave them lunging at shadows.
Still, as glorious as this period was, it couldn’t last forever. In 1985, tragedy struck—not in the form of injury, but scandal. Chimenti was handed a five-year ban from all football activity due to his involvement in the infamous Padova match-fixing scandal. Although not the central figure, he was found guilty by association, and the punishment was swift and severe.
Alas, his playing career came to a bitter and premature end, and fans were left wondering how many more seasons of magic had been robbed from them. In a game often tainted by the actions of the few, Chimenti became another cautionary tale, though many still believed the sentence was too harsh for a player who had given so much joy to the game.
But Chimenti was not one to fade into obscurity. Upon completing his suspension, he returned to football in a different guise—as a coach. He worked with several lower-tier Italian clubs, both as a head coach and assistant, passing on his love for the game and his unique philosophy of play.
Undoubtedly, his experience shaped the way he approached coaching. He believed in flair, in improvisation, in giving players the freedom to express themselves—a luxury he often found lacking in his own time. And while he never managed a club in Serie A, his presence in the dugout was valued for his deep understanding of the game, and for the stories he would share with young players who had never seen the bicicletta, let alone attempted it on a muddy training ground.
Sadly, Chimenti passed away in January 2023 at the age of 69, leaving behind a legacy not measured in trophies or caps but in the sheer joy of watching football played with a wink, a shuffle, and a moustache that you could set your watch to.
Notably, Vito Chimenti´s signature move, the bicicletta, should not be confused with the aerial overhead kick popularised by legends like Pelé and Hugo Sánchez. No, this was a ground-based dribble—a kind of half-step, half-dance—where he would shuffle both feet over the ball in rapid succession, dazzling his marker like a magician performing a sleight of hand.