Catenaccio (Lock)

Catenaccio is a tactical system in football with an emphasis on defense. In Italian, catenaccio means “lock”, emphasizing a highly organized and effective defense which is intended to prevent goals. The key innovation of Catenaccio was the introduction of the role of a libero, or sweeper, a player positioned behind the line of defenders. The sweeper’s role is to recover loose balls, nullify the opponent’s striker and double-mark when necessary.

Catenaccio has been criticised for reducing the quality of football games as a spectacle; it became synonymous with “negative football” as it is focused primarily on defending. In the last thirty years Catenaccio has been largely abandoned for other, more balanced tactical approaches; Totaalvoetbal (Total Football), a tactical system created by Rinus Michels in the 1970s, eventually rendered Helenio Herrera’s version of Catenaccio obsolete.