Ivan Zauli

Talent is trained.
Technique is taught.

There are dreams that are born with you.

Mine was clear from childhood: to become a great soccer player.

I grew up in a small town in Romagna, where the ball was my best friend. I used to play for hours in the backyard, honing my movements, imagining myself in big stadiums… Soccer was everything to me.

At the age of ten I was chosen by Cesena, thus beginning a path that seemed marked. I was talented, I was hungry, I was considered an interesting promise.

But the road is not always straight.

At 16, I encountered my first major obstacle: a coach who put physicality first and not individual technical creativity, so he saw my talent as more of a problem than an asset.

I was considered “too technical,” “a circus player.”. In a soccer that relied entirely on tactics and physicality, my talent could not find a space.

I struggled to stand up for myself, but it was not enough.

I went from club to club, through injuries and difficulties. Until a turning point: a serious cartilage problem ended my professional soccer career.
But it was also the moment when I found my true path.

I started coaching boys in the Faenza youth sector, and there I quickly realized that my role was not just that of a coach: I was a master of technique, a figure that did not yet exist in Italy.
I begin to follow and study Wiel Coerver, Dutch coach, a true pioneer of technical teaching from the 1980s to the present. I begin to travel to observe the methods of the best European academies-Barcelona, Ajax, Bayern Munich, CFT France and Manchester United.

My experience

That’s where it all came from: my method, my approach, my dream of training better players than I myself had had as teammates. Because no talent should feel out of place.

Today, with the La Strada dei Campioni project, I carry on that mission, training young soccer players and coaches with a method based on technique, vision and awareness.

I believe that every footballer, in order to reach his or her full potential, must start with individual technique.

Because a player who can control the ball in every situation is a player who can control the game, and consequently his own destiny on the field.

My goal is to teach just that:

to young soccer players, to help them grow with confidence and competence.
to coaches, to convey a method that enhances individuals without sacrificing the collective.

With The Road of Champions, I have created a pathway that bridges the gaps in youth soccer, giving every kid the opportunity that I myself would have liked to have.

” I have dedicated my life to training soccer players with a solid technical foundation and a winning mentality. Because the difference between a player and a champion is in the details. “

Learn more about my books

And how they can help you grow in the world of soccer

A new era of football technique

In an increasingly fast-paced soccer, where the pace is tight and tactical attentions made up of super-organized pressures, having refined ball handling is crucial.
To do this, one must train technique in the optimal way, in a modern, up-to-date form, taking care of learning the various fundamentals, including ball handling.

With my 30 years’ experience as a technique master, I explain the technical priorities according to age groups, illustrating the basics of soccer’s own gestures with numerous videos showing exercises and execution.

In fact, by framing the twenty-eight Qr codes in the book, you can watch my and my boys’ demonstrations and discover how to work toward a new era of soccer technique.

The Road of Champions

Master of technique in the field and in life

I have dedicated my life to soccer and, in particular, to soccer players and coaches. For them, I have created a foolproof method for giving their best on the field and in life. Here it is.

If you are a soccer player, a coach or simply a soccer fan, you will realize from the first lines that you are not in front of the usual book in which the author celebrates himself or claims to teach something.

In my book you will find, yes, my story, but mostly the falls and rises that have marked my life. For it is through successes – and failures – that the character of a sportsman and a man is forged.

The Road of Champions (1st / 2nd / 3rd level)

“The Road of Champions, one method, one school.

118-page book + 162-minute DVD of 1st level, 120-page book + 170-minute DVD of 2nd level, and 111-page book + 150-minute DVD of 3rd level. An innovative and proven technical development pathway for over 15 years in professional and amateur clubs affiliated with the method.

About Me

I started playing soccer in Borello but I was there for a short time and after that I moved to the youth sector of Cesena where, from the first year Pulcini up to the Allievi, I was lucky enough to have Ivan Zauli as my technique teacher. Thanks to his working method, La Strada Dei Campioni, I grew a lot both in the aspect of technical skills and human making me take the path of a professional footballer right from the start. The path made with the method La Strada Dei Campioni has been fundamental in my growth by putting together fun and work(I personally could not wait to get to the field) and now I am realizing a dream I had since I was a child that is to play with real champions.

I arrived in Cesena in 2006 from Marotta, in these years I have been fortunate to know managers and coaches who have made me grow both technically and morally, among them one who played a fundamental role in my technical maturation was Ivan Zauli. Over the years, up to the students, he has offered workouts that are always different and never boring: I learned to handle the ball with both feet and have full command of my body; his method is really innovative, and despite some grooming with Ivan I really enjoyed it. If I was lucky enough to make my debut in the big leagues, part of the credit is definitely due to my friend Ivan.

I really feel like recommending CHAMPIONS ROAD and its courses to all those coaches who put as their first goal the growth of kids through self-improvement. On the other hand, I do not recommend it to all those coaches whose only goal is the weekend result. I am convinced that a coach and especially a youth sector manager, must have, as Ivan always says, the "patience of the farmer," who plants the seed, patiently cultivates it and after some time reaps the fruits of his labor.

I learned about this method of teaching soccer technique a little less than 10 years ago, when Ivan started a technique project with Imolese Calcio, a club where I played. Now in my late twenties I realize how behind every technical gesture, behind every action done mechanically endlessly during the exercises there was a very specific reason,a correct body posture and gesture,that once assimilated allows you on the green rectangle to have substantial advantages.

With Ivan Zauli and his working method La Strada Dei Campioni (The Road Of Champions), I grew significantly in the technical aspect and at the same time on my self-esteem. An intense, hard and at the same time very entertaining educational path, thanks to his awareness and ball control exercises done from the Esordienti to the Allievi in the Cesena Youth Sector. Now I can notice the results of the work done and be proud that those exercises will serve me well as I continue my career.

I had the pleasure of getting to know Ivan on a trip to China, made in order to make the technicians there understand the principles and methods of "our" football culture. I was able to appreciate Ivan's human qualities and rigorous professional competence, and the great effectiveness of his working method, as seen and applied directly in the field.

I had the opportunity to meet Ivan in 2013 and to appreciate, during an internship for coaches, both the preparation as a "field" technician, able to explain and demonstrate correctly the technical gesture, and the consistency and linearity of the educational path he proposes. Ivan later worked as a technical contributor on my staff during the 2013/2014 season

Talent is trained. Technique is taught.