Football coach saves South Tyrolean women's lives

At the beginning of the week, the former football coach and current TV expert intervened in the emergency during a holiday on the Italian Adriatic coast, he told the Journal of Sport He said it wasn't a hero, "but those girls would have drowned, and the lifeguard wouldn't have made it in this sea." The rescued young women from Bolzano are 17 and 19 years old.

According to the 49-year-old's account, he was with his family on a beach in the Apulia region of southern Italy when he was alerted to the two teenage girls calling for help in the water. "I immediately recognized the danger," Stramaccioni said.

Lifeguards and boat did not reach him A lifeguard, without a buoy, rushed into the water to one of the women and asked him to take care of the other. Once she was safe, the former soccer coach swam to the other and reached her before the lifeguard, who was battling the high waves. "I'm no hero, but those girls would have drowned." Andrea Stramaccioni The 17-year-old's situation was "desperate," Stramaccioni said. "She kept going under and coming up, but most importantly, she had already swallowed a lot of water." A rescue boat that had rushed to the scene was unable to reach the two because they were too close to the rocks. "That's when I got scared, especially because the girl was pulling me under water. She was convinced she was going to die," Stramaccioni said.

Red vest as recognition But he managed to get the girl ashore between the rocks. "I literally threw her there and then went under myself. When I came back up, I lost my bearings and crashed into the rocks. Then other people threw me a rope."

Andrea Stramacccioni was presented with a red jersey.

The two women from South Tyrol thanked the former coach for the rescue and returned to Bolzano. Stramaccioni, who had coached Inter Milan, Udinese Calcio, and Panathinaikos Athens, among others, received a red lifeguard bib from the coastguard on the beach. He most recently worked as a football coach in Qatar until October 2022.

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Football coach saves South Tyrolean women's lives

Former Inter coach Andrea Stramaccioni saved two young tourists from Bolzano from drowning in the sea.

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