In the words of volleyball maestro Guidetti, he raised his name to the top of Europe by raising modern women who will be role models for children.
Guidetti says “I have two families” and compares the Vakifbank partnership to marriage.
Giovanni Guidetti (born 20 September 1972) is an Italian volleyball coach. He's been coaching Turkish team Vakıfbank Spor Kulübü since 2008. He coached the Turkey women's national team between 2017 and 2022.
Having won the CEV Champions League for the 2nd time in a row and for the 6th time in total, Vakıfbank achieved a historic success.
Türkiye changed the direction of volleyball
When Giovanni Guidetti, born on September 20, 1972, accepted Vakıfbank's offer at the beginning of the 2008-2009 season, no one, including himself, could have known the effects of this decision. There were too many people with a sports background in their family. He lived in a town where volleyball was more popular than football or basketball. His dream was to become a professional volleyball player, but he was not tall. He decided to become a volleyball coach like his father. With the guidance of his father, he started his career by teaching volleyball to children at the age of 18. Guidetti climbed the steps one by one. At the age of 23, he became the youngest coach to coach a professional team in Italy.
Has an adaptation problem
The Italian coach, who started his career in Volley 2000 Spezzano and later coached teams such as Vicenza, Reggio Emilia, Modena and Chieri in Italy, had an adaptation problem the first year he came to Vatıfbank. He had no social circle. The club did not get successful results. He decided to resign and return to his native Italy. Club management stopped him. “When people give you opportunity and value, you have to reciprocate,” Guidetti said years later. This feeling of trust made me connect to the country as well.”
Brought the first Champions League trophy to Turkey
In an interview he gave in 2010, the Italian coach would say that he was complaining about the organization. According to him, there was no real league in Turkey. Teams did not know when and where to play. Planning was just the word. The Italian coach said, "Turkey invests more than Italy, if you can combine this investment with a good organization, it would be great." At that time, he could not have known that he would be one of the people who would place the volleyball organization in the country. The turning point for Guidetti was the CEV Champions League Cup that came in 2011. He went down in history as the first head coach to win this trophy for Turkey.
Marriage and the year he collected all the trophies in 2013
This success enabled him to continue with Vakıfbank. In his social life, he was now a lover of Istanbul. He found the love he was looking for in Bahar Toksoy, who played in his own team. They got married in 2013. He went down in history by taking all the trophies that can be bought with a club to his museum that year. Marriage had worked for him. Vakıfbank became a trophy monster after this year, and with each success, the relationship of mutual trust with the club grew. When he lifted the CEV Champions League trophy for the second time in a row this season, he would use the phrase "my second family" for Vakıfbank.
Guidetti, who is married to Bahar Toksoy, who is currently playing in THY, became a father in 2016.
He became a father in 2016, and became the head of Turkey.
2016 had a special significance in Guidetti's life. While success came with Vakıfbank, his wife became pregnant. Bahar Toksoy Guidetti was in the field 42 days after her daughter Alison was born. Alison was also in the photo when the championship trophy was taken. He also became the head of the Turkish National Team that year. Now he was one of us. He traveled every inch of Anatolia until he handed over his duty to Daniele Santarelli this year. He made great efforts to spread volleyball. The lack of organization that he complained about when he first arrived, is not present today, and Guidetti has a great share in this.
Trophy with 'Everybody's Gonna Hate Us' video
Vakıfbank continued to collect trophies both in Europe and in Turkey. This season, they faced Fenerbahçe in the semi-finals of the Champions League, which they were eliminated in the league. They lost 3-0 at home. No one gave them a chance on the road. Guidetti worked with the technical team for days. Before the Fenerbahce match, he made his team watch a special video. The video featured one of the most famous skateboarders in the Brazilian world. The movie started with the skateboarder saying 'Everybody hates me'. After watching the video, Guidetti said: “As soon as he won the biggest tournament of his life, the skateboarder decided to do the riskiest thing. If he had chosen to do the simple thing, he would most likely have won. But he chose the riskiest move. Okay, everybody's gonna hate us tonight. There will be a lot of Fenerbahçe fans in Burhan Felek. Today is not a game we can simply play and hope to win. Today we don't take risks, we have to play boldly' as he did."
Vakıfbank teachers took the field with the motivation of Guidetti. They won the gold set after winning the match 3-0. After the match, the Italian coach said, “We did the miracle because it's not easy to win 4-0 against any team. Against Fenerbahçe, it is a once-in-a-lifetime situation.”
Vakıfbank lifted Europe's biggest trophy for the 6th time under Guidetti's management.
He lost his mother, his team won the final for him
Four days before the Eczacıbaşı final in the CEV Champions League, her mother, Laura Guidetti, passed away. He didn't want to leave his team alone. He went to the funeral at the insistence of the players. He returned to the head of the team. He was thinking of his mother when he lifted the trophy with a score of 3-1: “My mother helped me in this championship too, I believe she is with us.”
Zehra Güneş, one of the stars of the team, said, “We are his family. We have always said that we are there for him in all circumstances. So he agreed to go to the funeral. We knew that winning this trophy would give him some morale.” The Vakıfbank family supported him at his saddest time.
27 trophies with Vakıfbank
Giovanni Guidetti is the head coach who has won the most championships in the FIVB Club World Championship and the CEV Champions League. There are 27 cups that the Italian coach has lifted with Vakıfbank.
* 4 FIVB Club World Championships (2013, 2017, 2018, 2021)
* 6 CEV Champions League (2011, 2013, 2017, 2018, 2022, 2023)
* 7 Turkish Leagues (2013, 2014, 2016, 2018, 2019, 2021, 2022)
* 6 Turkish Cups (2013, 2014, 2017, 2021, 2022, 2023)
* 4 Turkish Champions Cups (2013, 2014, 2017, 2021)
“People see contemporary Turkish women on the field”
In a statement to the press, Guidetti thanked his players for never giving up on working. When Vakifbank convinced him when he resigned in 2008, he gained a lot for both Guidetti and Turkey. He likens his partnership with Vakıfbank to marriage: “I was a young man when I became the head of Vakıfbank, I grew up with the team. Our relationship is like marriage. We have gained a lot together.”
Guidetti says he has a great love for Turkey.
The Italian coach succeeded in making volleyball one of the most popular sports in Turkey by competing with Fenerbahçe and Eczacıbaşı. Currently, Turkey's most successful branch in team sports is definitely women's volleyball. What Guidetti does and says is like a compass: “I can only say that Turkish volleyball and Turkish volleyball players have everything to be the pride of this country. Therefore, the interest is increasing day by day. When people watch volleyball, they see contemporary Turkish women as perfect role models for their children. He sees warrior athletes who never give up.”