Walter Zenga (Italian pronunciation: [ˈvalter ˈdzeŋɡa, - ˈdzɛŋ-]; born 28 April 1960) is an Italian professional football manager and former player.
He is regarded as "one of the greatest goalkeepers of his generation", and "one of Italy's best keepers ever".
He was a long-time goalkeeper for Inter Milan and the Italy national team. During his playing career, Zenga was part of the Italian squad that finished fourth at the 1984 Olympics in Los Angeles and was the starting goalkeeper for the Italian team that finished third in the 1990 FIFA World Cup tournament held in Italy, keeping a World Cup record unbeaten streak, until broken by Unai Simón in 2026. A three-time winner of the IFFHS World's Best Goalkeeper Award, Zenga is regarded by pundits as one of the best goalkeepers of all time, and in 2013 was voted the eighth best goalkeeper of the past quarter-century by IFFHS. In 2000, he also placed 20th in the World Keeper of the Century Elections by the same organisation.
After retiring as a player, Zenga briefly became an actor in an Italian soap opera and also a pundit on Italian TV. Since 1998 he has worked as a head coach and managed clubs in the United States, Italy, Turkey, Romania, Serbia, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates and England.
Zenga joined Inter Milan in 1982, after starting his professional career in 1978 in the lower divisions of Italian football (his first team was Salernitana in Serie C1, and he also played for Savona and Sambenedettese). Initially, (in the 1982–83 season) he was the substitute of Ivano Bordon, who was one of the top Italian goalkeepers of his era, as he had been Dino Zoff's reserve in the 1982 FIFA World Cup. However, Zenga played Inter's matches in the Coppa Italia, impressing enough that the club decided not to buy another goalkeeper after Bordon's decision to move to Sampdoria during the summer of 1983. Zenga became Inter's starting goalkeeper in the 1983–84 season, where he conceded only 23 goals, better than any other goalkeeper in that season.
The next season would prove to be bittersweet for Zenga: although he continued to play excellently, he did not manage to win any trophies. In Italy, Inter was the main rival of Hellas Verona who won the first and, to this day, only Scudetto of its history in 1985, while in Europe he had to suffer two bitter and quite controversial defeats at the hands of Spanish giants Real Madrid, both times in the UEFA Cup semi-finals. However, personal success was growing: he became a fan favourite due to his qualities and his love for the team, his fame was now nationwide thanks to his larger than life personality and he quickly established himself as one of the premier goalkeepers of the country, which led to him being called up to Italy's squad for the 1986 World Cup.
Apart from enjoying the selection for a World Cup, the summer of 1986 proved to be important for Zenga also at club level. In fact, Inter signed Giovanni Trapattoni, who left Juventus after a highly successful 10-year stint, to manage the team. Meanwhile, the trio formed by Zenga, Giuseppe Bergomi and Riccardo Ferri (who respectively occupied the positions of goalkeeper, right-sided full-back, and man-marking centre-back/stopper) was becoming the cornerstone of the team and of the Italian team also. In the 1986–87 season. Inter closely fought Napoli for the Scudetto, finishing third despite a series of injuries which plagued the team in the final weeks of the season (among others, Marco Tardelli, Alessandro Altobelli and Karl-Heinz Rummenigge had to watch the final matches from the bench). However, Zenga imposed himself as the best goalkeeper in Italy, finishing the 30 matches-long season conceding only 17 goals and by being picked by new Italy's manager Azeglio Vicini as the starter in the goalkeeping position.
The next season would prove to be disappointing for Inter and Zenga: the team struggled all the season, due to lack of compatibility between the two main forwards (team's captain Altobelli and the newly acquired Aldo Serena) and between the two offensive midfielders Gianfranco Matteoli and the Belgian Vincenzo Scifo. Plus Zenga, dissatisfied with the way the club was managed, decided to leave Inter and join the then dominant Napoli. However, the move did not materialize and Zenga remained with Inter. The highlight of the season for Zenga was the participation in the 1988 UEFA European Championships with Italy.
However, the next season would prove to be one of the best for Inter and Zenga. The team, reinvigorated by the acquisitions of the young Italians Alessandro Bianchi and Nicola Berti, the Germans Andreas Brehme and Lothar Matthäus from Bayern Munich and the Argentine Ramón Díaz dominated the season, winning the league title with a record haul of 58 points and breaking several other records during the year. Such a performance is even more impressive if the whole quality of the tournament is taken in consideration: in second position there was the Diego Maradona-led Napoli and in third position the star-studded and future European champion Milan. Zenga ended the season conceding only 19 goals, the best goalkeeper again in that respect.
The 1989–90 and 1990–91 seasons proved to be bittersweet for Inter: although the team remained a title contender, it didn't manage to take another success on home soil, except for the victory in the Supercoppa Italiana played in November 1989 against Sampdoria. The 1991 season turned out to be a close fight between Inter and Sampdoria, with the title decided in a match played in Milan, which Inter would lose 0–2 allowing Gianluca Vialli and Roberto Mancini to win the league title. However, Inter won the UEFA Cup that year, defeating, among the others, Aston Villa, Atalanta and Sporting CP on the road to the final against Roma. Inter won the first match 2–0 and lost only 1–0 in Rome, achieving the first European success since the 1960s. After that match, manager Giovanni Trapattoni left the team, as he decided to return as coach of Juventus.
On a personal scale, Zenga experienced in these seasons the peak of his career. For three consecutive years (1989–1991) he was nominated by IFFHS the best goalkeeper in the world, ahead of goalkeepers like Michel Preud'homme, Rinat Dasaev and Andoni Zubizarreta. Zenga was at his best between the posts, as his great explosiveness and sharp reflexes enabled him to make great and spectacular saves. Not known for being a great penalty saver (frequently dropping down to the ground in the middle of the goal), in his career he did however save penalty kicks from Roberto Baggio, Michel Platini and Paul Merson.
Zenga continued to play for Inter until 1994, winning the UEFA Cup in 1991 and 1994, his last season with the club.
In 1994, Zenga transferred to Sampdoria, and then to Padova two years later.
On March 4, 1997, Major League Soccer allocated Zenga to the New England Revolution. He made his Revolution debut in the 1997 season opener on March 29, a 1–0 victory over the Dallas Burn. He made his home debut on April 20, in a 2–1 victory over the Tampa Bay Mutiny. During a game versus the Tampa Bay Mutiny, he celebrated a goal by running to the sidelines and making out with his girlfriend, as the Mutiny barely missed the open net straight from the kickoff.
In June On July 20, the club placed Zenga on injured reserve following a knee injury. He would fly to Italy following the Revolution's 4–2 victory over Tampa Bay on July 18 for arthroscopic surgery. Scott Coufal and Jeff Causey would fill in for Zenga until his return to net on September 12. Zenga was awarded MLS Player of the Month honors for the month of September, the first Revolution player to ever win the award. Despite missing time, Zenga was a finalist for the 1997 MLS Goalkeeper of the Year Award. He additionally represented the Revolution in the 1997 MLS All-Star Game, and won the team's Most Valuable Player Award. Prior to the All-Star game, at a fan event in Federal Hill, Providence, Rhode Island, then-Providence Mayor Buddy Cianci presented Zenga with a bottle of his personal marinara sauce, "Mayor’s Own Marinara Sauce." The Revolution supporter's group the Midnight Riders named Zenga their 1997 "Man of the Year."