Mattia Dal Bello (19 January 1984 – 12 December 2004) was an Italian professional

footballer A football player or footballer is a sportsperson who plays one of the different types of football. The main types of football are association football, American football, Canadian football, Australian rules football, Gaelic football, rugby lea ...

who played as a

midfielder In the sport of association football, a midfielder takes an Glossary of association football terms#O, outfield position primarily in the middle of the pitch. Midfielders may play an exclusively defensive role, breaking up attacks, and are in t ...

Club career

Born in

Asolo Asolo () is a town and ''comune'' in the Veneto, Veneto Region of northern Italy. It is known as "The Pearl of the province of Treviso", and also as "The City of a Hundred Horizons" for its mountain settings. It is one of I Borghi più belli d'It ...

, Dal Bello joined

Milan Milan ( , , ; ) is a city in northern Italy, regional capital of Lombardy, the largest city in Italy by urban area and the List of cities in Italy, second-most-populous city proper in Italy after Rome. The city proper has a population of nea ...

youth system In sporting terminology, a youth system (or youth academy) is a youth investment program within a particular team or league, which develops and nurtures young talent in farm teams, with the vision of using them in the first team if they show en ...

from Reggiana in 2000. He made his professional debut on 12 December 2002, in a

Coppa Italia Coppa Italia () is the annual domestic cup of Italian football. The knockout competition was organized by the DDS and the Lega Calcio until the 2009–10 season and by Lega Serie A ever since. Juventus is the competition's most successf ...

home game against

Ancona Ancona (, also ; ) is a city and a seaport in the Marche region of central Italy, with a population of around 101,997 . Ancona is the capital of the province of Ancona, homonymous province and of the region. The city is located northeast of Ro ...

that Milan won 5–1. He went on to make his first and only

Serie A The Serie A (), officially known as Serie A Enilive in Italy and Serie A Made in Italy abroad for sponsorship reasons, is a professional association football league in Italy and the highest tier of the Italian football league system. Establish ...

appearance in a 2–4 loss to

Piacenza Piacenza (; ; ) is a city and (municipality) in the Emilia-Romagna region of Northern Italy, and the capital of the province of Piacenza, eponymous province. As of 2022, Piacenza is the ninth largest city in the region by population, with more ...

on 24 May 2003. In January 2004, Dal Bello was loaned out to

Serie C1 Serie C1 was the third highest football league in Italy. It consisted of 36 teams, divided geographically into two divisions. History Before the 1978–79 season, there were only three professional football leagues in Italy, the third being Se ...

club

Prato Prato ( ; ) is a city and municipality (''comune'') in Tuscany, Italy, and is the capital of the province of Prato. The city lies in the northeast of Tuscany, at an elevation of , at the foot of Monte Retaia (the last peak in the Calvana ch ...

, where he made 13 appearances before the deal was terminated early in November of the same year. He died in a car accident on 12 December 2004, as he drove his

Audi A3 The Audi A3 is a small family car (C-segment) manufactured and marketed by the German automaker Audi, Audi AG since September 1996. The first two generations of the Audi A3 were based on the Volkswagen Group A platform, while the third and fo ...

into a wall. A friend of his, who was in the car with him, survived without being seriously injured.

References

1984 births 2004 deaths People from Asolo Road incident deaths in Italy Italian men's footballers Serie A players AC Milan players AC Prato players Men's association football midfielders Footballers from the Province of Treviso 20th-century Italian sportsmen 21st-century Italian sportsmen {{Italy-footy-midfielder-1980s-stub