Guglielmo Gabetto (; 24 February 1916 – 4 May 1949) was an Italian

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, rugb ...

who played as a striker. Aside from goalkeeper Alfredo Bodoira, he is the only player to win the Italian championship with both Torino F.C. and cross-city rivals Juventus F.C.

Biography

Gabetto was born in

Turin, Italy Turin ( , Piedmontese: ; it, Torino ) is a city and an important business and cultural centre in Northern Italy. It is the capital city of Piedmont and of the Metropolitan City of Turin, and was the first Italian capital from 1861 to 1865. The ...

, in the Aurora district of the

Piedmont it, Piemontese , population_note = , population_blank1_title = , population_blank1 = , demographics_type1 = , demographics1_footnotes = , demographics1_title1 = , demographics1_info1 = , demographics1_title2 ...

capital. He died in a commercial airplane tragedy as one of the victims of the 1949 Superga air disaster, when a plane carrying almost the entire Torino Football Club squad, the

Grande Torino The Grande Torino was the historic Italian football team of Torino Football Club in the 1940s, five-time champions of Italy, whose players were the backbone of the Italy national team and died on 4 May 1949 in the plane crash known as the Super ...

, crashed into the Superga hill near Turin. He was buried in the ''Cimitero Monumentale'' in Turin.

Club career

Gabetto began his career with

Juventus Juventus Football Club (from la, iuventūs, 'youth'; ), colloquially known as Juve (), is a professional football club based in Turin, Piedmont, Italy, that competes in the Serie A, the top tier of the Italian football league system. Founded in ...

in 1934, scoring 102 goals for the club in seven seasons, 85 of which came in the league; he is still today one of the club's best goalscorers. In 1941 he was acquired by local rivals

Torino Turin ( , Piedmontese: ; it, Torino ) is a city and an important business and cultural centre in Northern Italy. It is the capital city of Piedmont and of the Metropolitan City of Turin, and was the first Italian capital from 1861 to 1865. T ...

, for a notable sum of 330,000 Lit.; the same season, Torino bought two other Juventus players: Felice Borel, and Alfredo Bodoira. He formed a notable attack alongside

Ezio Loik Ezio Loik (; 26 September 1919 – 4 May 1949) was an Italian footballer who played as midfielder. Born in Fiume, Loik began his career with Fiumana. He made his Serie A debut with Milan in 1937, and after three seasons, moved to Venezia. In Ve ...

and Valentino Mazzola, becoming a key player in the

side which dominated Italy, winning five consecutive

Serie A The Serie A (), also called Serie A TIM for national sponsorship with TIM, is a professional league competition for football clubs located at the top of the Italian football league system and the winner is awarded the Scudetto and the Cop ...

titles. Only he and his teammate Piero Operto were originally from Turin. In total, he scored 127 goals for Torino in 225 matches.

International career

Gabetto also made 6 appearances for Italy between 1942 and 1948, scoring 5 goals, the first of which came on his debut against

Croatia , image_flag = Flag of Croatia.svg , image_coat = Coat of arms of Croatia.svg , anthem = " Lijepa naša domovino"("Our Beautiful Homeland") , image_map = , map_caption = , capi ...

on 5 April.

Style of play

1947–48 Serie A - AC Torino v Alessandria US - Guglielmo Gabetto

Regarded as one of the best Italian players of his generation, and one of Italy's greatest ever strikers, Gabetto was a complete, creative, fast, and technically gifted forward, who was known for his flair, co-ordination, speed, and dribbling skills. Nicknamed ''il barone'' ("the baron," in Italian), he usually played as a centre-forward, and possessed "acrobatic" characteristics that apparently allowed him to produce "near-impossible" goals. The precision and the power of his kicking made him an impeccable and highly prolific goal-scorer, which made him an idol of the Torino fans, who affectionately called him "Gabe."

Honours

Club

;

: 1934–35 *

Coppa Italia The ("Italy Cup") is an annual knockout cup competition in Italian football organized by the FIGC until the 2009–10 season and the Lega Serie A ever since. History The beginning of the tournament was turbulent, due to the complexity of ...

: 1937–38 ;

: 1942–43, 1945–46, 1946–47, 1947–48, 1948–49 *

: 1942–43

References

External links

{{DEFAULTSORT:Gabetto, Guglielmo 1916 births 1949 deaths Association football forwards Footballers from Turin Footballers killed in the Superga air disaster Italy international footballers Juventus F.C. players Serie A players Torino F.C. players Italian footballers