Armando Frigo (5 August 1917 – 10 September 1943) was an

Italian-American Italian Americans () are Americans who have full or partial Italians, Italian ancestry. The largest concentrations of Italian Americans are in the urban Northeastern United States, Northeast and industrial Midwestern United States, Midwestern ...

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kick (football), kicking a football (ball), ball to score a goal (sports), goal. Unqualified, football (word), the word ''football'' generally means the form of football t ...

(soccer) player 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 ...

. He was known as the second American-born player after

Alfonso Negro Alfonso Negro (; 5 July 1915 – 7 November 1984) was an American-born Italian football (soccer) player, who played as a forward; he is believed to be the first American-born player in Serie A and the first American-born player to have played ...

to have played in

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 ...

Early life

Frigo was born in

Clinton, Indiana Clinton is a city in Clinton Township, Vermillion County, Indiana, Clinton Township, Vermillion County, Indiana, United States. The population was 4,893 at the 2010 census. History The city was established in 1829 and is named for DeWitt Clint ...

, to Italian parents. When he was eight, his family decided to relocate to

Vicenza Vicenza ( , ; or , archaically ) is a city in northeastern Italy. It is in the Veneto region, at the northern base of the Monte Berico, where it straddles the Bacchiglione, River Bacchiglione. Vicenza is approximately west of Venice and e ...

, where he grew up.

Football career

Frigo started with his hometown team

Serie C The Serie C (), officially known as Serie C NOW for sponsorship purposes, is the third-highest division in the Italian football league system after the Serie B and Serie A. The Lega Italiana Calcio Professionistico (Lega Pro) is the governing ...

. He was transferred to

Fiorentina ACF Fiorentina, commonly referred to as Fiorentina (), is an Italian professional Association football, football List of football clubs in Italy, club based in Florence, Tuscany. The original team was founded by a merger in August 1926, while ...

for the 1937–39 season, where he played 21 games and scored five goals. He went on to play a total of 46 games and scored seven goals. At the end of the 1941–42 season, he moved on to play for

Spezia La Spezia (, or ; ; , in the local ) is the capital city of the province of La Spezia and is located at the head of the Gulf of La Spezia in the southern part of the Liguria region of Italy. La Spezia is the second-largest city in the Liguri ...

Serie B The Serie B (), officially known as Serie BKT for sponsorship reasons, is the second-highest division in the Italian football league system after the Serie A. It has been operating for over ninety years since the 1929–30 season. It had b ...

Death

Armando Frigo served as a second lieutenant in the Italian Army infantry during

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

. When

Italy Italy, officially the Italian Republic, is a country in Southern Europe, Southern and Western Europe, Western Europe. It consists of Italian Peninsula, a peninsula that extends into the Mediterranean Sea, with the Alps on its northern land b ...

entered civil war following the armistice with the Allies, he joined the partisans. In September 1943, he was captured by the Nazis near the town of

Crkvice Crkvice ( sr-cyrl, Црквице, ) is a village in Krivošije, on the outskirts of Mount Orjen in Montenegro, and the wettest inhabited place in Europe. Despite the fact that it is nowadays virtually uninhabited, Crkvice was most notable the lo ...

and shot to death. In his wallet was found his Fiorentina membership card.Americans in Italy
at

National Soccer Hall of Fame The National Soccer Hall of Fame is a public-private partnership among FC Dallas, the City of Frisco, Frisco Independent School District, and the U.S. Soccer Federation, and currently located in Toyota Stadium (Texas), Toyota Stadium in Frisco, T ...

References

Profile at L'enciclopedia del calcio
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Frigo, Armando 1917 births 1943 deaths Italian men's footballers American expatriate men's soccer players LR Vicenza players ACF Fiorentina players Spezia Calcio players Serie A players Serie B players People from Clinton, Indiana American emigrants to Italy American men's soccer players Men's association football midfielders Italian military personnel of World War II Italian civilians killed in World War II Resistance members killed by Nazi Germany Italian partisans 20th-century Italian sportsmen 20th-century American sportsmen