Carlos Martín Volante (November 11, 1905 – October 9, 1987) was an

Argentine Argentines, Argentinians or Argentineans are people from Argentina. This connection may be residential, legal, historical, or cultural. For most Argentines, several (or all) of these connections exist and are collectively the source of their ...

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 ...

defensive midfielder In the sport of association football, a midfielder takes an outfield position primarily in the middle of the pitch. Midfielders may play an exclusively defensive role, breaking up attacks, and are in that case known as defensive midfielders. ...

, who played in Argentine, Brazilian, French and Italian clubs.

Career

Volante begun his youth career at small clubs in Lanús. In 1923, he signed

Club Atlético Lanús Club Atlético Lanús () is an Argentina, Argentine sports club based in Lanús, a city of the Buenos Aires Province. Founded in 1915, the club's main sports are association football, football and basketball. In both sports, Lanús plays in Arge ...

, where he started his senior career on the following year. He would still serve in the military and then have a brief stint at Club Atlético General San Martín before joining Platense. In 1929 he transferred to

San Lorenzo San Lorenzo is the Italian and Spanish name for Saint Lawrence, the 3rd-century Christian martyr, and may refer to: Places Argentina * San Lorenzo, Santa Fe * San Lorenzo Department, Chaco * Villa San Lorenzo, town and municipality in Salta P ...

, with which he reached the semifinals of the local league. Between 1930 and 1931, Volante was loaned for free to Vélez Sársfield to play in the team's Pan-American tour. Thereafter, he played four games in Excursionistas Two years later he signed a deal with

Napoli Naples ( ; ; ) is the regional capital of Campania and the third-largest city of Italy, after Rome and Milan, with a population of 908,082 within the city's administrative limits as of 2025, while its province-level municipality is the thir ...

. He also played for

Livorno Livorno () is a port city on the Ligurian Sea on the western coast of the Tuscany region of Italy. It is the capital of the Province of Livorno, having a population of 152,916 residents as of 2025. It is traditionally known in English as Leghorn ...

and

Torino Turin ( , ; ; , then ) 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 city is main ...

in Italy, where he would stay until 1934 when he moved to French football. Once there, Volante took part in the historical

Rennes Rennes (; ; Gallo language, Gallo: ''Resnn''; ) is a city in the east of Brittany in Northwestern France at the confluence of the rivers Ille and Vilaine. Rennes is the prefecture of the Brittany (administrative region), Brittany Regions of F ...

1934–35 squad and also played for

Olympique Lillois Olympique Lillois was a French association football club from the city of Lille. Founded in 1902 they merged with SC Fives in 1944 to form Lille OSC. Honours Championnat de France *Champion: 1914, 1933 *Runner-up: 1936 Events Jan ...

and CA Paris. During

1938 FIFA World Cup The 1938 FIFA World Cup was the 3rd edition of the FIFA World Cup, World Cup, the quadrennial international Association football, football championship for senior men's national teams. It was held in France from 4 to 19 June 1938. Italy national ...

, held in France, he was hired by

Brazil National Football Team The Brazil national football team (), nicknamed ''Seleção Canarinho'' ("Canary Squad", after their bright yellow jersey), represents Brazil in men's international Association football, football and is administered by the Brazilian Football Co ...

to work as a massagist. The fear from

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 ...

and a nice relationship built with Brazilian players made Volante transfer to

Flamengo Clube de Regatas do Flamengo (; ), more commonly referred to as simply Flamengo, is a Brazilian multi sports club based in Rio de Janeiro, in the neighborhood of Gávea. It was founded and named after the Flamengo, Rio de Janeiro, Flamengo n ...

, where he would side with Brazilian stars

Domingos da Guia Domingos Antônio da Guia (born in Rio de Janeiro, November 19, 1912 – died in Rio, May 18, 2000) was a Brazilian footballer. He played in four matches for Brazil in the 1938 FIFA World Cup finals. He is regarded as one of the best Brazilian ...

and

Leonidas Leonidas I (; , ''Leōnídas''; born ; died 11 August 480 BC) was king of the Ancient Greek city-state of Sparta. He was the son of king Anaxandridas II and the 17th king of the Agiad dynasty, a Spartan royal house which claimed descent fro ...

. His defensive prowess led the defensive midfielder position to be called "volante" in Brazil. Volante retired in 1943 to start a

coaching Coaching is a form of development in which an experienced person, called a ''coach'', supports a learner or client in achieving a specific personal or professional goal by providing training and guidance. The learner is sometimes called a ''coa ...

career. He won the 1959 Taça Brasil for

Bahia Bahia () is one of the 26 Federative units of Brazil, states of Brazil, located in the Northeast Region, Brazil, Northeast Region of the country. It is the fourth-largest Brazilian state by population (after São Paulo (state), São Paulo, Mina ...

Honours

Club

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 ...

1933 Events January * January 11 – Australian aviator Sir Charles Kingsford Smith makes the first commercial flight between Australia and New Zealand. * January 17 – The United States Congress votes in favour of Philippines independen ...

Coupe de France The Coupe de France (), also known in English language, English as the French Cup or less commonly as the France Cup, is the premier Single-elimination tournament, knockout cup competition in French football organised by the French Football Fed ...

: Runners-up

1935 Events January * January 7 – Italian premier Benito Mussolini and French Foreign Minister Pierre Laval conclude an agreement, in which each power agrees not to oppose the other's colonial claims. * January 12 – Amelia Earhart ...

* Championnat de France: Runners-up 1936

Campeonato Carioca The Campeonato Carioca (Carioca Championship), officially known as Campeonato Estadual do Rio de Janeiro (Rio de Janeiro State Championship), also commonly known as the Cariocão, is the top-flight professional state football league in the Br ...

: 1939, 1942, 1943

* Campeonato Brasileiro (as manager): 1959

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Volante, Carlos 1905 births 1987 deaths Footballers from Lanús Argentine men's footballers Club Atlético Platense footballers San Lorenzo de Almagro footballers Club Atlético Vélez Sarsfield footballers SSC Napoli players US Livorno 1915 players Torino FC players Olympique Lillois players Serie A players Serie B players Ligue 1 players CR Flamengo footballers Argentine expatriate men's footballers Expatriate men's footballers in Brazil Expatriate men's footballers in France Expatriate men's footballers in Italy Argentine expatriate sportspeople in Brazil Argentine expatriate sportspeople in France Argentine expatriate sportspeople in Italy Argentine football managers Expatriate football managers in Brazil Sport Club Internacional managers Esporte Clube Vitória managers Esporte Clube Bahia managers Campeonato Brasileiro Série A managers Men's association football midfielders 20th-century Argentine sportsmen