Dante Crippa (10 March 1937 – 27 February 2021) 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 ...

Career

Crippa began his youth career with

Fanfulla Luigi Visconti, better known by his stage name Fanfulla, (26 February 1913 – 5 January 1971) was an Italian actor and comedian. Life and career Born in Rome, Visconti debuted at very young age on stage alongside his mother, the actress Merc ...

, making his

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 ...

and his IV Division debut with the senior squad. He was purchased by

Brescia Brescia (, ; ; or ; ) is a city and (municipality) in the region of Lombardy, in Italy. It is situated at the foot of the Alps, a few kilometers from the lakes Lake Garda, Garda and Lake Iseo, Iseo. With a population of 199,949, it is the se ...

in 1956, soon becoming a permanent starter in the squad in

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 ...

. In 1960, he was purchased by

Nereo Rocco Nereo Rocco (; 20 May 1912 – 20 February 1979) was an Italian association football, football player and manager. Regarded as one of the greatest managers of all time, he is famous for having been one of the most successful head coaches in Italy ...

Padova Padua ( ) is a city and ''comune'' (municipality) in Veneto, northern Italy, and the capital of the province of Padua. The city lies on the banks of the river Bacchiglione, west of Venice and southeast of Vicenza, and has a population of ...

, making his Serie A debut that season. Throughout his time at the club, he was deployed in a

supporting role A supporting character is a character in a narrative that is not the focus of the primary storyline, but is important to the plot/protagonist, and appears or is mentioned in the story enough to be more than just a minor character or a cameo a ...

behind the team's main striker Aurelio Milani, who became Padova's top scorer; together, they formed a notable offensive partnership. In 1962 he was purchased by Italian

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 ...

club

Juventus Juventus Football Club (; from , ), commonly known as Juventus or colloquially as Juve (), is an Italian professional Association football, football List of football clubs in Italy, club based in Turin, Piedmont, who compete in Serie A, the ...

for a single season, managing a second-place finish in Serie A during the 1962–63 season, and reaching the quarter finals of the

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 ...

. During his time at the club, he managed to capture the only trophy of his career in 1963, a minor trophy, the

Coppa delle Alpi ''Coppa delle Alpi'' (translated as Cup of the Alps) was an official football tournament, first organized by the Italian national league as it started in 1960 and then they were aided by the Swiss League from 1962, for the reason that the majorit ...

. During his time with the club, he was mainly used as a back-up and only made 20 appearances. The following season, Crippa moved to Ferrara to play in

Paolo Mazza Paolo Mazza (21 July 1901 – 31 December 1981) was an Italian association football, football manager. He was co-manager of the Italy national football team, Italy national team at the 1962 FIFA World Cup, together with Giovanni Ferrari. Mazza c ...

SPAL Società Polisportiva Ars et Labor, commonly referred to by the acronym SPAL (), is a professional football club based in Ferrara, Emilia-Romagna, Italy. During the 2024–25 season the team played in Serie C, the third tier of the Italian foot ...

, although the Serie A season was largely disappointing as Crippa went scoreless in each of his 26 league appearances, and was unable to prevent the club from being relegated to Serie B. The following season, however, he played a crucial role in leading the club back to Serie A promotion for the following season, scoring 2 goals. In 1966, he stayed in Emilia Romagna, but moved to Serie B club Reggiana. During his time at the club, he scored 10 goals in 1968, his personal best. After four seasons in Serie B with the club and 29 goals in 129 appearances, 14 of which were from penalties, Crippa retired from professional football at the age of 33.

Style of play

Despite not being particularly prolific in front of goal, and notwithstanding his lack of stamina and notable physical or athletic attributes due to his small stature, Crippa was known for his excellent crossing ability and passing range, which made him an effective assist provider. He was capable of playing in several

offensive Offensive may refer to: * Offensive (military), type of military operation * Offensive, the former name of the Dutch political party Socialist Alternative * Fighting words, spoken words which would have a tendency to cause acts of violence by the ...

and creative

midfield In many sports, midfield is the part of a sports field that is near the line that is equally far from the end lines. That is, in American football it is the part of the field near the 50-yard line; in association football (soccer) and field hoc ...

positions; he was usually deployed either as a winger, or as an

attacking 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. ...

, although he was also capable of playing as a

central 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 ...

or as a

second striker In the sport of association football, a forward (attacker or striker) is an outfield position which primarily plays further up the pitch than midfielders and defenders. As with any attacking player, the role of the forward relies heavily on bein ...

Death

Crippa died on 27 February 2021, eleven days short from his 84th birthday, from complications from

COVID-19 Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is a contagious disease caused by the coronavirus SARS-CoV-2. In January 2020, the disease spread worldwide, resulting in the COVID-19 pandemic. The symptoms of COVID‑19 can vary but often include fever ...

during the

COVID-19 pandemic in Italy The COVID-19 pandemic in Italy was part of the COVID-19 pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 () caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The virus was first confirmed to have spread to Italy on 31 January 2 ...

Honours

Juventus *

: 1963

References

External links

Career summary by playerhistory.com
{{DEFAULTSORT:Crippa, Dante 1937 births 2021 deaths Italian men's footballers Men's association football midfielders Serie A players Serie B players Serie C players Brescia Calcio players Calcio Padova players Juventus FC players SPAL players AC Reggiana 1919 players Deaths from the COVID-19 pandemic in Lombardy ASD Fanfulla players Footballers from the Province of Monza e Brianza 20th-century Italian sportsmen