Federico Pisani (25 July 1974 – 12 February 1997) 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

forward Forward is a relative direction, the opposite of backward. Forward may also refer to: People *Forward (surname) Sports * Forward (association football) * Forward (basketball), including: ** Point forward ** Power forward (basketball) ** Smal ...

for

Atalanta Atalanta (; ) is a heroine in Greek mythology. There are two versions of the huntress Atalanta: one from Arcadia (region), Arcadia, whose parents were Iasus and Clymene (mythology), Clymene and who is primarily known from the tales of the Caly ...

and

Monza Monza (, ; ; , locally ; ) is a city and ''comune'' (municipality) on the Lambro, River Lambro, a tributary of the Po (river), River Po, in the Lombardy region of Italy, about north-northeast of Milan. It is the capital of the province of Mo ...

. Pisani died in a car crash on 12 February 1997, and his

squad number In team sports, the number, often referred to as the uniform number, squad number, jersey number, shirt number, sweater number, or similar (with such naming differences varying by sport and region) is the number worn on a player's uniform, to id ...

(#14) was

retired Retirement is the withdrawal from one's position or occupation or from one's active working life. A person may also semi-retire by reducing work hours or workload. Many people choose to retire when they are elderly or incapable of doing their j ...

as a mark of respect.

Career

Pisani began playing for Atalanta's youth team and after a few years joined the Margine Coperta, a satellite club of Atalanta. Returning to Bergamo, he made his debut 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 ...

at the age of 17 years. In the Primavera team, he was coached by

Cesare Prandelli Claudio Cesare Prandelli (; born 19 August 1957) is an Italian former football coach and former player. Playing career Prandelli was a midfielder who moved from Atalanta to Juventus in 1979. His first game for Juventus was in the 1979–80 Eur ...

and often used as a substitute. Pisani died in a car accident with his BMW 320 convertible in the company of his girlfriend Alessandra Midali (who also died in the accident) and two friends (who were uninjured) on 12 February 1997. Pisani was returning home after an evening at the casinò di Campione d'Italia. Following the death of Pisani, Atalanta retired the number 14 jersey. In his short Serie A career, he made 44 appearances and scored five goals. The main stadium of the Atalanta training centre in Zingonia, and the

Curva Curva (plural: ''curve'' ) is an Italian term or name for curved stands of seating located at sports stadiums, particularly in Italy; so named, originally, due to their curved or bending shape. The curva plays an integral part in the culture of ...

Nord of the

Stadio Atleti Azzurri d'Italia Stadio Atleti Azzurri d'Italia, known for sponsorship reasons as the Gewiss Stadium since July 2019 and as Stadio di Bergamo in UEFA competitions, is a stadium in Bergamo, Italy. It is the home of club Atalanta B.C., Atalanta and has a capacity ...

, are both named after him.

References

1974 births 1997 deaths Italian men's footballers Atalanta BC players AC Monza players Road incident deaths in Italy Serie A players Serie B players Men's association football forwards Sportspeople from the Province of Lucca Footballers from Tuscany Association football players with retired numbers 20th-century Italian sportsmen {{Italy-footy-forward-1970s-stub