Francesco Calì (; 16 May 1882 – 3 September 1949) was an Italian professional

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 ...

player, coach and referee, who played as a defender. He captained the

Italy national football team The Italy national football team () has represented Italy in men's international Association football, football since its first match in 1910. The national team is controlled by the Italian Football Federation (FIGC), the governing body for fo ...

in their first ever match, on 15 May 1910.

Early life

Calì was born in

Riposto Riposto () is a ''comune'' (municipality) in the Catania area of Sicily, southern Italy. The small seafront town is located about southeast of Palermo and about north of Catania. History Riposto is historically connected to Mascali, as its com ...

Sicily Sicily (Italian language, Italian and ), officially the Sicilian Region (), is an island in the central Mediterranean Sea, south of the Italian Peninsula in continental Europe and is one of the 20 regions of Italy, regions of Italy. With 4. ...

on 16 May 1882, to Bruno Calì, a wine merchant. After pirate assaults on his father's business, he and his family immigrated to Switzerland two years later; he was nicknamed Franz.

Career

Calì played several games as a

left-back In the sport of association football, a defender is an Glossary of association football terms#O, outfield player whose primary role is to stop attacks during the game and prevent the opposition from scoring. Defenders fall into four main categ ...

for Swiss clubs

Zürich Zurich (; ) is the list of cities in Switzerland, largest city in Switzerland and the capital of the canton of Zurich. It is in north-central Switzerland, at the northwestern tip of Lake Zurich. , the municipality had 448,664 inhabitants. The ...

and

Urania Genève Sport Urania Genève Sport is a Swiss omnisport club based in Geneva. Its football section was founded in 1896. The current club was born in 1922 through a merger between FC Urania and FC Genève. Its main title is the Swiss cup, won in 1929 against ...

. He then played for two rival Genovese teams:

Genoa Genoa ( ; ; ) is a city in and the capital of the Italian region of Liguria, and the sixth-largest city in Italy. As of 2025, 563,947 people live within the city's administrative limits. While its metropolitan city has 818,651 inhabitan ...

and

Andrea Doria Andrea Doria, Prince of Melfi (; ; 30 November 146625 November 1560) was an Italian statesman, ', and admiral, who played a key role in the Republic of Genoa during his lifetime. From 1528 until his death, Doria exercised a predominant influe ...

. He was also a referee during his time at Andrea Doria. Due to his experience as a footballer, as well as his knowledge of several foreign languages, he was selected as the Italy national team

captain Captain is a title, an appellative for the commanding officer of a military unit; the supreme leader or highest rank officer of a navy ship, merchant ship, aeroplane, spacecraft, or other vessel; or the commander of a port, fire or police depa ...

, in their first ever game on 15 May 1910, in Milan against

France France, officially the French Republic, is a country located primarily in Western Europe. Overseas France, Its overseas regions and territories include French Guiana in South America, Saint Pierre and Miquelon in the Atlantic Ocean#North Atlan ...

, where Italy won 6–2. After his retirement as a player, he was also chosen several times as a member of the technical commission, in 1912, 1914, 1915, 1920 and 1921.

References

External links

* 1882 births 1949 deaths Italian men's footballers Italy men's international footballers FC Zürich players Urania Genève Sport players Genoa CFC players SG Andrea Doria players Men's association football defenders Italian football referees Footballers from Sicily Italian emigrants to Switzerland Swiss men's footballers People from Riposto People of Sicilian descent {{Italy-footy-defender-1880s-stub