Franco Gallina (1 January 1945 – 5 July 2021) was an Italian

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 ...

, most notably in the

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 ...

and the

North American Soccer League The North American Soccer League (NASL) was the top-level major professional soccer league in the United States and Canada that operated from 1968 to 1984. It is considered the first soccer league to be successful on a national scale in the ...

Career

Gallina played in the

Serie D The Serie D () is the highest level of semi-professional football in Italy, and the fourth tier of the Italian national league system. It sits beneath the third and lowest fully professional league, Serie C, and feeds in to it through promotion ...

in 1962 with

Casertana F.C. Casertana Football Club is an Italian association football club based in Caserta, Campania. The club currently plays in Serie C. History The club was founded in 1908 as Robur Caserta and became known as Unione Sportiva Casertana from 1928 unt ...

where he assisted in securing promotion after winning the Serie D title. The following season he was signed by

Genoa C.F.C. Genoa Cricket and Football Club () is an Italian professional Association football, football club based in Genoa, Liguria. The team competes in the Serie A, the top division of the Italian football league system. Established in 1893, Genoa is ...

of the

, but failed to make an appearance. In 1964, he played in the

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 ...

with

Virtus Entella Virtus Entella, commonly referred to as Entella, is an Italian professional Association football, football club based in Chiavari, Liguria. Founded in 1914, the club currently competes in the . Entella will play in Serie B 2025/26 after winning ...

, and later with

Cesena F.C. Cesena Football Club is an Italian professional association football, football club based in Cesena, Emilia-Romagna. It currently plays in the Serie B, after promotion from the Serie C in 2023–24. It has claimed to be the phoenix club of AC Ce ...

He returned to his former club Genoa where he played in the

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 ...

. After two seasons with Genoa he played in the Serie A with Lanerossi Vicenza, and made his debut on 17 November 1968 against

A.C. Milan (), commonly referred to as Milan or AC Milan () mainly outside of Italy, is an Italian professional Football club (association football), football club based in Milan, Lombardy. Founded in 1899, the club competes in the Serie A, the top tie ...

. In 1969, he returned to Serie C to play with Internapoli Football Club. He played abroad in 1971 with

Montreal Olympique The Montreal Olympique were a Canadian Association football, soccer team that competed in the North American Soccer League (1968–1984), North American Soccer League (NASL) from 1971 North American Soccer League season, 1971 to 1973 North Americ ...

in the

. In his debut season with Montreal he was named to the NASL Second Team. The next season he played in the

Mexican Primera División Liga MX, also known as Liga BBVA MX for sponsorship reasons, is a professional association football league in Mexico and the highest level of the Mexican football league system. Formerly known as Liga Mayor (1943–1949) and also as Primera Divi ...

with

Atlante F.C. Atlante Fútbol Club, is a Mexican professional football club based in Mexico City, that competes in Liga de Expansión MX, the second level division of Mexican football. Founded in 1916 as Sinaloa, also later named as Lusitania, then as U-53 ...

In 1973, he played in the

National Soccer League The National Soccer League (NSL) was the top-level soccer league in Australia, run by Soccer Australia and later the Australian Soccer Association. The NSL, the A-League's predecessor, spanned 28 seasons from its inception in 1977 until its ...

with Montreal Cantalia where he served as a

player-coach A player–coach (also playing coach, captain–coach, or player–manager) is a member of a sports team who simultaneously holds both playing and coaching duties. Player–coaches may be head coaches or assistant coaches, and they may make chang ...

. In 1974, he played with league rivals

Toronto Italia The National Soccer League was a soccer league in Canada that existed from 1926 to 1997. Teams were primarily based in the provinces of Ontario and Quebec. The league was renamed to Canadian National Soccer League in 1993 following the folding ...

once more in a capacity of a player-coach. The following season he played with

Montreal Castors Montreal Castors was a Canadian Association football, soccer team, founded in 1975. The team played in the Canadian National Soccer League, National Soccer League, winning the championship in 1978 and 1979 before withdrawing from the league in 197 ...

. He died on 5 July 2021.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Gallina, Franco 1945 births 2021 deaths Italian men's footballers Men's association football forwards Casertana FC players Genoa CFC players Virtus Entella players Cesena FC players LR Vicenza players Montreal Olympique players Atlante F.C. footballers Toronto Italia players Montreal Castors players Serie A players Serie B players Serie C players Serie D players North American Soccer League (1968–1984) players Liga MX players Canadian National Soccer League players Canadian National Soccer League coaches Italian football managers Footballers from Naples Italian expatriate men's footballers Italian expatriate sportspeople in Canada Expatriate men's soccer players in Canada Italian expatriate sportspeople in Mexico Expatriate men's footballers in Mexico 20th-century Italian sportsmen