Gastone Bean (; born 11 August 1936) is a former 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 striker.

Club career

Growing up in

San Canzian d'Isonzo San Canzian d'Isonzo ( Bisiacco: ; ; ) is a (municipality) in the Regional decentralization entity of Gorizia in Friuli-Venezia Giulia, northeast Italy. The small town is situated about from Gorizia, the capital of the province, and west of th ...

, he joined

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 ...

as a youngster.Interview with Gastone Bean
filippofabbri.net He played on loan at

Piacenza Piacenza (; ; ) is a city and (municipality) in the Emilia-Romagna region of Northern Italy, and the capital of the province of Piacenza, eponymous province. As of 2022, Piacenza is the ninth largest city in the region by population, with more ...

, scoring 23 goals in 21 games in the 1955–56 C-Series season. He made his Milan debut on 14 October 1956. At the end of the 1956–57 Season the ''Rossoneri'' won the title thanks to his decisive contribution of 17 goals, including the initial goal in the derby on 10 March 1957, which ended with a 1–1 draw. He was the fourth best goalscorer of the season, and was voted "favourite Champion 1957" by the Italian magazine ''Il calcio e il ciclismo illustrato''. With Carlo Galli alternated in the role of striker, the two took up the legacy of Gunnar Nordahl, who had moved to

AS Roma Associazione Sportiva Roma (''Rome Sport Association''; Italian pronunciation: Help:IPA/Italian, ) is a professional Association football, football club based in Rome, Italy. Founded by a merger in 1927, Roma has participated in the top tier ...

. In the next season he scored 10 goals, always alternating with Galli. The 1958–59 season ended with another championship title. Despite a tally of 39 goals in four seasons, in 1960 he moved to

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 ...

, to be paired with Eddie Firmani. On 2 April 1961, Bean scored four goals past

Novara Novara (; Novarese Lombard, Novarese: ) is the capital city of the province of Novara in the Piedmont (Italy), Piedmont region in northwest Italy, to the west of Milan. With 101,916 inhabitants (on 1 January 2021), it is the second most populous ...

, however, the ''Griffins'' remained in Serie B because of a penalty. The promotion came in 1961–62, when the MLS closed the season 64 goals and eleven points ahead of

Naples Naples ( ; ; ) is the Regions of Italy, 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 Metropolitan City of N ...

, who finished second. Bean, deployed as a left winger, produced 20 goals. He was in Genoa for four seasons, contributing to the achievement of the Cup of the Alps in 1964 and Friendship Cup in 1963. Sold to

, in Serie B, he helped them to win promotion to the top flight in his first season in

Campania Campania is an administrative Regions of Italy, region of Italy located in Southern Italy; most of it is in the south-western portion of the Italian Peninsula (with the Tyrrhenian Sea to its west), but it also includes the small Phlegraean Islan ...

. He ended his career in Naples in 1969, joining Bellaria Igea as player-coach.

International career

He was summoned to the

national team A national sports team (commonly known as a national team or a national side) is a team that represents a nation, rather than a particular club or region, in an international sport. The term is most commonly associated with team sports, for exa ...

during the qualifying flop for the

1958 FIFA World Cup The 1958 FIFA World Cup was the 6th FIFA World Cup, a quadrennial football tournament for men's senior national teams. It was played in Sweden from 8 to 29 June 1958. It was the first and only FIFA World Cup to be played in a Nordic country. Br ...

. In total he played 4 games at international level.Nationals
storiapiacenza1919.xoom.it

Management career

After retiring as a player he spent twenty years as a coach with lower league sides Bellaria Igea,

Ravenna Ravenna ( ; , also ; ) is the capital city of the Province of Ravenna, in the Emilia-Romagna region of Northern Italy. It was the capital city of the Western Roman Empire during the 5th century until its Fall of Rome, collapse in 476, after which ...

Cattolica Cattolica (; ) is a town and ''comune'' in the Province of Rimini, Italy, with 16,233 inhabitants as of 2007. History Archaeological excavations show that the area was already settled in ancient Rome, Roman times. According to one legend, Catto ...

Lecco Lecco (, , ; ) is a city of approximately 47,000 inhabitants in Lombardy, Northern Italy, north of Milan. It lies at the end of the south-eastern branch of Lake Como (the branch is named ''Branch of Lecco'' / ''Ramo di Lecco''). The Bergamasqu ...

Benevento Benevento ( ; , ; ) is a city and (municipality) of Campania, Italy, capital of the province of Benevento, northeast of Naples. It is situated on a hill above sea level at the confluence of the Calore Irpino (or Beneventano) and the Sabato (r ...

Barletta Barletta (; Salentino: ''Varrétte'' or ''Barlétte'') is a city and ''comune'' in Apulia, in southeastern Italy. Barletta is the '' capoluogo'', together with Andria and Trani, of the Province of Barletta-Andria-Trani. It has a population of a ...

, Casertana, Cavese, and

Fasano Fasano (; Bari dialect, Barese: ) is a town and ''comune'' in the Province of Brindisi, Apulia, southern Italy. It is the second most populated town in the province after Brindisi, with a population in 2021 of 39,026. History According to a folk ...

Honours

Club

A.C. Milan *

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 ...

: 1956–57, 1958–59 Genoa *

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 ...

: 1961–62

References

External links

Profile
at EnciclopediaDelCalcio.com

at MagliaRossonera.it
International caps
at FIGC.it {{DEFAULTSORT:Bean, Gastone 1936 births Living people People from San Canzian d'Isonzo Footballers from the Province of Gorizia Italian men's footballers Italy men's international footballers Men's association football forwards Serie A players Serie B players AC Milan players Piacenza Calcio 1919 players Genoa CFC players SSC Napoli players SPAL players AC Bellaria Igea Marina managers Calcio Lecco 1912 managers Benevento Calcio managers Italian football managers 20th-century Italian sportsmen