Gino Cappello (; 2 June 1920 – 28 March 1990) was an

Italian Italian(s) may refer to: * Anything of, from, or related to the people of Italy over the centuries ** Italians, a Romance ethnic group related to or simply a citizen of the Italian Republic or Italian Kingdom ** Italian language, a Romance languag ...

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

A native of

Padua 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 20 ...

, Cappello began his career with

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 ...

. After spending two seasons with the club 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 ...

, he landed 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 ...

with

Milan Milan ( , , ; ) is a city in northern Italy, regional capital of Lombardy, the largest city in Italy by urban area and the List of cities in Italy, second-most-populous city proper in Italy after Rome. The city proper has a population of nea ...

1940 A calendar from 1940 according to the Gregorian calendar, factoring in the dates of Easter and related holidays, cannot be used again until the year 5280. Events Below, events related to World War II have the "WWII" prefix. January *Janu ...

. In the three seasons at Milan he was always the second leading scorer and unfortunately Milan was not a major title-contender at the time. After the war he went to

Bologna Bologna ( , , ; ; ) is the capital and largest city of the Emilia-Romagna region in northern Italy. It is the List of cities in Italy, seventh most populous city in Italy, with about 400,000 inhabitants and 150 different nationalities. Its M ...

where he played for ten straight seasons. He scored 80 goals in 245 games leaving a mark on the fans not to be forgotten. In his last two seasons he played for

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 ...

in Serie B. In 1958, when he was still playing with Novara, he decided to retire having reached the age of forty.

International career

Cappello debuted for the Italy national team on 22 May 1949 in a 3–1 win against

Austria Austria, formally the Republic of Austria, is a landlocked country in Central Europe, lying in the Eastern Alps. It is a federation of nine Federal states of Austria, states, of which the capital Vienna is the List of largest cities in Aust ...

. He was one of four players to play both games at the

1950 World Cup The 1950 FIFA World Cup was the 4th edition of the FIFA World Cup, the quadrennial international football championship for senior men's national teams. It was held in Brazil from 24 June to 16 July 1950. It was the first World Cup tournament in ...

. Four years later he was also called up to the national team for the 1954 World Cup, where he wore the number 10 shirt, becoming the first Italian player to wear the iconic jersey in a World Cup as it was the first tournament which required players to wear numbers on their shirts. He played his last game for Italy in a 4–1 win against

Belgium Belgium, officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a country in Northwestern Europe. Situated in a coastal lowland region known as the Low Countries, it is bordered by the Netherlands to the north, Germany to the east, Luxembourg to the southeas ...

during the tournament.

Style of play

Despite not initially having the best technique as a youngster, Cappello later developed into a highly skilful and creative forward, who was known for his feints, close control and

dribbling In sports, dribbling is maneuvering a ball by one player while moving in a given direction, avoiding defenders' attempts to intercept the ball. A successful dribble will bring the ball past defenders legally and create opportunities to score. As ...

skills, as well as his poor work-rate and inconsistency. Initially an

advanced The Advanced Party (), otherwise known as the Advanced Association () was a liberal and centrist Zionist political association in Mandatory Palestine founded by several urban liberal Zionists. The party was founded in order to represent the voice ...

playmaker In association football, a playmaker is a footballer who controls the flow of the team's play, and is often involved in offensively and defensively playing Passing (association football), passing moves which lead to Goal (sport), goals, through ...

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 ...

, Cappello was capable of playing anywhere along the

front-line A front line (alternatively front-line or frontline) in military terminology is the position(s) closest to the area of conflict of an armed force's personnel and equipment, usually referring to land forces. When a front (an intentional or uni ...

, on either

wing A wing is a type of fin that produces both Lift (force), lift and drag while moving through air. Wings are defined by two shape characteristics, an airfoil section and a planform (aeronautics), planform. Wing efficiency is expressed as lift-to-d ...

or even in the centre. An instinctive and opportunistic player, with an eye for goal, he naturally adapted to the

centre forward 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 be ...

position; his main characteristic was to become completely separated from the game for long periods, only to suddenly pull off a crucial assist or the winning goal with one of his only shots or touches of the match. Both genius and dissolute, Gino Cappello was also known for his difficult character and lack of discipline, and obtained two lifetime bans throughout his career; one of those was given in 1952, as Cappello had punched a referee during a summer game. He served 12 months of the suspension before being absolved.

References

External links

Gino Cappello Profile at Magliarossonera.it
{{DEFAULTSORT:Cappello, Gino 1920 births 1990 deaths Footballers from Padua Italian men's footballers Men's association football forwards Calcio Padova players AC Milan players Bologna FC 1909 players Novara FC players Serie A players Serie B players Italy men's international footballers 1950 FIFA World Cup players 1954 FIFA World Cup players Italy men's B international footballers 20th-century Italian sportsmen