Guido Ara (; 28 August 1888 – 2 July 1975) was an Italian association footballer and manager who played as a

midfielder In the sport of association football, a midfielder takes an Glossary of association football terms#O, outfield position primarily in the middle of the pitch. Midfielders may play an exclusively defensive role, breaking up attacks, and are in t ...

Club career

Hailing from

Vercelli Vercelli (; ) is a city and ''comune'' of 46,552 inhabitants (January 1, 2017) in the Province of Vercelli, Piedmont, northern Italy. One of the oldest urban sites in northern Italy, it was founded, according to most historians, around 600 BC. ...

in the region of

Piedmont Piedmont ( ; ; ) is one of the 20 regions of Italy, located in the northwest Italy, Northwest of the country. It borders the Liguria region to the south, the Lombardy and Emilia-Romagna regions to the east, and the Aosta Valley region to the ...

, Ara is most noted for his entire playing career at his hometown side

Pro Vercelli Football Club Pro Vercelli 1892, commonly referred to as Pro Vercelli, is an Football in Italy, Italian football club based in Vercelli, Piedmont. The club is mostly renowned as one of the most successful teams in the early football era of Ital ...

, where he was a one club man, winning six

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 ...

titles; during the club's entire history they only won seven.

International career

At international level, Ara represented

Italy Italy, officially the Italian Republic, is a country in Southern Europe, Southern and Western Europe, Western Europe. It consists of Italian Peninsula, a peninsula that extends into the Mediterranean Sea, with the Alps on its northern land b ...

. He was named in Italy's squad for the

1920 Summer Olympics The 1920 Summer Olympics (; ; ), officially known as the Games of the VII Olympiad (; ; ) and commonly known as Antwerp 1920 (; Dutch language, Dutch and German language, German: ''Antwerpen 1920''), were an international multi-sport event held i ...

, but did not play in any matches.

Managing career

Ara went on to manage some of the top clubs in Italy, including

; he managed the club when they won their seventh and final ''scudetto'' title, meaning that Ara was at Pro Vercelli when the club won all of its seven Italian Football Championship titles. He later also coached

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 ...

during the 1940–41 season.

Honours

Player

;Pro Vercelli *

Italian Football Championship 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 ...

1908 This is the longest year in either the Julian or Gregorian calendars, having a duration of 31622401.38 seconds of Terrestrial Time (or ephemeris time), measured according to the definition of mean solar time. Events January * January ...

, 1909, 1910–11, 1911–12, 1912–13, 1920–21

Manager

;Pro Vercelli *

: 1921–22

References

1888 births 1975 deaths Italian men's footballers Italy men's international footballers Men's association football fullbacks FC Pro Vercelli 1892 players Italian football managers Serie A managers FC Pro Vercelli 1892 managers Como 1907 managers ACF Fiorentina managers AS Roma managers AC Milan managers Genoa CFC managers Calcio Lecco 1912 managers Footballers from Vercelli Footballers at the 1920 Summer Olympics Olympic footballers for Italy 20th-century Italian sportsmen {{Italy-footy-defender-1880s-stub