Luigi Allemandi (; 8 November 1903 – 25 September 1978) 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 defender, usually 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 ...

. He was a member of the Italy national team which won the

1934 World Cup The 1934 FIFA World Cup was the 2nd edition of the FIFA World Cup, the quadrennial international football championship for senior men's national teams. It took place in Italy from 27 May to 10 June 1934. The 1934 World Cup was the first in whi ...

Club career

Born in

San Damiano Macra San Damiano Macra (; ) is a (municipality) in the Province of Cuneo in the Italian region of Piedmont, located about southwest of Turin and about northwest of Cuneo Cuneo (; ; ; ) is a city and in Piedmont, Italy, the capital of the pr ...

province of Cuneo The province of Cuneo (; ) is a province in the Piedmont region of Italy. To the west, it borders the French region of Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur ( departments of Alpes-Maritimes, Alpes-de-Haute-Provence and Hautes-Alpes), to the north the ...

, Allemandi debuted in 1921 with

A.C. Legnano Associazione Calcio Dilettantistica Legnano, commonly referred to as Legnano, is an Italian football club based in Legnano, Lombardy. Founded in 1913, Legnano played three seasons in Serie A and a total of eleven seasons in the top tier of the It ...

. Later, he played with

Juventus FC Juventus Football Club (; from , ), commonly known as Juventus or colloquially as Juve (), is an Italian professional Association football, football List of football clubs in Italy, club based in Turin, Piedmont, who compete in Serie A, the ...

F.C. Internazionale Milano Football Club Internazionale Milano, commonly referred to as Internazionale () or simply Inter, and colloquially known as Inter Milan in English-speaking countries, is an Italian professional football club based in Milan, Lombardy. Since 1 ...

A.S. Roma Associazione Sportiva Roma (''Rome Sport Association''; Italian pronunciation: ) is a professional football club based in Rome, Italy. Founded by a merger in 1927, Roma has participated in the top tier of Italian football for all of its exis ...

S.S.C. Venezia Venezia Football Club is an Italian professional football club based in Venice, Veneto, that currently plays in . They were relegated to Serie B after a 2-3 loss to Juventus. Originally founded as Venezia Foot Ball Club in 1907, the club have ...

and

S.S. Lazio (; ; ''Lazio Sport Club'') is an Italian professional sports club based in Rome, most known for its football activity. The society, founded in 1900, plays in the Serie A and have spent most of their history in the top tier of Italian footba ...

, and also had a successful international career with Italy. However, the part of his career that stands out is the corruption scandal in the Torino–Juventus derby in 1927 that resulted in

Torino Turin ( , ; ; , then ) is a city and an important business and cultural centre in northern Italy. It is the capital city of Piedmont and of the Metropolitan City of Turin, and was the first Italian capital from 1861 to 1865. The city is main ...

being stripped of their title. According to the official account, a manager from Torino offered Allemandi 35 000

lira Lira is the name of several currency units. It is the current Turkish lira, currency of Turkey and also the local name of the Lebanese pound, currencies of Lebanon and of Syrian pound, Syria. It is also the name of several former currencies, ...

to throw the game, 25 000 immediately and the rest after the match. Torino won the match 2–1, but Allemandi was one of the best players in the field, and when he went to collect the rest of the money he was refused. A journalist found out about the match fixing and went public with the information. After a controversial trial, along with Torino's title revocation, Allemandi was banned for life even though he always self-proclaimed innocent. He was later pardoned by

CONI Coni may refer to: *Cuneo, Italy *Coni, Azerbaijan *Italian National Olympic Committee The Italian National Olympic Committee (, CONI), founded in 1914 and a member of the International Olympic Committee (IOC), is responsible for the develop ...

in 1928 and could play for Ambrosiana-Inter.

International career

After debuting for the Italy national team in 1925, Allemandi eventually won the

position from

Umberto Caligaris Umberto Caligaris (; 26 July 1901 – 19 October 1940) was an Italian international association football, footballer who played, normally at left-back, for A.S. Casale and Juventus FC, Juventus, before ending his career with Brescia Calcio, Bres ...

before their

qualifying match against

Greece Greece, officially the Hellenic Republic, is a country in Southeast Europe. Located on the southern tip of the Balkan peninsula, it shares land borders with Albania to the northwest, North Macedonia and Bulgaria to the north, and Turkey to th ...

. Manager

Vittorio Pozzo Vittorio Pozzo (; 2 March 1886 – 21 December 1968) was an Italian association football, football player, manager (association football), manager and journalist. The creator of the ''Formation (association football)#Metodo (2–3–2–3), Me ...

started him in every match of the final tournament, helping the ''Azzurri'' win the title on home soil; he later served as Italy's

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 ...

between 1935 and 1936. He is also one of 9 players being part of both the

1927–30 Central European International Cup Nineteen or 19 may refer to: * 19 (number) * One of the years 19 BC, AD 19, 1919, 2019 Films * ''19'' (film), a 2001 Japanese film * ''Nineteen'' (1987 film), a 1987 science fiction film * '' 19-Nineteen'', a 2009 South Korean film * '' Dici ...

, the 1931-32 Central European International Cup & the 1933–35 Central European International Cup successful campaigns.

Honours

Club

Juventus *

Prima Divisione Prima Divisione (''First Division'') was the name of the first level of the Italian Football Championship from 1921 to 1926. The competition was initially founded in opposition to the FIGC by the richest clubs of Northern Italy, which disagreed the ...

: 1925–26 Ambrosiana-Inter *

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 ...

: 1929–30

International

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 ...

FIFA World Cup The FIFA World Cup, often called the World Cup, is an international association football competition among the senior List of men's national association football teams, men's national teams of the members of the FIFA, Fédération Internatio ...

1934 Events January–February * January 1 – The International Telecommunication Union, a specialist agency of the League of Nations, is established. * January 15 – The 8.0 1934 Nepal–Bihar earthquake, Nepal–Bihar earthquake strik ...

Central European International Cup The European International Cup of Nations was an international football competition held by certain national teams from Central Europe & South Europe between 1927 and 1960.Leo Schidrowitz "Internationaler Cup", Vienna 1954 There were competitions ...

: 1927–30, 1933–35; Runner-up: 1931–32

References