Mauro Bellugi (; 7 February 1950 – 20 February 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 defender.

Club career

Bellugi started his career with

Inter Milan 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 Association football, football List of football ...

, making his debut for them on 31 August 1969 in a

Coppa Italia Coppa Italia () is the annual domestic cup of Italian football. The knockout competition was organized by the DDS and the Lega Calcio until the 2009–10 season and by Lega Serie A ever since. Juventus is the competition's most successf ...

match. In five seasons with Inter he played 90

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 ...

matches, and 137 times in all senior competitions. Bellugi later also played for Bologna F.C. (1974–79),

S.S.C. Napoli Società Sportiva Calcio Napoli (), commonly known as SSC Napoli or simply Napoli, is an Italian professional football club based in Naples, Campania that currently competes in the Serie A, the highest league of Italian football. Napoli are am ...

(1979–80) and A.C. Pistoiese (1980–81).

International career

Bellugi played 31 matches for the

Italy national football team The Italy national football team () has represented Italy in men's international Association football, football since its first match in 1910. The national team is controlled by the Italian Football Federation (FIGC), the governing body for fo ...

from 1972 to 1979. He played five games in the

1978 FIFA World Cup The 1978 FIFA World Cup was the 11th edition of the FIFA World Cup, a Anniversary#Latin-derived numerical names, quadrennial international Association football, football world championship tournament among the men's senior national teams. It wa ...

, where Italy managed a fourth-place finish, and was also in the squad for the 1974 tournament. His final game for Italy was against

Switzerland Switzerland, officially the Swiss Confederation, is a landlocked country located in west-central Europe. It is bordered by Italy to the south, France to the west, Germany to the north, and Austria and Liechtenstein to the east. Switzerland ...

Udine Udine ( ; ; ; ; ) is a city and (municipality) in northeastern Italy, in the middle of the Friuli-Venezia Giulia region, between the Adriatic Sea and the Carnic Alps. It is the capital of the Province of Udine, Regional decentralization entity ...

on 17 November 1979. He was an unused member of the Italian squad that managed a fourth-place finish at

UEFA Euro 1980 The 1980 UEFA European Football Championship finals tournament was held in Italy. This was the sixth UEFA European Championship, which is held every four years and endorsed by UEFA. It was the first European Championship to feature eight teams ...

on home soil.

Death

Bellugi died from complications of

COVID-19 Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is a contagious disease caused by the coronavirus SARS-CoV-2. In January 2020, the disease spread worldwide, resulting in the COVID-19 pandemic. The symptoms of COVID‑19 can vary but often include fever ...

during the

COVID-19 pandemic in Italy The COVID-19 pandemic in Italy was part of the COVID-19 pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 () caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The virus was first confirmed to have spread to Italy on 31 January 2 ...

, thirteen days after his 71st birthday.Il calcio piange Mauro Bellugi: se ne va a 71 anni l’ex difensore dell’Inter

References

1950 births 2021 deaths Footballers from the Province of Siena Italian men's footballers Men's association football defenders Italy men's international footballers 1974 FIFA World Cup players 1978 FIFA World Cup players UEFA Euro 1980 players Inter Milan players Bologna FC 1909 players SSC Napoli players FC Pistoiese SSD players Serie A players Deaths from the COVID-19 pandemic in Lombardy 20th-century Italian sportsmen {{Italy-footy-defender-1950s-stub