Narciso Soldan (11 December 1927 – 30 July 1987) 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 ...

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

goalkeeper In many team sports that involve scoring goal (sport), goals, the goalkeeper (sometimes termed goaltender, netminder, GK, goalie, or keeper) is a designated player charged with directly preventing the opposing team from scoring by blocking or i ...

in the Italian Football League.

Career

Soldan was born in

Nervesa della Battaglia Nervesa della Battaglia is a ''comune'' (municipality) in the Province of Treviso in the Italian region Veneto, located about north of Venice and about north of Treviso. In February 1358 Nervesa was the scene of a battle in which the Republic of ...

Veneto Veneto, officially the Region of Veneto, is one of the 20 regions of Italy, located in the Northeast Italy, north-east of the country. It is the fourth most populous region in Italy, with a population of 4,851,851 as of 2025. Venice is t ...

in 1927. He began his playing career at the very late age of 19, having never previously kicked a ball. One day, while attending a local club match at

Vittorio Veneto Vittorio Veneto is a city and ''comune'' situated in the Province of Treviso, in the region of Veneto, Italy, in the Cardinal direction, northeast of Italy, between the Piave and the Livenza rivers, borders with the following municipalities: Alpa ...

, he became fascinated by the goalkeeper's role on the playing field. At the end of the match he went onto the pitch, along with some friends, and had them take some shots at him. The team's coach, Enrico Colombari, approached Soldan and an agreement was made whereby Soldan signed his first professional football contract with

for the 1946–47 season. For the remainder of the season, he was loaned out to his local team, F.C. Nervesa, to gain some experience and match practice. The following year ( 1947–48), Narciso Soldan was playing in Italy's third division:

Serie C The Serie C (), officially known as Serie C NOW for sponsorship purposes, is the third-highest division in the Italian football league system after the Serie B and Serie A. The Lega Italiana Calcio Professionistico (Lega Pro) is the governing ...

- North League: Group H.During that period, Italy's Serie C was overcrowded with teams and the Italian Football Federation (

FIGC The Italian Football Federation (, ; FIGC ), known colloquially as (), is the governing body of football in Italy. It is based in Rome and the technical department is in Coverciano, Florence. It manages and coordinates the Italian football l ...

) decided that the top two teams of each group in the various leagues would all combine at the end of the season to form a "New" Serie C, thus reducing numbers and increasing the quality of the competition. The relegated teams were then placed into a "New" 4th Division which was a regional-based competition. After a fantastic season, Vittorio Veneto arrived in 3rd place and just missed promotion to the "New" Serie C. The 1948–49 season didn't go as well for Vittorio Veneto as the previous one had. The club was now playing in the new, recently named Promozione Interregionale - 4th Division: Group E. The team struggled for long periods throughout the season but managed to finish in a respectable 10th position. On the one hand while the team wasn't performing so well, for Narciso Soldan, it became the turning point in his career. After having a great season defending his goal, coach Enrico Colombari decided to try his luck by taking young Soldan for trials in

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 ...

under the watchful eyes of

Giulio Cappelli Giulio Cappelli (; 4 March 1911 – 16 December 1995) was an Italian footballer who played as a forward. He competed in the 1936 Summer Olympics with the Italy national football team, winning a gold medal in the tournament. Club career Born in ...

, then Manager of

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 ...

. Soldan spent two seasons with Inter 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 ...

, before moving to

Catania Catania (, , , Sicilian and ) is the second-largest municipality on Sicily, after Palermo, both by area and by population. Despite being the second city of the island, Catania is the center of the most densely populated Sicilian conurbation, wh ...

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 ...

in 1951, where he took part in the club's 4–1 defeat to Legnano in the Serie A promotion play-offs during his second season. He subsequently played for

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 ...

and

Triestina Unione Sportiva Triestina Calcio 1918, commonly referred to US Triestina or just Triestina, is an Italian football club based in Trieste, in the northern Friuli-Venezia Giulia region. Originally established in 1918, Triestina was one of the fo ...

in Serie A. He returned to play in Milan during the

1956–57 Serie A The 1956–57 Serie A season was won by Milan. Teams Udinese and Palermo had been promoted from Serie B. Final classification Results Top goalscorers References and sources *''Almanacco Illustrato del Calcio - La Storia 1898-2004'', Pan ...

season, but to join Inter's cross-city rivals

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 ...

. Despite competition from Lorenzo Buffon, he managed to win two league titles during his time with the club, and also reached the 1958 European Cup Final, only to be defeated 3–2 by

Real Madrid Real Madrid Club de Fútbol (), commonly referred to as Real Madrid, is a Spanish professional Football club (association football), football club based in Madrid. The club competes in La Liga, th ...

in extra-time. During the 1959–60 season, he joined Torino F.C. in Serie B and helped the team win the second division title to obtain Serie A promotion; after two seasons with the Turin club, he ended his career with

Treviso Treviso ( ; ; ) is a city and (municipality) in the Veneto region of northern Italy. It is the capital of the province of Treviso and the municipality has 87.322 inhabitants (as of December 2024). Some 3,000 live within the Venetian wall ...

in Serie C in 1962. Soldan died in

Conegliano Conegliano (; Venetian language, Venetian: ''Conejan'') is a town and ''comune'' of the Veneto region, Italy, in the province of Treviso, about north by rail from the town of Treviso. The population of the city is of people. The remains of a 10th ...

, Veneto in 1987.

Career statistics

Club

Honours

;Milan *

: 1956–57, 1958–59 ;Torino *

: 1959–60

References

External links

Narciso Soldan Profile at magliarossonera.it
{{DEFAULTSORT:Soldan, Narciso 1927 births 1987 deaths Footballers from the Province of Treviso Italian men's footballers Men's association football goalkeepers Serie A players Serie B players Serie C players Inter Milan players Catania FC players Torino FC players US Triestina Calcio 1918 players AC Milan players Treviso FBC 1993 players 20th-century Italian sportsmen