Pietro Rava (; 21 January 1916 – 5 November 2006) was an Italian
football
Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kick (football), kicking a football (ball), ball to score a goal (sports), goal. Unqualified, football (word), the word ''football'' generally means the form of football t ...
defender and
coach, who played as a
full-back. He won the
1936 Summer Olympics
The 1936 Summer Olympics (), officially the Games of the XI Olympiad () and officially branded as Berlin 1936, were an international multi-sport event held from 1 to 16 August 1936 in Berlin, then capital of Nazi Germany. Berlin won the bid to ...
and the
1938 FIFA World Cup
The 1938 FIFA World Cup was the 3rd edition of the FIFA World Cup, World Cup, the quadrennial international Association football, football championship for senior men's national teams. It was held in France from 4 to 19 June 1938. Italy national ...
with the
Italy national team.
Club career
Rava, born in
Cassine,
Province of Alessandria
The province of Alessandria (; ; in Piedmontese of Alessandria: ''provinsa ëd Lissändria'') is an Italian Provinces of Italy, province, with a population of some 425,000, which forms the southeastern part of the region of Piedmont. The prov ...
, played for the clubs
U.S. Alessandria (1928–35, 1946–47),
Juventus F.C. (1935–46 and 1947–50) and
Novara Calcio
Novara Football Club, commonly referred to as Novara, is an Football in Italy, Italian football club based in Novara, Piedmont.
The club was founded in 2021 by the Novara, City of Novara to replace old Novara Calcio that lost its professional s ...
(1950–51). He won two
Italian Cups in the 1937–38 and 1941–42 seasons, and two ''
scudetti'' in the
1934–35 and
1949–50 seasons. He was Juventus's captain from 1947 to 1950. In total, he played in 352
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 (including 303 for Juventus), scoring 15 goals.
["Addio Rava, Mondiale nel 1938"]
- www.gazzetta.it - ''La Gazzetta dello Sport
(; English: "The Sports Gazette") is an Italian Newspaper#Daily, daily newspaper dedicated to coverage of various sports. Founded in 1896, it is the most widely read daily newspaper of any type in Italy (in 2018).
History and profile
was fou ...
'' - Retrieved 5 November 2006.
International career
Rava appeared in 30 international matches with the
Italy national team between 1935 and 1946, losing only one game, and becoming the Italy
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 ...
in 1940. He won the
gold medal
A gold medal is a medal awarded for highest achievement in a non-military field. Its name derives from the use of at least a fraction of gold in form of plating or alloying in its manufacture.
Since the eighteenth century, gold medals have b ...
at the
1936 Summer Olympics
The 1936 Summer Olympics (), officially the Games of the XI Olympiad () and officially branded as Berlin 1936, were an international multi-sport event held from 1 to 16 August 1936 in Berlin, then capital of Nazi Germany. Berlin won the bid to ...
, and won the
1938 FIFA World Cup
The 1938 FIFA World Cup was the 3rd edition of the FIFA World Cup, World Cup, the quadrennial international Association football, football championship for senior men's national teams. It was held in France from 4 to 19 June 1938. Italy national ...
. Rumour has it, before the 1938 finals
fascist
Fascism ( ) is a far-right, authoritarian, and ultranationalist political ideology and movement. It is characterized by a dictatorial leader, centralized autocracy, militarism, forcible suppression of opposition, belief in a natural soci ...
Italian Prime Minister
Benito Mussolini
Benito Amilcare Andrea Mussolini (29 July 188328 April 1945) was an Italian politician and journalist who, upon assuming office as Prime Minister of Italy, Prime Minister, became the dictator of Fascist Italy from the March on Rome in 1922 un ...
was to have sent a
telegram
Telegraphy is the long-distance transmission of messages where the sender uses symbolic codes, known to the recipient, rather than a physical exchange of an object bearing the message. Thus flag semaphore is a method of telegraphy, whereas pi ...
to the team, saying "Vincere o morire!" (literally translated as "Win or die!"). However, no record remains of such a telegram, and Rava said, when interviewed, "No, no, no, that's not true. He sent a telegram wishing us well, but no never 'win or die'." He was selected to the
"Best XI" of the 1938 World Cup. Along with
Alfredo Foni
Alfredo Foni (; 20 January 1911 – 28 January 1985) was an Italians, Italian football (soccer), footballer in the 1930s and later on a coach, who played as a Defender (association football), defender. He is one of only four players to have won ...
,
Sergio Bertoni
Sergio Bertoni (; 23 September 1915 – 15 February 1995) was an Italian association football manager and player, who played as a striker. With the Italy national team, he won the 1936 Summer Olympics football tournament and the 1938 FIFA Wor ...
, and
Ugo Locatelli
Ugo Locatelli (; 5 February 1916 – 28 May 1993) was an Italian international footballer who played as a midfielder or as a forward. Regarded as one of Italy's greatest players, he won a gold medal at the 1936 Summer Olympics and a winner's med ...
, Rava is one of only four Italian players ever to win both the Olympic tournament and the World Cup.
After retirement
As a coach, he managed the clubs
Sampdoria,
Palermo
Palermo ( ; ; , locally also or ) is a city in southern Italy, the capital (political), capital of both the autonomous area, autonomous region of Sicily and the Metropolitan City of Palermo, the city's surrounding metropolitan province. The ...
,
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 ...
,
Monza
Monza (, ; ; , locally ; ) is a city and ''comune'' (municipality) on the Lambro, River Lambro, a tributary of the Po (river), River Po, in the Lombardy region of Italy, about north-northeast of Milan. It is the capital of the province of Mo ...
,
Alessandria
Alessandria (; ) is a city and commune in Piedmont, Italy, and the capital of the Province of Alessandria. It is also the largest municipality of the region. The city is sited on the alluvial plain between the Tanaro and the Bormida rivers, ...
,
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 ...
,
Carrarese
Carrarese Calcio 1908, commonly referred to as Carrarese, is an Italian football club based in Carrara, Tuscany. The team plays in Serie B, second tier of Italian football, after promotion from Serie C in 2023–24.
History
The club was foun ...
, and
A.C. Cuneo.
On 5 November 2006, Rava, who was the last surviving member of the Italy 1938 World Cup champion squad, died in
Turin
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 ...
after having had surgery on his right
femur
The femur (; : femurs or femora ), or thigh bone is the only long bone, bone in the thigh — the region of the lower limb between the hip and the knee. In many quadrupeds, four-legged animals the femur is the upper bone of the hindleg.
The Femo ...
due to a fracture days before. He had been suffering from
Alzheimer's disease
Alzheimer's disease (AD) is a neurodegenerative disease and the cause of 60–70% of cases of dementia. The most common early symptom is difficulty in remembering recent events. As the disease advances, symptoms can include problems wit ...
for several years.
Juventus announced that the following day, for a
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 ...
match against
Napoli
Naples ( ; ; ) is the regional capital of Campania and the third-largest city of Italy, after Rome and Milan, with a population of 908,082 within the city's administrative limits as of 2025, while its province-level municipality is the thir ...
, the players would wear mourning armbands in his memory.
Honours
Club
;Juventus
*
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 ...
:
1949–50; Runner-up:
1937–38,
1946–47
*
Serie A-B Runner-up:
1945–46
*
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 ...
: 1937–38, 1941–42
International
;Italy
*
Olympic Gold Medal
Olympic or Olympics may refer to
Sports
Competitions
* Olympic Games, international multi-sport event held since 1896
** Summer Olympic Games
** Winter Olympic Games
* Ancient Olympic Games, ancient multi-sport event held in Olympia, Greece bet ...
:
1936
Events January–February
* January 20 – The Prince of Wales succeeds to the throne of the United Kingdom as King Edward VIII, following the death of his father, George V, at Sandringham House.
* January 28 – Death and state funer ...
*
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 ...
:
1938
Events
January
* January 1 – state-owned enterprise, State-owned railway networks are created by merger, in France (SNCF) and the Netherlands (Nederlandse Spoorwegen – NS).
* January 20 – King Farouk of Egypt marries Saf ...
Individual
*
1938 FIFA World Cup
The 1938 FIFA World Cup was the 3rd edition of the FIFA World Cup, World Cup, the quadrennial international Association football, football championship for senior men's national teams. It was held in France from 4 to 19 June 1938. Italy national ...
All-star Team
References
Further reading
Player bio- www.tifonet.it - Retrieved November 2006.
Rava's statistics at Juventus- www.myjuve.it - Retrieved November 2006.
- www.rsssf.com - by Roberto Di Maggio,
RSSSF
The Rec.Sport.Soccer Statistics Foundation (''RSSSF'') is an international organisation dedicated to collecting statistics about association football. The foundation aims to build an exhaustive archive of football-related information from around ...
.
*
----
is stated as fact:
website FIF
in November 2009 introduced some changes in date of birth the player's instead 21 January 1916 (originally written) wrote 12 January 1916
!colspan="3" style="background:#C1D8FF;",
List of FIFA World Cup winning players, World Cup-winners status
, -
{{DEFAULTSORT:Rava, Pietro
1916 births
2006 deaths
Accidental deaths from falls
Italian men's footballers
Italy men's international footballers
Men's association football defenders
US Alessandria Calcio 1912 players
Juventus FC players
Novara FC players
Olympic footballers for Italy
Olympic gold medalists for Italy
Footballers at the 1936 Summer Olympics
1938 FIFA World Cup players
FIFA World Cup–winning players
Italian football managers
UC Sampdoria managers
Palermo FC managers
Calcio Padova managers
AC Monza managers
US Alessandria Calcio 1912 managers
Novara FC managers
Carrarese Calcio 1908
AC Cuneo 1905 managers
People from Cassine, Piedmont
Olympic medalists in football
Medalists at the 1936 Summer Olympics
People with Alzheimer's disease
Footballers from the Province of Alessandria
20th-century Italian sportsmen