Renzo De Vecchi (; 3 February 1894 – 14 May 1967) 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 ...

player and coach who played as a defender. He competed in the

1912 Summer Olympics The 1912 Summer Olympics (), officially known as the Games of the V Olympiad () and commonly known as Stockholm 1912, were an international multi-sport event held in Stockholm, Sweden, between 6 July and 22 July 1912. The opening ceremony was he ...

with

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 ...

, and is officially the youngest player to have ever played a match for the Italy national side. Regarded as one of Italy's greatest-ever players, he was known for his excellent technique,

dribbling In sports, dribbling is maneuvering a ball by one player while moving in a given direction, avoiding defenders' attempts to intercept the ball. A successful dribble will bring the ball past defenders legally and create opportunities to score. As ...

skills, and his accuracy from

penalty kick A penalty shot or penalty kick is a play used in several sports whereby a goal is attempted during untimed play. Depending on the sport, when a player commits certain types of penalties, the opposition is awarded a penalty shot or kick attempt. ...

s, despite being a defender. As a ball-winning full-back, he was known for his strength, tackling ability, anticipation, and his organisational skills on the left flank, and was also capable of playing in the

centre Center or centre may refer to: Mathematics *Center (geometry), the middle of an object * Center (algebra), used in various contexts ** Center (group theory) ** Center (ring theory) * Graph center, the set of all vertices of minimum eccentricity ...

or in

midfield In many sports, midfield is the part of a sports field that is near the line that is equally far from the end lines. That is, in American football it is the part of the field near the 50-yard line; in association football (soccer) and field hoc ...

Club career

Born 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 ...

, Renzo De Vecchi is the youngest player to play in a

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 ...

game for

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 ...

, making his debut at 15 years and 284 days, on 14 November 1909, in a 2–1 home win over Ausonia. Two weeks later, he scored in a 6–2 away defeat to Torino, on 28 Novembro 1909, making him the youngest scorer in a

game for

, a record he holds to this day. He soon became a member of the starting line-up on the left side of the back-line, although he was also capable of playing in the centre or even in

. Due to his class and playing ability, he was given the nickname "Il Figlio di Dio" (''The Son of God'') by the Milan fans. He later moved to

Genoa Genoa ( ; ; ) is a city in and the capital of the Italian region of Liguria, and the sixth-largest city in Italy. As of 2025, 563,947 people live within the city's administrative limits. While its metropolitan city has 818,651 inhabitan ...

in 1913, winning three Italian League titles during his time with the club, before retiring in 1929. Between 1927 and 1929, he worked as a player-manager for Genoa, and during the 1929–30 season, after retiring as a player, he became the club's manager for a season, temporarily moving to Rapallo in 1930, for three seasons. He returned to Genoa in 1933, and he helped the club to gain

promotion, winning the 1934–35 Serie B title, before retiring, after which he pursued a coaching career.

International career

De Vecchi is the youngest official player to feature in a match for the Italy national team at 16 years, three months and 23 days, making his international debut as a substitute on 26 May 1910, in a 6–1 away defeat to

Hungary Hungary is a landlocked country in Central Europe. Spanning much of the Pannonian Basin, Carpathian Basin, it is bordered by Slovakia to the north, Ukraine to the northeast, Romania to the east and southeast, Serbia to the south, Croatia and ...

. As a member of the Italian Olympic squad in 1912, he played one match in the main tournament as well as two matches in the consolation tournament; he also represented Italy at the

1920 Events January * January 1 ** Polish–Soviet War: The Russian Red Army increases its troops along the Polish border from 4 divisions to 20. ** Kauniainen in Finland, completely surrounded by the city of Espoo, secedes from Espoo as its ow ...

and 1924 Summer Olympic Games. He 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 1920 and 1925. In total, he made 43 appearances for Italy between 1910 and 1925.

After retirement

Following his retirement as a manager, De Vecchi worked as a journalist for ''

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 ...

''.

Honours

Player

Genoa *

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 ...

: 1914–15, 1922–23, 1923–24

Coach

Genoa *

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 ...

: 1934–35

References

External links

*
Profile at Italia 1910
{{DEFAULTSORT:De Vecchi, Renzo 1894 births 1967 deaths Men's association football fullbacks Italian men's footballers AC Milan players Italy men's international footballers Olympic footballers for Italy Footballers at the 1912 Summer Olympics Footballers at the 1920 Summer Olympics Footballers at the 1924 Summer Olympics Italian football managers Genoa CFC managers Genoa CFC players Italian sports journalists Footballers from Milan 20th-century Italian sportsmen