Umberto Caligaris (; 26 July 1901 – 19 October 1940) was an Italian international

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 ...

who played, normally at

left-back In the sport of association football, a defender is an outfield position whose primary role is to stop attacks during the game and prevent the opposition from scoring. Centre-backs are usually positioned in pairs, with one full-back on either s ...

, for A.S. Casale and

Juventus Juventus Football Club (from la, iuventūs, 'youth'; ), colloquially known as Juve (), is a professional football club based in Turin, Piedmont, Italy, that competes in the Serie A, the top tier of the Italian football league system. Founded in ...

, before ending his career with

Brescia Brescia (, locally ; lmo, link=no, label= Lombard, Brèsa ; lat, Brixia; vec, Bressa) is a city and ''comune'' in the region of Lombardy, Northern Italy. It is situated at the foot of the Alps, a few kilometers from the lakes Garda and Ise ...

. With Juventus he won an Italian record of five consecutive

Serie A The Serie A (), also called Serie A TIM for national sponsorship with TIM, is a professional league competition for football clubs located at the top of the Italian football league system and the winner is awarded the Scudetto and the Copp ...

League titles between 1930 and 1935. He also managed to have a successful career with the Italy national team, notably winning a bronze medal at the 1928 Summer Olympic Games; he was also a member of the Italian side that won the

1934 FIFA World Cup The 1934 FIFA World Cup was the second 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 ...

. His 59 caps for Italy stood as a record for many years. Following his retirement he worked as a

manager Management (or managing) is the administration of an organization, whether it is a business, a nonprofit organization, or a government body. It is the art and science of managing resources of the business. Management includes the activities ...

, coaching his former clubs Brescia and Juventus.

Career

Born in

Casale Monferrato Casale Monferrato () is a town in the Piedmont region of Italy, in the province of Alessandria. It is situated about east of Turin on the right bank of the Po, where the river runs at the foot of the Montferrat hills. Beyond the river lies the ...

(

Piedmont it, Piemontese , population_note = , population_blank1_title = , population_blank1 = , demographics_type1 = , demographics1_footnotes = , demographics1_title1 = , demographics1_info1 = , demographics1_title2 ...

), Caligaris spent the first nine years of his career with the local team, A.S. Casale. He made his debut for them on 12 October 1919 in a match against local rivals

Valenzana Calcio Valenzana Mado is an Italian football club, based in Valenza, Piedmont. Currently it plays in Promozione Piedmont and Aosta Valley. History Valenzana Mado The club was founded in 2012 after the merger of Valenzana Calcio and G.S. Mado. I ...

which Casale won 3–1. Casale was then in the Italian First division (the predecessor to Serie A) and had won the

championship In sport, a championship is a competition in which the aim is to decide which individual or team is the champion. Championship systems Various forms of competition can be referred to by the term championship. Title match system In this system ...

in 1914. However they were never to repeat that success and although during Caligaris's career with the club they twice qualified for the inter-regional semi-final of North Italy, they were unable to get further. FBC Juventus - 'Trio of Accountants' (Rosetta, Combi, Caligaris)

FBC Juventus - 'Trio of Accountants' (Rosetta, Combi, Caligaris)

The Italy national team, however, did provide scope for his talents. He received his first cap on 15 January 1922 against a strong

Austria Austria, , bar, Östareich officially the Republic of Austria, is a country in the southern part of Central Europe, lying in the Eastern Alps. It is a federation of nine states, one of which is the capital, Vienna, the most populous ...

side, in Milan; he was selected in place of

Virginio Rosetta Virginio "Viri" Rosetta (; 25 February 1902 – 31 March 1975) was an Italian footballer who played as a defender. A hard-working player, he was known for his organisational skills, and for his ability to read the game and anticipate other play ...

as right-back flanking the great

Genoese Genoese may refer to: * a person from Genoa * Genoese dialect, a dialect of the Ligurian language * Republic of Genoa (–1805), a former state in Liguria See also * Genovese, a surname * Genovesi, a surname * * * * * Genova (disambiguati ...

left-back

Renzo De Vecchi Renzo De Vecchi (; 3 February 1894 – 14 May 1967) was an Italian football player and coach who played as a defender. He competed in the 1912 Summer Olympics with Italy, and is officially the youngest player to have ever played a match for the ...

("Son of God" to the fans), who had been playing for Italy since 1910. From then until De Vecchi's retirement from international football in March 1925, Rosetta and Caligaris were in competition for the right-back position. He played for Italy in the

1924 Olympics 1924 Olympics may refer to: *The 1924 Winter Olympics, which were held in Chamonix, France *The 1924 Summer Olympics The 1924 Summer Olympics (french: Jeux olympiques d'été de 1924), officially the Games of the VIII Olympiad (french: Jeux de ...

, the match against Spain being the first in which he played alongside Rosetta, also winning the

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 f ...

with Italy between 1927 and 1930. After winning a bronze medal at the

1928 Summer Olympics The 1928 Summer Olympics ( nl, Olympische Zomerspelen 1928), officially known as the Games of the IX Olympiad ( nl, Spelen van de IXe Olympiade) and commonly known as Amsterdam 1928, was an international multi-sport event that was celebrated from ...

, Caligaris left Casale to join Rosetta at

, making his

debut with the club on 6 October 1929, in a 3–2 home victory over

Napoli Naples (; it, Napoli ; nap, Napule ), from grc, Νεάπολις, Neápolis, lit=new city. is the regional capital of Campania and the third-largest city of Italy, after Rome and Milan, with a population of 909,048 within the city's adminis ...

. Here the two full-backs, backed by Italian international

goalkeeper In many team sports which involve scoring 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 intercepting ...

Gianpiero Combi Gianpiero Combi (; 20 November 1902 – 12 August 1956) was an Italian footballer who played as a goalkeeper.scudetti in a row between 1930 and 1935. Caligaris served as Italy's

captain Captain is a title, an appellative for the commanding officer of a military unit; the supreme leader of a navy ship, merchant ship, aeroplane, spacecraft, or other vessel; or the commander of a port, fire or police department, election precinct, e ...

between 1931 and 1934. His final game for Italy on 11 February 1934 was, like his first, against Austria. (Although a member of the Italian squad, he did not play in any of the 1934 World Cup matches, as Italy went on to win the tournament on home soil.) His record of 59 caps for Italy was only surpassed in 1971 by

Giacinto Facchetti Giacinto Facchetti (; 18 July 1942 – 4 September 2006) was an Italian footballer who played as a left-back for Inter Milan from 1960 to 1978. He later served as Inter chairman from January 2004 until his death in 2006. He played 634 official ga ...

. Caligaris coached Juventus from 1939 until his death. On 19 October 1940 in

Turin Turin ( , Piedmontese: ; it, Torino ) 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. Th ...

, Caligaris returned to the field in a match between old Juventus stars, together with his old team mates Gianpiero Combi and Virginio Rosetta, but after a few minutes of play he was forced to leave the field: taken to hospital, he was struck down by an

aneurysm An aneurysm is an outward bulging, likened to a bubble or balloon, caused by a localized, abnormal, weak spot on a blood vessel wall. Aneurysms may be a result of a hereditary condition or an acquired disease. Aneurysms can also be a nidus ...

Legacy

During the 1970s, an annual under-21 football tournament was named in the Italian's honour. The "Caligaris" International Tournament took place in the player's hometown of Casale Monferrato.

Style of play

A highly successful

, Caligaris is regarded as one of the best Italian

defenders Defender(s) or The Defender(s) may refer to: *Defense (military) *Defense (sports) **Defender (association football) Arts and entertainment Film and television * ''The Defender'' (1989 film), a Canadian documentary * ''The Defender'' (1994 f ...

of his generation. A strong, hard-tackling, and tenacious player, he was known for his pace, work-rate, stamina, and his ability in the air, which he combined with an excellent technique.

Honours

Club

Juventus *

: 1930–31, 1931–32, 1932–33, 1933–34, 1934–35

International

Italy *

FIFA World Cup The FIFA World Cup, often simply called the World Cup, is an international association football competition contested by the senior List of men's national association football teams, men's national teams of the members of the ' (FIFA), the ...

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 Nepal–Bihar earthquake strikes Nepal and Bihar with a max ...

: 1927-30, 1933-35 *

: Runner-up: 1931–32 *

Summer Olympics The Summer Olympic Games (french: link=no, Jeux olympiques d'été), also known as the Games of the Olympiad, and often referred to as the Summer Olympics, is a major international multi-sport event normally held once every four years. The ina ...

: Bronze

1928 Events January * January – British bacteriologist Frederick Griffith reports the results of Griffith's experiment, indirectly proving the existence of DNA. * January 1 – Eastern Bloc emigration and defection: Boris Bazhano ...

References

External links

Umberto Caligaris – International Appearances
from

RSSSF The Rec.Sport.Soccer Statistics Foundation (RSSSF) is an international organization dedicated to collecting statistics about association football. The foundation aims to build an exhaustive archive of football-related information from around the ...

** And the corresponding entries fo
Rosetta
an

* The article on Umberto Caligaris from the Italian Wikipedia.
DatabaseOlympics.com profile
{{DEFAULTSORT:Caligaris, Umberto 1901 births 1940 deaths People from Casale Monferrato Italian footballers Italy international footballers Casale F.B.C. players Juventus F.C. players Juventus F.C. managers Serie A managers FIFA World Cup-winning players 1934 FIFA World Cup players Olympic footballers of Italy Olympic bronze medalists for Italy Footballers at the 1924 Summer Olympics Footballers at the 1928 Summer Olympics Olympic medalists in football Medalists at the 1928 Summer Olympics Association football defenders Italian football managers Deaths from aneurysm Footballers from Piedmont Sportspeople from the Province of Alessandria