Giovanni Ferrari

Ferrari in 1933
Personal information
Full name	Giovanni Vincenzo Ferrari
Date of birth	(1907-12-06)6 December 1907
Place of birth	Alessandria, Kingdom of Italy
Date of death	2 December 1982(1982-12-02) (aged 74)
Place of death	Milan, Italy
Height	1.72 m (5 ft 7+1⁄2 in)
Positions	Attacking midfielder forward
Senior career*
Years	Team	Apps	(Gls)
1923–1925	US Alessandria	17	(2)
1925–1926	Napoli (loan)	15	(16)
1926–1930	US Alessandria	105	(60)
1930–1935	Juventus	160	(66)
1935–1940	Internazionale	108	(24)
1940–1941	Bologna	16	(2)
1941–1942	Juventus	6	(1)
Total		427	(171)
International career
1930–1938	Italy	44	(14)
Managerial career
1941–1942	Juventus
1942–1943	Internazionale
1945–1946	Brescia
1946–1948	Cantonal Neuchâtel
1948–1950	Prato
1951	Padova
1958–1959	Italy
1960–1962	Italy
Medal record Men's Football Representing Italy FIFA World Cup Winner 1934 Italy Winner 1938 France Central European International Cup Runner-up 1931–32 Winner 1933–35
* Club domestic league appearances and goals

Giovanni Ferrari (Italian pronunciation: [dʒoˈvanni ferˈraːri]; 6 December 1907 – 2 December 1982) was an Italian footballer who played as an attacking midfielder/inside forward on the left. He is regarded as one of the best players of his generation, having won Serie A 8 times, as well as two consecutive FIFA World Cup titles (in 1934 and 1938) with the Italy national football team.^[1][2][3] Along with Giuseppe Meazza^[4] and Eraldo Monzeglio, he is one of only three Italian players to have won two World Cups.^[5]

Ferrari played primarily as an attacking midfielder/left–sided inside forward, a role known in Italian football as the Mezzala.^[1][2][3][6] throughout his career.

Club career

Ferrari began his footballing career with local club Alessandria in the prima divisione nazionale in 1923. He was at the start of the newly established Serie A in the season 1929-30, aside from a brief loan to Napoli during the 1925–26 season, where he scored 16 goals in 15 matches. He was given credit over a seven-year period (1923–1930) with Alessandria and Napoli in total to play in 137 matches and score 78 goals. The following year, Ferrari changed over to Juventus and was handed the number 10 shirt.^[7] Over that five-year period (1930–1935), which was his first spell at Juventus, he played in 160 games and scored 66 goals, in addition to providing many assists. Although the official number of assists he provided went unrecorded. Ferrari would next move to Inter, where he would play for five-years (1935-1940), and then subsequently to Bologna for the 1940–41 season, before return for second spell to Juventus in the 1941–42 season, this time as a player-manager in what turned out to be the final season of his playing career, winning his 10th major national trophy. After the Second World War, when Italian club football resumed in the season 1945-46, he became a full-time manager for Brescia.

1930-1935: Il Quinquennio d'Oro della Juventus ^[8]

Juventus had won 2 Italian Championships earlier in history, before it was named Serie A, but under his guidance, the club won 5 consecutive Serie A Titles, Il Quinquennio d'Oro, by then a record of 1st 5 successive titles ever in Italy, cementing Juventus as one of the dominant clubs in Italian football.

1935-1941: Making it a record 8 Serie A titles

He then went on to win 2 more Serie A titles & 1 Coppa Italia with Internazionale and 1 Serie A title with Bologna; Making him the first player to win a then record of 8 Serie A Championships, Virginio Rosetta also won 8 national championships, but 3 of them came before the formation of a professional Serie A.^[1][2][3][9] Ferrari is also one of six footballers to have won the Serie A title with 3 clubs, a feat he managed with Juventus, Inter, and Bologna; the other 5 players to have managed the same feat are Filippo Cavalli, Aldo Serena, Pietro Fanna, Sergio Gori, and Attilio Lombardo.^[10][11] The record for most Serie A titles went unbroken for 77 years, until the season 2017–18 where Gianluigi Buffon won his 9th Serie A title, subsequently making it 10 Serie A titles in the season 2019-20, all 10 titles won with Juventus.

1941-1942: 2nd spell at Juventus & 10th major national trophy

He came back to Juventus, where he won his 2nd Coppa Italia, which was his 10th major national trophy in what would be his last season as a player. After this season, the Serie A & Coppa Italia were discontinued due to the Second World War.

International career

Ferrari's first taste of success with the Italy national team was as part of the silver medal-winning 1931–32 Central European International Cup squad. He then went on to win two consecutive World Cups (in 1934 & 1938), as well as the 1933–35 Central European International Cup. All 4 tournaments alongside teammates Giuseppe Meazza and Eraldo Monzeglio. All three won four international titles together with Italy. In total, he managed 44 appearances and 14 goals with the national side between 1930 and 1938. He later was the head coach of Italy from 1960 to 1961, and was part of the technical commission, being co-manager with Paolo Mazza, leading Italy in the 1962 FIFA World Cup,^{[1][2][3][12]} where Italy lost a match to the hosting nation Chile in the Battle of Santiago, a match noted for its violent play.

Personal life

Ferrari was born in Alessandria on 6 December 1907 and died in Milan in 1982, aged 74.^[1][2]

Honours

References

External links

• Profile