Adolfo BALONCIERI

Regarded as one of the greatest footballers of all-time, Adolof Baloncieri played as a midfielder and later was a manager. He was born in the little village of Castelceriolo in Alessandria province. During childhood he lived with his family in Rosario, Argentina for 12 years where he started football. Baloncieri returned to Italy in 1913 and joined Alessandria for which he débuted in 1914 before serving as a gunner in World War I. He played with AS Alessandria from 1919-25, and then Torino FC until 1932, where he won two Italian titles in 1927-28, although the 1927 title was revoked years later due to a scandal. Baloncieri played 318 club matches with 172 goals.

After his retirement Baloncieri was very interested in the development of young athletes and coached many clubs. From 1932-62 he managed AC Milan, SS Napoli, US Alessandria, Sampdoria, AS Roma, and also Chiasso, Switzerland, a small city on the Italian border.

At the international level, Baloncieri was captain of the national team that won the bronze medal at the 1928 Olympics and the 1930 Coppa Internazionale. He earned 47 caps for Italy between 1920-30 and with 25 goals he is Italy’s sixth all-time highest goal scorer as of 2015.