Francesco Calì
Personal information
Date of birth (1882-05-16)16 May 1882
Place of birth Riposto, Italy
Date of death 3 September 1949(1949-09-03) (aged 67)
Place of death Genoa, Italy
Position(s) Defender
Senior career*
Years Team Apps (Gls)
1897–1899 Zürich
1899–1900 Urania Genève Sport
1900–1901 Genoa 1 (0)
1901–1912 Andrea Doria 34 (5)
International career
1910 Italy 2 (0)
*Club domestic league appearances and goals

Francesco Calì (Italian: [franˈtʃesko kaˈli]; 16 May 1882 – 3 September 1949) was an Italian professional football player, coach and referee, who played as a defender. He captained the Italy national football team in their first ever match, on 15 May 1910.

Early life

Calì was born in Riposto, Sicily on 16 May 1882, to Bruno Calì, a wine merchant. After pirate assaults on his father's business, he and his family immigrated to Switzerland two years later; he was nicknamed Franz.[1]

Career

Calì played several games as a left-back for Swiss clubs Zürich and Urania Genève Sport. He then played for two rival Genovese teams: Genoa and Andrea Doria.[2] He was also a referee during his time at Andrea Doria.[3][1]

Due to his experience as a footballer, as well as his knowledge of several foreign languages, he was selected as the Italy national team captain, in their first ever game[2][4][5] on 15 May 1910, in Milan against France, where Italy won 6–2.[4]

After his retirement as a player, he was also chosen several times as a member of the technical commission, in 1912, 1914, 1915, 1920 and 1921.[6]

References

  1. 1 2 Bagnati, Giuseppe (14 May 2010). "Il ripostese che guidò la Nazionale". La Repubblica (in Italian). Retrieved 17 March 2019.
  2. 1 2 Enrico Bronzo (6 January 2011). "Calì divenne capitano della nazionale perché conosceva le lingue straniere" (in Italian). Il Sole 24 Ore. Retrieved 13 May 2016.
  3. ↑ Storia Archived 1 April 2016 at the Wayback Machine Aiagenova.it
  4. 1 2 "Franz Calì: il primo capitano raccontato in un libro" [Franz Calì: the first captain recounted in a book] (in Italian). La Gazzetta dello Sport. Retrieved 13 May 2016.
  5. ↑ Enrico Bronzo (6 December 2011). "La maglia azzurra compie 100 anni. La storia di Francesco Calì, il primo capitano" [The Azzurri shirt turns 100. The story of Francesco Calì, the first captain] (in Italian). Il Sole 24 Ore. Retrieved 13 May 2016.
  6. ↑ Di Maggio, Roberto (22 November 2018). "Italian national team coaches". Rec.Sport.Soccer Statistics Foundation. Retrieved 18 March 2019.


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