Alfonso Negro (; 5 July 1915 – 7 November 1984) was an American-born Italian

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kicking a ball to score a goal. Unqualified, the word ''football'' normally means the form of football that is the most popular where the word is used. Sports commonly c ...

(soccer) player, who played as a

forward Forward is a relative direction, the opposite of backward. Forward may also refer to: People * Forward (surname) Sports * Forward (association football) * Forward (basketball), including: ** Point forward ** Power forward (basketball) ** Sm ...

; he is believed to be the first American-born player in

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 Coppa ...

and the first American-born player to have played for

Italy Italy ( it, Italia ), officially the Italian Republic, ) or the Republic of Italy, is a country in Southern Europe. It is located in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea, and its territory largely coincides with the homonymous geographical re ...

Club career

Born in

Brooklyn, New York Brooklyn () is a borough of New York City, coextensive with Kings County, in the U.S. state of New York. Kings County is the most populous county in the State of New York, and the second-most densely populated county in the United States, be ...

, Negro started his career with

Angri Angri is a town and ''comune'' in the province of Salerno, Campania, southern Italy. It is around northwest of the town of Salerno. History The Byzantine general Narses defeated Teias, the last king of the Goths, nearby in AD 553. In the 1 ...

Serie C The Serie C () is the third-highest division in the Italian football league system after the Serie B and Serie A. The Lega Italiana Calcio Professionistico (Lega Pro) is the governing body that runs the Serie C. The unification of the Lega Pro ...

at the age of 15. He moved onward to Catanzarese in

Serie B The Serie B (), currently named Serie Balkrishna Industries, 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 ...

. While at Catanzarese, he made his international debut with Italy B team against Hungary in

Vercelli Vercelli (; pms, Vërsèj ), is a city and ''comune'' of 46,552 inhabitants (January 1, 2017) in the Province of Vercelli, Piedmont, northern Italy. One of the oldest urban sites in northern Italy, it was founded, according to most historians, ...

. In 1934, he transferred to

Fiorentina ACF Fiorentina, commonly referred to as Fiorentina (), is an Italian professional football club based in Florence, Tuscany, Italy. The original team was founded by a merger in August 1926, while the actual club was refounded in August 2002 fo ...

. At that era, three other American-born players --

Armando Frigo Armando Frigo (5 August 1917 – 10 September 1943) was an Italian-American Association football, football (soccer) player who played as a midfielder. He was known as the second American-born player after Alfonso Negro to have played in Serie A ...

, Alfio Argentieri and Umberto Piccolo—played in Italy at that time, but only

played in the

. Alfonso Negro played 51 games for Fiorentina, and scored five goals, before being transferred to

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 ...

in 1938, where he played 25 games and scored three goals.

International career

Negro was selected to play for

at the 1936 Olympic Games. He scored a goal against

Norway Norway, officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic country in Northern Europe, the mainland territory of which comprises the western and northernmost portion of the Scandinavian Peninsula. The remote Arctic island of Jan Mayen and t ...

and went on to win a gold medal in the tournament.

Education

Negro also entered university where he played for his school team. He graduated in medicine and surgery at Florence University and during the war served as a medical officer in Greece. Following the war he became a specialist in

obstetrics Obstetrics is the field of study concentrated on pregnancy, childbirth and the postpartum period. As a medical specialty, obstetrics is combined with gynecology under the discipline known as obstetrics and gynecology (OB/GYN), which is a surgi ...

and

gynaecology Gynaecology or gynecology (see spelling differences) is the area of medicine that involves the treatment of women's diseases, especially those of the reproductive organs. It is often paired with the field of obstetrics, forming the combined are ...

and became a lecturer. He died in

Florence, Italy Florence ( ; it, Firenze ) is a city in Central Italy and the capital city of the Tuscany region. It is the most populated city in Tuscany, with 383,083 inhabitants in 2016, and over 1,520,000 in its metropolitan area.Bilancio demografico an ...

on 7 November 1984.

Honours

International

;Italy *

Olympic Gold Medal Olympic or Olympics may refer to Sports Competitions * Olympic Games, international multi-sport event held since 1896 ** Summer Olympic Games ** Winter Olympic Games * Ancient Olympic Games, ancient multi-sport event held in Olympia, Greece b ...

1936 Events January–February * January 20 – George V of the United Kingdom and the British Dominions and Emperor of India, dies at his Sandringham Estate. The Prince of Wales succeeds to the throne of the United Kingdom as King E ...

References

Sources

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External links

* * * 1915 births 1984 deaths Italian footballers American expatriate soccer players American emigrants to Italy American people of Italian descent Sportspeople from Brooklyn Soccer players from New York City Italy international footballers Serie A players ACF Fiorentina players S.S.C. Napoli players Olympic footballers of Italy Olympic gold medalists for Italy Footballers at the 1936 Summer Olympics Olympic medalists in football Medalists at the 1936 Summer Olympics American soccer players Association football forwards Italian military personnel of World War II {{Italy-Olympic-medalist-stub