Armando Massiglia (6 January 1911 – 28 April 1980) was an Italian professional

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 le ...

active in the 1930s who played as a right winger. He made 65 Serie A appearances for

Ambrosiana The Biblioteca Ambrosiana is a historic library in Milan, Italy, also housing the Pinacoteca Ambrosiana, the Ambrosian art gallery. Named after Ambrose, the patron saint of Milan, it was founded in 1609 by Cardinal Federico Borromeo, whose agen ...

Bari Bari ( , ; nap, label= Barese, Bare ; lat, Barium) is the capital city of the Metropolitan City of Bari and of the Apulia region, on the Adriatic Sea, southern Italy. It is the second most important economic centre of mainland Southern Italy a ...

and

Alessandria Alessandria (; pms, Lissandria ) is a city and ''comune'' in Piedmont, Italy, and the capital of the Province of Alessandria. The city is sited on the alluvial plain between the Tanaro and the Bormida rivers, about east of Turin. Alessandria ...

, and a further 145 appearances in Serie B.

Life and career

Armando Massiglia was born on 6 January 1911 in Novi Ligure, Piedmont. He played for his home-town club, Acciaierie e Ferriere, before joining Serie A club

in 1930. Massiglia made his first-team debut on 4 November at home to Brescia, playing on the right wing of an Ambrosiana side weakened by the absence of several regulars. Although ''

La Stampa ''La Stampa'' (meaning ''The Press'' in English) is an Italian daily newspaper published in Turin, Italy. It is distributed in Italy and other European nations. It is one of the oldest newspapers in Italy. History and profile The paper was fou ...

s reporter thought his performance in the 3–3 draw showed promise, he appeared only twice more for the first team, his failure to progress attributed to a lack of drive, and moved on to another top-flight club,

, at the end of the season. He played regularly in his first season at Bari, but his team finished level on points with Brescia, whom they had to beat in a play-off to avoid relegation to Serie B. Brescia took an early lead, and Bari equalised in the second half. With five minutes left, Massiglia ran the ball down the wing until level with the penalty area and passed to the unmarked who scored the goal that kept Bari in the top flight. He played in the first few matches of the following season, but then lost his place. Unlike the previous season, Bari did not escape relegation. Massiglia spent the 1933–34 season on loan to Novara, where his military service commitments allowed him time to make 21 Serie B appearances and score four goals, before returning to his parent club. He played in 20 of their 28 league matches to help the side regain their top-flight status as section winners, and two minutes into the match, scored the only goal of the

championship play-off 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 ...

first leg against Genova 1893, winners of the other section; Bari lost the second leg 4–0 so did not win the overall title. He spent the 1935–36 season with another Serie B club, Vigevanesi, for whom he was ever-present as they were relegated, and his performances earned him a return to Serie A, with

. In style, he was technically gifted, a skilled

dribbler In sports, dribbling is maneuvering a ball by one player while moving in a given direction, avoiding defenders' attempts to intercept the ball. A successful dribble will bring the ball past defenders legally and create opportunities to score. A ...

and a good reader of the game, but he had a diffident personality and what was perceived as a lack of competitive spirit. Playing alongside the combative

Eligio Vecchi Eligio Vecchi (16 February 1910 – 8 November 1968) was an Italian professional footballer who played as a midfielder. Career Vecchi began his career at local club Mantova in 1927, before joining Foggia two seasons later in the Serie B. Fol ...

and at Alessandria helped him produce his most effective work. Alessandria were relegated to Serie B for the 1937–38 campaign, and Massiglia stayed with the club for that and the next two seasons, before finishing his career in amateur football during the Second World War. Massiglia died in his native Novi Ligure on 28 April 1980 at the age of 69.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Massiglia, Armando 1911 births 1980 deaths People from Novi Ligure Italian men's footballers Men's association football wingers USD Novese players Inter Milan players SSC Bari players US Catanzaro 1929 players Novara FC players Vigevano Calcio players US Alessandria Calcio 1912 players ASD HSL Derthona players Serie A players Serie B players Footballers from the Province of Alessandria