Comunardo Niccolai (; born 15 December 1946) is an Italian former

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 ...

, who played as a defender.

Club career

A tough, physically strong

centre-back In the sport of association football, a defender is an outfield position whose primary role is to stop attacks during the game and prevent the opposition from scoring. Centre-backs are usually positioned in pairs, with one full-back on either s ...

, Niccolai initially began his career with

Torres Torres may refer to: People *Torres (surname), a Spanish and Portuguese surname * Torres (musician), singer-songwriter Mackenzie Scott ** ''Torres'' (album), 2013 self-titled album by Torres Places Americas *Torres, Colorado, an unincorporated c ...

in 1963, before joining

Cagliari Calcio Cagliari Calcio, commonly referred to as Cagliari (), is an Italian football club based in Cagliari, Sardinia. In the 2022-23 season, they compete in Serie B. As of 2021–22, the team is temporarily playing their home games at the 16,416-seat ...

, where he played from 1964 to 1976, winning the only Serie A championship in the club's entire club history in

1970 Events January * January 1 – Unix time epoch reached at 00:00:00 UTC. * January 5 – The 7.1 Tonghai earthquake shakes Tonghai County, Yunnan province, China, with a maximum Mercalli intensity scale, Mercalli intensity of X (''Extrem ...

. He ended his career in 1977 with

Perugia Perugia (, , ; lat, Perusia) is the capital city of Umbria in central Italy, crossed by the River Tiber, and of the province of Perugia. The city is located about north of Rome and southeast of Florence. It covers a high hilltop and part o ...

. Niccolai played 218 Serie A matches, and is still remembered today for his proneness to score own goals, including some very spectacular ones.

International career

Niccolai made three appearances for the

Italy national football team The Italy national football team ( it, Nazionale di calcio dell'Italia) has represented Italy in international football since its first match in 1910. The national team is controlled by the Italian Football Federation (FIGC), the governing bo ...

in 1970, and represented the team at the

1970 FIFA World Cup The 1970 FIFA World Cup was the ninth edition of the FIFA World Cup, the quadrennial international Association football, football championship for List of men's national association football teams, men's senior national teams. Held from 31 May t ...

, where he won a runners-up medal; he only appeared in Italy's opening group match, a 1–0 win against

Sweden Sweden, formally the Kingdom of Sweden,The United Nations Group of Experts on Geographical Names states that the country's formal name is the Kingdom of SwedenUNGEGN World Geographical Names, Sweden./ref> is a Nordic country located on ...

on 3 June, as he was replaced by

Roberto Rosato Roberto Rosato (; 18 August 1943 – 20 June 2010) was an Italian footballer, who played as a defender. A strong, hard-tackling, and reliable centre-back, he is regarded as one of Italy's greatest defenders. Rosato played for four different I ...

in the 37th minute, after sustaining an injury which kept him out of the remainder of the tournament. This led his Cagliari coach Manlio Scopigno to declare: "I could expect everything from my life, but to see Niccolai in international telecast".

After retirement

He is currently working with the

Italian Football Federation The Italian Football Federation ( it, Federazione Italiana Giuoco Calcio; FIGC), known colloquially as ''Federcalcio'', is the governing body of football in Italy. It is based in Rome and the technical department is in Coverciano, Florence. It ...

as national team scout. He also worked as a youth coach for the Cagliari under-18 side.

Honours

Club

;Cagliari *

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 ...

: 1969–70

International

;Italy *

FIFA World Cup The FIFA World Cup, often simply called the World Cup, is an international association football competition contested by the senior men's national teams of the members of the ' ( FIFA), the sport's global governing body. The tournament ha ...

(Runner-up)

References

External links

Communardo Niccolai profile @ gazzetta.it

Communardo Niccolai profile @ archiviorossoblu.it

1946 births Living people Sportspeople from the Province of Pistoia Italian footballers Italy international footballers Cagliari Calcio players A.C. Perugia Calcio players Serie A players 1970 FIFA World Cup players Association football defenders S.E.F. Torres 1903 players A.C. Prato players Italian football managers Italy women's national football team managers Footballers from Tuscany {{Italy-footy-defender-1940s-stub