Dante Crippa (10 March 1937 – 27 February 2021) 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 ...

who played as a

midfielder A midfielder is an outfield position in association football. Midfielders may play an exclusively defensive role, breaking up attacks, and are in that case known as defensive midfielders. As central midfielders often go across boundarie ...

Career

Crippa began his youth career with Fanfulla, making his

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 ...

and his IV Division debut with the senior squad. He was purchased by

Brescia Brescia (, locally ; lmo, link=no, label= Lombard, Brèsa ; lat, Brixia; vec, Bressa) is a city and ''comune'' in the region of Lombardy, Northern Italy. It is situated at the foot of the Alps, a few kilometers from the lakes Garda and Iseo. ...

in 1956, soon becoming a permanent starter in the squad 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 ...

. In 1960, he was purchased by Nereo Rocco's Padova, making his Serie A debut that season. Throughout his time at the club, he was deployed in a supporting role behind the team's main striker

Aurelio Milani Aurelio Milani (; 14 May 1934 – 25 November 2014) was an Italian footballer who played as a forward. Milani played for several different Italian clubs in Serie A and Serie B, winning the top scorer award in both divisions. In total, he collecte ...

, who became Padova's top scorer; together, they formed a notable offensive partnership. In 1962 he was purchased by Italian

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 ...

club

Juventus Juventus Football Club (from la, iuventūs, 'youth'; ), colloquially known as Juve (), is a professional Association football, football club based in Turin, Piedmont, Italy, that competes in the Serie A, the top tier of the Italian football leagu ...

for a single season, managing a second-place finish in Serie A during the 1962–63 season, and reaching the quarter finals of the

Coppa Italia The ("Italy Cup") is an annual knockout cup competition in Italian football organized by the FIGC until the 2009–10 season and the Lega Serie A ever since. History The beginning of the tournament was turbulent, due to the complexity of ...

. During his time at the club, he managed to capture the only trophy of his career in 1963, a minor trophy, the

Coppa delle Alpi Coppa delle Alpi (translated as ''Cup of the Alps'') was a friendly football tournament, first organized by the Italian national league as it started in 1960 and then they were aided by the Swiss League from 1962, for the reason that the majorit ...

. During his time with the club, he was mainly used as a back-up and only made 20 appearances. The following season, Crippa moved to Ferrara to play in Paolo Mazza's SPAL, although the Serie A season was largely disappointing as Crippa went scoreless in each of his 26 league appearances, and was unable to prevent the club from being relegated to Serie B. The following season, however, he played a crucial role in leading the club back to Serie A promotion for the following season, scoring 2 goals. In 1966, he stayed in Emilia Romagna, but moved to Serie B club Reggiana. During his time at the club, he scored 10 goals in 1968, his personal best. After four seasons in Serie B with the club and 29 goals in 129 appearances, 14 of which were from penalties, Crippa retired from professional football at the age of 33.

Style of play

Despite not being particularly prolific in front of goal, and notwithstanding his lack of stamina and notable physical or athletic attributes due to his small stature, Crippa was known for his excellent crossing ability and passing range, which made him an effective assist provider. He was capable of playing in several

offensive Offensive may refer to: * Offensive, the former name of the Dutch political party Socialist Alternative * Offensive (military), an attack * Offensive language ** Fighting words or insulting language, words that by their very utterance inflict inj ...

and creative midfield positions; he was usually deployed either as a winger, or as an

attacking midfielder A midfielder is an Glossary of association football terms#O, outfield position in association football. Midfielders may play an exclusively defensive role, breaking up attacks, and are in that case known as defensive midfielders. As #Cent ...

, although he was also capable of playing as a

central midfielder A midfielder is an outfield position in association football. Midfielders may play an exclusively defensive role, breaking up attacks, and are in that case known as defensive midfielders. As central midfielders often go across boundarie ...

or as a second striker.

Death

Crippa died on 27 February 2021, eleven days short from his 84th birthday, from complications from

COVID-19 Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is a contagious disease caused by a virus, the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The first known case was COVID-19 pandemic in Hubei, identified in Wuhan, China, in December ...

during the COVID-19 pandemic in Italy.

Honours

Juventus *

: 1963

References

External links

Career summary by playerhistory.com
{{DEFAULTSORT:Crippa, Dante 1937 births 2021 deaths Italian footballers Association football midfielders Serie A players Serie B players Serie C players Brescia Calcio players Calcio Padova players Juventus F.C. players S.P.A.L. players A.C. Reggiana 1919 players Deaths from the COVID-19 pandemic in Lombardy A.S.D. Fanfulla players