Egidio Calloni (born 1 December 1952 in

Busto Arsizio Busto Arsizio (; lmo, label= Bustocco, Büsti Grandi) is an Italian city and ''comune'' in the south-easternmost part of the Province of Varese, in the region of Lombardy, in Northern Italy, north of Milan. The economy of Busto Arsizio is main ...

Province of Varese The province of Varese ( it, provincia di Varese) is a Provinces of Italy, province in the region of Lombardy in northern Italy. Its capital is the city of Varese (population of 80,857 inhabitants), but its largest city is Busto Arsizio. The head ...

) is an Italian former

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 ...

striker, best known for his stint at

A.C. Milan Associazione Calcio Milan (), commonly referred to as AC Milan or simply Milan, is a professional Association football, football club in Milan, Italy, founded in 1899. The club has spent its entire history, with the exception of the 1980–81 ...

Career

Internazionale Football Club Internazionale Milano, commonly referred to as Internazionale () or simply Inter, and colloquially known as Inter Milan in English-speaking countries, is an Italian professional football club based in Milan, Lombardy. Inter is ...

youth system product, Calloni then moved to

Varese Varese ( , , or ; lmo, label= Varesino, Varés ; la, Baretium; archaic german: Väris) is a city and ''comune'' in north-western Lombardy, northern Italy, north-west of Milan. The population of Varese in 2018 has reached 80,559. It is the c ...

and then on loan to

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 ...

club Verbania. He returned at Varese in 1972, scoring 23 goals in two

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 ...

seasons, being noted by

. Signed by the ''rossoneri'' in 1974, he played four seasons with A.C. Milan as a regular, scoring 31 goals in 101 matches. He became however famous for his several striking mistakes which brought popular journalist

Gianni Brera Giovanni Luigi "Gianni" Brera (8 September 1919 – 19 December 1992) was an Italian sports journalist and novelist. This is a description by himself: "My real name is Giovanni Luigi Brera. I was born on 8 September 1919 in San Zenone Po in the ...

to nickname him "''sciagurato Egidio''" (Egidio the wretched), after a minor character from

Alessandro Manzoni Alessandro Francesco Tommaso Antonio Manzoni (, , ; 7 March 1785 – 22 May 1873) was an Italian poet, novelist and philosopher. He is famous for the novel '' The Betrothed'' (orig. it, I promessi sposi) (1827), generally ranked among the maste ...

's novel '' The Betrothed''. He then played with little success with several other

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 ...

teams, such as

Verona Verona ( , ; vec, Verona or ) is a city on the Adige River in Veneto, Northern Italy, Italy, with 258,031 inhabitants. It is one of the seven provincial capitals of the region. It is the largest city Comune, municipality in the region and the ...

and

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 ...

, being a backup for

Paolo Rossi Paolo Rossi (; 23 September 1956 – 9 December 2020) was an Italian professional footballer who played as a forward. He led Italy to the 1982 FIFA World Cup title, scoring six goals to win the Golden Boot as top goalscorer, and the Golden B ...

in the latter. He then moved to

club

Palermo Palermo ( , ; scn, Palermu , locally also or ) is a city in southern Italy, the capital (political), capital of both the autonomous area, autonomous region of Sicily and the Metropolitan City of Palermo, the city's surrounding metropolitan ...

, scoring 11 goals in 29 matches (including a single match in the 1981–82 season) and being the ''rosanero'' topscorer in 1980–81. He then returned to play at Serie A level with

Como Como (, ; lmo, Còmm, label=Comasco dialect, Comasco , or ; lat, Novum Comum; rm, Com; french: Côme) is a city and ''comune'' in Lombardy, Italy. It is the administrative capital of the Province of Como. Its proximity to Lake Como and ...

, failing however to impress, being featured only eight times, and scoring two goals. He retired in 1982, aged 30.

After retirement

Calloni currently works as an agent for a national

gelato Gelato (; ) is the common word in Italian for all kinds of ice cream. In English, it specifically refers to a frozen dessert of Italian origin. Artisanal gelato in Italy generally contains 6%–9% butterfat, which is lower than other styles o ...

company of Italy. He was in the news in 2007 after having been involved in a car accident following a

cerebral ischemia Brain ischemia is a condition in which there is insufficient bloodflow to the brain to meet metabolic demand. This leads to poor oxygen supply or cerebral hypoxia and thus leads to the death of brain tissue or cerebral infarction/ischemic stroke. ...

attack.

Honours

Club

;Milan *

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 ...

winner: 1976–77.

Individual

Top-scorer: 1973–74. *

Top-scorer: 1976–77 (6 goals, alongside Giorgio Braglia).

References

External links

Career statistics
1952 births Living people Sportspeople from Busto Arsizio Footballers from the Province of Varese Italian men's footballers Serie A players Serie B players Inter Milan players AC Milan players Hellas Verona FC players AC Perugia Calcio players Palermo FC players Como 1907 players SSD Varese Calcio players Men's association football forwards {{Italy-footy-forward-1950s-stub