Ernesto Castano (; born 2 May 1939) is an Italian former 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 defender. Throughout his club career he played for

Legnano Legnano (; or ''Lignàn'') is an Italian town and ''comune'' in the north-westernmost part of the Metropolitan City of Milan, Province of Milan, about from central Milan. With 60,259, it is the thirteenth-most populous township in Lombardy. Le ...

Triestina Unione Sportiva Triestina Calcio 1918, commonly referred to as Triestina, is an Italian football club based in Trieste, Friuli-Venezia Giulia. Originally founded in 1918, the club has been re-established several times in its history. As of the ...

, and

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 ...

, winning domestic titles at the latter club. At international level, he was a member of the Italy national team that won

UEFA Euro 1968 The 1968 UEFA European Football Championship final tournament was held in Italy. This was the third UEFA European Championship, an event held every four years and organised by UEFA. The final tournament took place between 5 and 10 June 1968. It ...

Club career

Castano was born in Cinisello Balsamo in the

Province of Milan The Province of Milan ( it, Provincia di Milano) was a province in the Lombardy region, Italy. Its capital was the city of Milan. The area of the former province is highly urbanized, with more than 2,000 inhabitants/km2, the third highest populati ...

. He played club football for three Italian clubs throughout his career:

, and most prominently with

, where he won several domestic titles, also serving as the team's

captain Captain is a title, an appellative for the commanding officer of a military unit; the supreme leader of a navy ship, merchant ship, aeroplane, spacecraft, or other vessel; or the commander of a port, fire or police department, election precinct, e ...

International career

At international level, Castano also played for the Italy national team on seven occasions between 1959 and 1969, winning the 1968 UEFA European Championship on home soil.

Outside of football

On 3 July 1968, Castano founded the

Italian Footballers' Association The Italian Footballers' Association (Italian: ''Associazione Italiana Calciatori''), also referred to by the acronym AIC, is the association for footballers in Italy. It was established in 1968 and currently has 4,500 members, of which 2,500 ar ...

(AIC), in

Milan Milan ( , , Lombard: ; it, Milano ) is a city in northern Italy, capital of Lombardy, and the second-most populous city proper in Italy after Rome. The city proper has a population of about 1.4 million, while its metropolitan city h ...

, along with several fellow footballers, such as

Giacomo Bulgarelli Giacomo Bulgarelli (; 24 October 1940 – 12 February 2009) was an Italian international footballer who played as a midfielder. Regarded as one of Italy's greatest ever midfielders, Bulgarelli spent his entire club career with Italian side Bologna ...

Sandro Mazzola Alessandro "Sandro" Mazzola (; born 8 November 1942) is an Italian former professional footballer, who played as a forward or attacking midfielder for Internazionale and the Italy national team. He currently works as a football analyst and co ...

Gianni Rivera Giovanni "Gianni" Rivera (; born 18 August 1943) is an Italian politician and former footballer who played as a midfielder. During his career as a footballer he was mostly utilised as an attacking midfielder. Dubbed Italy's "Golden Boy" by the ...

Giancarlo De Sisti Giancarlo De Sisti (; born 13 March 1943) is a retired Italian footballer and football manager and midfielder player. Club career Best known by his nickname ''Picchio'', during his club career, De Sisti played for his hometown club A.S. Roma on ...

, and

Giacomo Losi Giacomo Losi (; born 10 September 1935) is an Italian former football manager and player, who played as a defender. He spent his entire professional career, from 1955 to 1969, with Italian club A.S. Roma. Though he was not a native of Rome, du ...

, as well as the recently retired Sergio Campana, also a lawyer, who was appointed president of the association.

Honours

Juventus *

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 ...

: 1958–59, 1959–60, 1964–65 *

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 ...

1959–60, 1960–61, 1966–67 Italy *

UEFA European Football Championship The UEFA European Football Championship, less formally the European Championship and informally the Euro, is the primary association football tournament organised by the Union of European Football Associations (UEFA). The competition is contes ...

1968 The year was highlighted by protests and other unrests that occurred worldwide. Events January–February * January 5 – "Prague Spring": Alexander Dubček is chosen as leader of the Communist Party of Czechoslovakia. * Januar ...

References

1939 births Living people People from Cinisello Balsamo Italian footballers Association football defenders Italy international footballers A.C. Legnano players U.S. Triestina Calcio 1918 players Juventus F.C. players UEFA Euro 1968 players UEFA European Championship-winning players Serie A players Serie B players Footballers from Lombardy Sportspeople from the Metropolitan City of Milan {{Italy-footy-defender-1930s-stub