Franco Gallina (1 January 1945 – 5 July 2021) was an Italian

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

forward Forward is a relative direction, the opposite of backward. Forward may also refer to: People * Forward (surname) Sports * Forward (association football) * Forward (basketball), including: ** Point forward ** Power forward (basketball) ** Sm ...

, most notably in the

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 ...

and the

North American Soccer League The North American Soccer League may refer to: *North American Soccer League (1968–1984), a former Division I league *North American Soccer League (2011–2017) The North American Soccer League (NASL) was a professional men's soccer league b ...

Career

Gallina played in the

Serie D The Serie D () is the top level of semi-professional football in the country. The fourth tier of the Italian league system, the competition sits beneath the third professional league, Serie C. It is administered by the Lega Nazionale Dilettant ...

in 1962 with

Casertana F.C. Casertana Football Club is an Italian association football club based in Caserta, Campania. The club currently plays in Serie D. History The club was founded in 1908 as Robur Caserta and became known as Unione Sportiva Casertana from 1928 unt ...

where he assisted in securing promotion after winning the Serie D title. The following season he was signed by

Genoa C.F.C. Genoa Cricket and Football Club, commonly referred to as Genoa (), is a professional football club based in Genoa, Liguria, Italy, that competes in , the second division of the Italian football league system. Established in 1893, Genoa is ...

of the

, but failed to make an appearance. In 1964, he played in the

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 ...

with Virtus Entella, and later with

Cesena F.C. Cesena Football Club is an Football in Italy, Italian football club based Cesena, Emilia-Romagna. Currently it plays in Italy's Serie C. It has claimed to be the phoenix club of A.C. Cesena since 2018, the year that the club folded. History Fou ...

He returned to his former club Genoa where he played in the

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 ...

. After two seasons with Genoa he played in the Serie A with

Lanerossi Vicenza L.R. Vicenza, commonly referred to as Vicenza, is an Italian football club based in Vicenza, Veneto. Founded in 1902 as Associazione del Calcio in Vicenza, they became Lanerossi Vicenza in 1953, then Vicenza Calcio from 1990 to 2018, a year whi ...

, and made his debut on 17 November 1968 against A.C. Milan. In 1969, he returned to Serie C to play with Internapoli Football Club. He played abroad in 1971 with

Montreal Olympique The Montreal Olympique were a Canadian soccer team that competed in the North American Soccer League (NASL) from 1971 to 1973. The team was based in Montreal and played its 1971 and 1973 home matches at Autostade and at the Universite de Montre ...

in the

. In his debut season with Montreal he was named to the NASL Second Team. The next season he played in the

Mexican Primera División The Liga MX, officially known as the Liga BBVA MX for sponsorship reasons, is the top professional football division in Mexico, holding 2 tournaments per year. The league is considered the strongest in North America, and among the strongest in al ...

with

Atlante F.C. Atlante Fútbol Club, is a professional football club based in Mexico City, Mexico. Founded in 1916, Atlante were original members of the Mexican Primera División when it began in 1943. Atlante has won three national league championships, two ...

In 1973, he played in the

National Soccer League The National Soccer League (NSL) was the top-level soccer league in Australia, run by Soccer Australia and later the Australian Soccer Association. The NSL, the A-League's predecessor, spanned 28 seasons from its inception in 1977 until its d ...

with Montreal Cantalia where he served as a player-coach. In 1974, he played with league rivals

Toronto Italia The National Soccer League was a soccer league in Canada that existed from 1926 to 1997. Teams were primarily based in the provinces of Ontario and Quebec. The league was renamed to Canadian National Soccer League in 1993 following the folding ...

once more in a capacity of a player-coach. The following season he played with

Montreal Castors Montreal Castors was a Canadian Association football, soccer team, founded in 1975. The team played in the Canadian National Soccer League, National Soccer League, winning the championship in 1978 and 1979 before withdrawing from the league in 197 ...

. He died on 5 July 2021.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Gallina, Franco 1945 births 2021 deaths Italian footballers Men's association football forwards Casertana F.C. players Genoa C.F.C. players Virtus Entella players Cesena F.C. players L.R. Vicenza players Montreal Olympique players Atlante F.C. footballers Toronto Italia players Montreal Castors players Serie A players Serie B players Serie C players Serie D players North American Soccer League (1968–1984) players Liga MX players Canadian National Soccer League players Canadian National Soccer League coaches Italian football managers Footballers from Naples Italian expatriate footballers Italian expatriate sportspeople in Canada Expatriate soccer players in Canada Italian expatriate sportspeople in Mexico Expatriate footballers in Mexico