Giacomo Mari (; 17 October 1924 – 16 October 1991) 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

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 ...

Club career

After three years of breaking in at

Atalanta Atalanta (; grc-gre, Ἀταλάντη, Atalantē) meaning "equal in weight", is a heroine in Greek mythology. There are two versions of the huntress Atalanta: one from Arcadia, whose parents were Iasus and Clymene and who is primarily known ...

in his early career, Mari played four seasons with

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 two

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 ...

championships, playing alongside the great

Carlo Parola Carlo Parola (; 20 September 1921 – 22 March 2000), was an Italian footballer and coach who played as a defender. Throughout his career, he won domestic titles with Italian club Juventus, both as a player and as a manager. At international lev ...

. Before the 1954 World Cup, he went to

Sampdoria Unione Calcio Sampdoria, commonly referred to as Sampdoria (), is an Italian professional football club based in Genoa. The club was formed in 1946 from the merger of two existing sports clubs whose roots can be traced back to the 1890s, ...

and then concluded playing in Serie A with

Padova Padua ( ; it, Padova ; vec, Pàdova) is a city and ''comune'' in Veneto, northern Italy. Padua is on the river Bacchiglione, west of Venice. It is the capital of the province of Padua. It is also the economic and communications hub of the ...

International career

Giacomo Mari is one of five Italian players (the others are

Giampiero Boniperti Giampiero Boniperti (; 4 July 1928 – 18 June 2021) was an Italian footballer who played his entire 15-season career at Juventus between 1946 and 1961, winning five Serie A titles and two Coppa Italia titles. He also played for the Italy nati ...

Gino Cappello Gino Cappello (; 2 June 1920 – 28 March 1990) was an Italian footballer who played as a striker. Club career A native of Padua, Cappello began his career with Padova. After spending two seasons with the club in Serie B, he landed in Serie A wi ...

, Ermes Muccinelli and

Egisto Pandolfini Egisto Pandolfini (; 17 February 1926 – 29 January 2019) was an Italian footballer who played as a midfielder. Club career Pandolfini was born in Lastra a Signa. He played for 12 seasons (316 games, 75 goals) in the Serie A for ACF Fiorenti ...

) that played for

Italy Italy ( it, Italia ), officially the Italian Republic, ) or the Republic of Italy, is a country in Southern Europe. It is located in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea, and its territory largely coincides with the homonymous geographical re ...

in both the

1950 Events January * January 1 – The International Police Association (IPA) – the largest police organization in the world – is formed. * January 5 – 1950 Sverdlovsk plane crash, Sverdlovsk plane crash: ''Aeroflot'' Lisunov Li-2 cr ...

and 1954 World Cups. With the Italian national team, he debuted at the

1948 London Olympics The 1948 Summer Olympics (officially the Games of the XIV Olympiad and also known as London 1948) were an international multi-sport event held from 29 July to 14 August 1948 in London, England, United Kingdom. Following a twelve-year hiatus ca ...

, against

Paraguay Paraguay (; ), officially the Republic of Paraguay ( es, República del Paraguay, links=no; gn, Tavakuairetã Paraguái, links=si), is a landlocked country in South America. It is bordered by Argentina to the south and southwest, Brazil to th ...

; he also featured against

Switzerland ). Swiss law does not designate a ''capital'' as such, but the federal parliament and government are installed in Bern, while other federal institutions, such as the federal courts, are in other cities (Bellinzona, Lausanne, Luzern, Neuchâtel ...

at the 1954 World Cup.

Style of play

A tireless runner, Giacomo Mari was a classic halfback, waiting in the folds of midfield ready to halt the attack of the opposing forwards and wings.

References

External links

La Gazzetta dello Sport
1924 births 1991 deaths Italian footballers Association football midfielders U.S. Cremonese players U.C. Sampdoria players Juventus F.C. players Atalanta B.C. players Calcio Padova players Serie A players Olympic footballers of Italy Footballers at the 1948 Summer Olympics Italy international footballers 1950 FIFA World Cup players 1954 FIFA World Cup players Italian football managers Calcio Padova managers {{Italy-footy-midfielder-1920s-stub