Gino Iacoponi (28 December 1899 – ''unknown'') was an Italian naturalized Chilean

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

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Club career

A football forward, Iacoponi joined

Livorno Livorno () is a port city on the Ligurian Sea on the western coast of Tuscany, Italy. It is the capital of the Province of Livorno, having a population of 158,493 residents in December 2017. It is traditionally known in English as Leghorn (pronou ...

in 1919, alongside his older brother, , and the Chilean Félix Corte. They reached the national final against

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

of the 1919–20 Prima Categoria, losing by 3–2. In 1922, they also won both the Central and South of Italy championships. In September 1923, the Iacoponi brothers moved to Chile thanks to Félix Corte and joined

Audax Italiano Audax Club Sportivo Italiano () is a Chilean football club based in La Florida. Founded in 1910, it plays in the Campeonato Nacional and has spent most of its history in the top tier of Chilean football. Audax has been national champions four t ...

, then the team captain, winning the 1924 Primera División of the . A historical player of Audax Italiano, Gino took part in the 1933 Primera División de Chile, the first season of the Chilean professional football, being a starting player and scoring the second goal in the first match against , a 3–1 win.

International career

Iacoponi represented the Chile national team in a friendly match against

Uruguay Uruguay (; ), officially the Oriental Republic of Uruguay ( es, República Oriental del Uruguay), is a country in South America. It shares borders with Argentina to its west and southwest and Brazil to its north and northeast; while bordering ...

, a 0–1 loss, on 12 October 1924.

Personal life

Born in

, Italy, Gino moved to Chile alongside his older brother, , thanks to his Chilean friend Félix Corte. They made their home in

Santiago Santiago (, ; ), also known as Santiago de Chile, is the capital and largest city of Chile as well as one of the largest cities in the Americas. It is the center of Chile's most densely populated region, the Santiago Metropolitan Region, whose ...

and had a convenience store, a bar and a bus fleet, according to his great niece, Bianca Iacoponi, granddaughter of Bruno. In Chile, his surname was frequently and wrongly written Yacopponi, Jacoponi or Giacoponi. He was nicknamed ''Giaco''.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Iacoponi, Gino 1899 births Footballers from Livorno Italian men's footballers Italian expatriate men's footballers Naturalized citizens of Chile Chilean men's footballers Chile men's international footballers US Livorno 1915 players Audax Italiano footballers Serie A players Chilean Primera División players Expatriate men's footballers in Chile Italian expatriate sportspeople in Chile Men's association football forwards Year of death missing