Guido Ara (; 28 August 1888 – 2 July 1975) was an Italian association footballer and manager 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

Hailing from

Vercelli Vercelli (; pms, Vërsèj ), is a city and ''comune'' of 46,552 inhabitants (January 1, 2017) in the Province of Vercelli, Piedmont, northern Italy. One of the oldest urban sites in northern Italy, it was founded, according to most historians, ...

in the region of

Piedmont it, Piemontese , population_note = , population_blank1_title = , population_blank1 = , demographics_type1 = , demographics1_footnotes = , demographics1_title1 = , demographics1_info1 = , demographics1_title2 ...

, Ara is most noted for his entire playing career at his hometown side

Pro Vercelli Football Club Pro Vercelli 1892, commonly referred to as Pro Vercelli, is an Italian football club based in Vercelli, Piedmont. The club is mostly renowned as one of the most successful teams in the early football era of Italy, with seven natio ...

, where he was a one club man, winning six

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 ...

titles; during the club's entire history they only won seven.

International career

At international level, Ara represented

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 ...

. He was named in Italy's squad for the

1920 Summer Olympics The 1920 Summer Olympics (french: Jeux olympiques d'été de 1920; nl, Olympische Zomerspelen van 1920; german: Olympische Sommerspiele 1920), officially known as the Games of the VII Olympiad (french: Jeux de la VIIe olympiade; nl, Spelen van ...

, but did not play in any matches.

Managing career

Ara went on to manage some of the top clubs in Italy, including

; he managed the club when they won their seventh and final ''scudetto'' title, meaning that Ara was at Pro Vercelli when the club won all of its seven Italian Football Championship titles. He later also coached

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 ...

during the 1940–41 season.

Honours

Player

;Pro Vercelli *

Italian Football Championship Italian(s) may refer to: * Anything of, from, or related to the people of Italy over the centuries ** Italians, an ethnic group or simply a citizen of the Italian Republic or Italian Kingdom ** Italian language, a Romance language *** Regional Ita ...

1908 Events January * January 1 – The British ''Nimrod'' Expedition led by Ernest Shackleton sets sail from New Zealand on the ''Nimrod'' for Antarctica. * January 3 – A total solar eclipse is visible in the Pacific Ocean, and is the 46 ...

1909 Events January–February * January 4 – Explorer Aeneas Mackintosh of the Imperial Trans-Antarctic Expedition escaped death by fleeing across ice floes. * January 7 – Colombia recognizes the independence of Panama. * Januar ...

, 1910–11, 1911–12, 1912–13, 1920–21

Manager

;Pro Vercelli *

: 1921–22

References

1888 births 1975 deaths Italian footballers Italy international footballers Association football fullbacks F.C. Pro Vercelli 1892 players Italian football managers Serie A managers Como 1907 managers ACF Fiorentina managers A.S. Roma managers A.C. Milan managers Genoa C.F.C. managers Calcio Lecco 1912 managers People from Vercelli Footballers from Piedmont Sportspeople from the Province of Vercelli Footballers at the 1920 Summer Olympics Olympic footballers of Italy {{Italy-footy-defender-1880s-stub