Luigi Allemandi (; 8 November 1903 – 25 September 1978) 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 defender, usually as a

left back In the sport of association football, a defender is an outfield position whose primary role is to stop attacks during the game and prevent the opposition from scoring. Centre-backs are usually positioned in pairs, with one full-back on either s ...

. He was a member of the Italy national team which won the

1934 World Cup The 1934 FIFA World Cup was the second edition of the FIFA World Cup, the quadrennial international football championship for senior men's national teams. It took place in Italy from 27 May to 10 June 1934. The 1934 World Cup was the first in ...

Club career

Born in

San Damiano Macra San Damiano Macra is a ''comune'' (municipality) in the Province of Cuneo in the Italian region Piedmont, located about southwest of Turin and about northwest of Cuneo. San Damiano Macra borders the following municipalities: Cartignano, Castelm ...

province of Cuneo Cuneo (Italian), or Coni (Piedmontese), is a province in the southwest of the Piedmont region of Italy. To the west it borders on the French region of Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur ( departments of Alpes-Maritimes, Alpes-de-Haute-Provence and Haut ...

, Allemandi debuted in 1921 with

A.C. Legnano Associazione Calcio Dilettantistica Legnano, commonly referred to as Legnano, is an Italian football club based in Legnano, Lombardy. Founded in 1913, Legnano played three seasons in Serie A and a total of eleven seasons in the top tier of the It ...

. Later, he played with

Juventus F.C. )''I Bianconeri'' (The White and Blacks)''Le Zebre'' (The Zebras)''La Signora Omicidi'' (The Killer Lady)''La Gheuba'' (: The Hunchback) , founded = as Sport-Club Juventus , ground = Juventus Stadium , capacity = 41,507 , owner = Agnelli ...

, F.C. Internazionale Milano,

A.S. Roma ' (''Rome Sport Association''), commonly referred to as Roma (), is a professional football club based in Rome, Italy. Founded by a merger in 1927, Roma has participated in the top tier of Italian football for all of its existence, except for ...

, S.S.C. Venezia and S.S. Lazio, and also had a successful international career with Italy. However, the part of his career that stands out is the corruption scandal in the Torino–Juventus derby in 1927 that resulted in

Torino Turin ( , Piedmontese: ; it, Torino ) is a city and an important business and cultural centre in Northern Italy. It is the capital city of Piedmont and of the Metropolitan City of Turin, and was the first Italian capital from 1861 to 1865. T ...

being stripped of their title. According to the official account, a manager from Torino offered Allemandi 35 000

lira Lira is the name of several currency units. It is the current currency of Turkey and also the local name of the currencies of Lebanon and of Syria. It is also the name of several former currencies, including those of Italy, Malta and Israe ...

to throw the game, 25 000 immediately and the rest after the match. Torino won the match 2–1, but Allemandi was one of the best players in the field, and when he went to collect the rest of the money he was refused. A journalist found out about the match fixing and went public with the information. After a controversial trial, along with Torino's title revocation, Allemandi was banned for life even though he always self-proclaimed innocent. He was later pardoned by

CONI The Italian National Olympic Committee ( it, Comitato Olimpico Nazionale Italiano, CONI), founded in 1914 and a member of the International Olympic Committee (IOC), is responsible for the development and management of sports activity in Italy. ...

in 1928 and joined

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

International career

After debuting for the Italy national team in 1925, Allemandi eventually won the

position from

Umberto Caligaris Umberto Caligaris (; 26 July 1901 – 19 October 1940) was an Italian international footballer who played, normally at left-back, for A.S. Casale and Juventus, before ending his career with Brescia. With Juventus he won an Italian record of fiv ...

before their

qualifying match against

Greece Greece,, or , romanized: ', officially the Hellenic Republic, is a country in Southeast Europe. It is situated on the southern tip of the Balkans, and is located at the crossroads of Europe, Asia, and Africa. Greece shares land borders with ...

. Manager

Vittorio Pozzo Vittorio Pozzo (; 2 March 1886 – 21 December 1968) was an Italian football player, manager and journalist. The creator of the ''Metodo'' tactical formation, Pozzo is regarded as one of the greatest managers of all time, and is the only manag ...

started him in every match of the final tournament, helping the ''Azzurri'' win the title on home soil; he later served as Italy'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 ...

between 1935 and 1936. He is also one of 9 players being part of both the 1927–30 Central European International Cup, the 1931-32 Central European International Cup & the 1933–35 Central European International Cup successful campaigns.

Honours

Juventus *

Prima Divisione Prima Divisione (''First Division'') was the name of the first level of the Italian Football Championship from 1921 to 1926. The competition was initially founded in opposition to the FIGC by the richest clubs of Northern Italy, which disagreed the ...

: 1925–26 Ambrosiana-Inter *

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 ...

: 1929–30

International

;

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 ...

FIFA World Cup The FIFA World Cup, often simply called the World Cup, is an international association football competition contested by the senior men's national teams of the members of the ' ( FIFA), the sport's global governing body. The tournament ha ...

1934 Events January–February * January 1 – The International Telecommunication Union, a specialist agency of the League of Nations, is established. * January 15 – The 8.0 1934 Nepal–Bihar earthquake, Nepal–Bihar earthquake strik ...

* Central European International Cup: 1927-30, 1933-35 * Central European International Cup: Runner-up: 1931-32

References

1903 births 1978 deaths Sportspeople from the Province of Cuneo Italian footballers Italy international footballers Serie A players Serie B players A.C. Legnano players Juventus F.C. players Inter Milan players A.S. Roma players Venezia F.C. players S.S. Lazio players 1934 FIFA World Cup players FIFA World Cup-winning players S.S. Lazio managers Association football defenders Italian football managers Footballers from Piedmont {{Italy-footy-defender-1900s-stub