Sergio Cervato (; 22 March 1929 – 9 October 2005) 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.

Club career

Cervato was born in Carmignano di Brenta,

province of Padua The Province of Padua (''Provincia di Padova'') is a province in the Veneto region of Italy. Its capital is the city of Padua. Geography It has an area of 2,142 km2, and a total population of 936,492 (2016) making it the most populated pr ...

. Playing for

Fiorentina ACF Fiorentina, commonly referred to as Fiorentina (), is an Italian professional football club based in Florence, Tuscany, Italy. The original team was founded by a merger in August 1926, while the actual club was refounded in August 2002 fo ...

, he formed a formidable defensive partnership with Ardico Magnini; despite being a left-back, however, Cervato often contributed to the Viola's attacks, scoring 31 goals during his 10 years in Florence. Juventus 1960-61

During the

1955–56 Serie A The 1955–56 Serie A season was won by Fiorentina. Teams Vicenza and Padova had been promoted from Serie B. Final classification Results Top goalscorers References and sources *''Almanacco Illustrato del Calcio - La Storia 1898-2004'', ...

season, Cervato won 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 ...

title ("Scudetto") with Fiorentina as the club'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 ...

, his only title with the club; the 1955–56 title-winning side under

Fulvio Bernardini Fulvio Bernardini (; 28 December 1905 – 13 January 1984) was an Italian football player and coach, who played as a midfielder. He is regarded as one of Italy's greatest ever footballers and managers. Club career During his playing career, Be ...

lost just one game – the last one at

Genoa Genoa ( ; it, Genova ; lij, Zêna ). is the capital of the Italian region of Liguria and the List of cities in Italy, sixth-largest city in Italy. In 2015, 594,733 people lived within the city's administrative limits. As of the 2011 Italian ce ...

– and is regarded as one of the best Serie A teams of all time. Following the team's Serie A triumph, the squad narrowly missed out on several more league titles, finishing as runners-up for the next four consecutive years in

1957 1957 ( MCMLVII) was a common year starting on Tuesday of the Gregorian calendar, the 1957th year of the Common Era (CE) and ''Anno Domini'' (AD) designations, the 957th year of the 2nd millennium, the 57th year of the 20th century, and the 8th y ...

1958 Events January * January 1 – The European Economic Community (EEC) comes into being. * January 3 – The West Indies Federation is formed. * January 4 ** Edmund Hillary's Commonwealth Trans-Antarctic Expedition completes the third ...

1959 Events January * January 1 - Cuba: Fulgencio Batista flees Havana when the forces of Fidel Castro advance. * January 2 - Lunar probe Luna 1 was the first man-made object to attain escape velocity from Earth. It reached the vicinity of E ...

and

1960 It is also known as the "Year of Africa" because of major events—particularly the independence of seventeen African nations—that focused global attention on the continent and intensified feelings of Pan-Africanism. Events January * Ja ...

. During his time with Fiorentina, Cervato also helped the club to reach the

1957 European Cup Final The 1957 European Cup Final was a football match played at the Santiago Bernabéu Stadium in Madrid, Spain, on 30 May 1957 to determine the winners of the 1956–57 European Cup. It was contested between Real Madrid of Spain and Fiorentina of Ital ...

; despite a strong performance, Fiorentina were defeated 2–0 by

Real Madrid Real Madrid Club de Fútbol (, meaning ''Royal Madrid Football Club''), commonly referred to as Real Madrid, is a Spanish professional football club based in Madrid. Founded in 1902 as Madrid Football Club, the club has traditionally wor ...

. After leaving the Florence side in 1959, Cervato won 2 more league titles with Fiorentina's rivals

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 ...

. He ended his career in 1965 with Spal Ferrara in

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 ...

. In

he played a total of 466 matches and scored 45 goals.

International career

With the

Italian national team The Italy national football team ( it, Nazionale di calcio dell'Italia) has represented Italy in international football since its first match in 1910. The national team is controlled by the Italian Football Federation (FIGC), the governing bo ...

, Cervato obtained 28 international caps, scored 4 goals, and participated at the

1954 FIFA World Cup The 1954 FIFA World Cup was the fifth edition of the FIFA World Cup, the quadrennial international football tournament for senior men's national teams of the nations affiliated to FIFA. It was held in Switzerland from 16 June to 4 July. Switzerla ...

Style of play

One of the finest defenders of

, Cervato was a quick and tireless competitor. As a left-back, he often contributed to his team's attacks; he also boasted a fierce shot and took both

penalties Penalty or The Penalty may refer to: Sports * Penalty (golf) * Penalty (gridiron football) * Penalty (ice hockey) * Penalty (rugby) * Penalty (rugby union) * Penalty kick (association football) * Penalty shoot-out (association football) * Penalty ...

and free-kicks.

Managing career

After he retired, Cervato managed the

Pescara Pescara (; nap, label= Abruzzese, Pescàrë; nap, label= Pescarese, Piscàrë) is the capital city of the Province of Pescara, in the Abruzzo region of Italy. It is the most populated city in Abruzzo, with 119,217 (2018) residents (and approxim ...

Empoli Empoli () is a town and ''comune'' in the Metropolitan City of Florence, Tuscany, Italy, about southwest of Florence, to the south of the Arno in a plain formed by the river. The plain has been usable for agriculture since Roman times. The comm ...

, and

youth teams.

Death

Cervato died at 76 years old in Florence.

Honours

;

Winners: 1955–56; Runner-up: 1956–57, 1957–58, 1958–59 *

European Cup The UEFA Champions League (abbreviated as UCL, or sometimes, UEFA CL) is an annual club football competition organised by the Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) and contested by top-division European clubs, deciding the competit ...

Runner-up: 1956–57 *

Coppa Italia The ("Italy Cup") is an annual knockout cup competition in Italian football organized by the FIGC until the 2009–10 season and the Lega Serie A ever since. History The beginning of the tournament was turbulent, due to the complexity of ...

Runner-up: 1958–59, 1959–60 ;

Winners: 1959–60, 1960–61 *

Winners: 1959–60

References

External links

*

Scudetto 1955–56 Team *

Fiorentina All Time Eleven *

All Time Domestic Appearances *

International Appearances {{DEFAULTSORT:Cervato, Sergio 1929 births 2005 deaths Sportspeople from the Province of Padua Italian footballers Italy international footballers Association football defenders ACF Fiorentina players Juventus F.C. players S.P.A.L. players 1954 FIFA World Cup players Serie A players Serie B players Footballers from Veneto