Virginio "Viri" Rosetta (; 25 February 1902 – 31 March 1975) 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 ...

who played as a defender. A hard-working player, he was known for his organisational skills, and for his ability to read the game and anticipate other players; he was also known to be a very precise passer of the ball, and an elegant full-back with good technique and a powerful shot, who was capable of starting plays from the back-line.

Club career

Rosetta was born in

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, ...

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

, where he debuted for

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 ...

in the Italian First Division (Serie A's predecessor) in the 1919–20 season, as a striker. He later turned into an effective defender. Pro Vercelli was then one of the major Italian football teams, and Rosetta won two '' scudetti'' in 1921 and 1922. He debuted 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 ...

at 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 ...

, forming a partnership with

Renzo De Vecchi Renzo De Vecchi (; 3 February 1894 – 14 May 1967) was an Italian football player and coach who played as a defender. He competed in the 1912 Summer Olympics with Italy, and is officially the youngest player to have ever played a match for the ...

. In 1923 he moved to

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 ...

, where he was paid as a footballer for the first time. He won his first title in 1926, and was an integral part of the team which won five consecutive scudetti during the 1930s, serving 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 ...

. He won a total of eight national championships, with the final five being

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, which is an Italian record. Only three other players,

Gianluigi Buffon Gianluigi Buffon (; born 28 January 1978) is an Italian professional footballer who captains and plays as a goalkeeper for the club Parma. He is widely regarded as one of the greatest goalkeepers of all time. He is one of the few recorded pl ...

Giovanni Ferrari Giovanni Ferrari (; 6 December 1907 – 2 December 1982) was an Italian footballer who played as an attacking midfielder/inside forward on the left. He is regarded as one of the best players of his generation, one of Italy's best ever players, ...

, and Giuseppe Furino, have also won eight titles in the Italian leagues.

International career

Rosetta was a key member of the

Italy national football 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 ...

throughout his career, since joining the team in 1920; he received a total of 52 caps for Italy. He was a member of the team that took part at the

, and was also part of the squads which placed fifth at the

1924 Summer Olympics The 1924 Summer Olympics (french: Jeux olympiques d'été de 1924), officially the Games of the VIII Olympiad (french: Jeux de la VIIIe olympiade) and also known as Paris 1924, were an international multi-sport event held in Paris, France. The op ...

, and which subsequently won the bronze medal at the

1928 Summer Olympics The 1928 Summer Olympics ( nl, Olympische Zomerspelen 1928), officially known as the Games of the IX Olympiad ( nl, Spelen van de IXe Olympiade) and commonly known as Amsterdam 1928, was an international multi-sport event that was celebrated from ...

. As well as the very successful squads of the 1927–30 Central European International Cup, 1931-32 Central European International Cup & 1933–35 Central European International Cup and last but not least, Rosetta was also a member of the

1934 FIFA 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 w ...

winning squad. He was

in Italy's first game at the tournament, but it proved to be his last international appearance and he did not play in the final itself.

After retirement

Rosetta retired from professional football in 1936. He died in

Turin Turin ( , Piedmontese language, 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 ...

in 1975.

Honours

Player

Club

;

: 1920–21, 1921–22 ;

: 1925–26, 1930–31, 1931–32, 1932–33, 1933–34, 1934–35

International

;

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

Summer Olympics The Summer Olympic Games (french: link=no, Jeux olympiques d'été), also known as the Games of the Olympiad, and often referred to as the Summer Olympics, is a major international multi-sport event normally held once every four years. The inau ...

: Bronze 1928

Coach

;

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 ...

: 1937–38 ;

Palermo Palermo ( , ; scn, Palermu , locally also or ) is a city in southern Italy, the capital (political), capital of both the autonomous area, autonomous region of Sicily and the Metropolitan City of Palermo, the city's surrounding metropolitan ...

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 ...

: 1947–48

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Rosetta, Virginio 1902 births 1975 deaths Italian footballers Italy international footballers Association football defenders Serie A players Juventus F.C. players F.C. Pro Vercelli 1892 players 1934 FIFA World Cup players FIFA World Cup-winning players Olympic footballers of Italy Olympic bronze medalists for Italy Footballers at the 1920 Summer Olympics Footballers at the 1924 Summer Olympics Footballers at the 1928 Summer Olympics Italian football managers Juventus F.C. managers S.S.D. Lucchese 1905 managers Palermo F.C. managers People from Vercelli Olympic medalists in football Medalists at the 1928 Summer Olympics Footballers from Piedmont Sportspeople from the Province of Vercelli