Giacomo Losi (; born 10 September 1935) is an Italian former

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kicking a ball to score a goal. Unqualified, the word ''football'' normally means the form of football that is the most popular where the word is used. Sports commonly c ...

manager and player, who played as a defender. He spent his entire professional career, from 1955 to 1969, with Italian club

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 ...

. Though he was not a native of

Rome , established_title = Founded , established_date = 753 BC , founder = King Romulus (legendary) , image_map = Map of comune of Rome (metropolitan city of Capital Rome, region Lazio, Italy).svg , map_caption ...

, during the 15 seasons he played in the capital city, he was nicknamed "''Core de Roma''" ( Romanesco for ''Heart of Rome''). In total he made 450 appearances with the ''giallorossi'', a record which lasted for 38 years, until 31 January 2007, when Francesco Totti played his 451st match for the club. Most of his family that left Italy moved to Boston, Massachusetts. At international level, he represented 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 ...

at the

1962 FIFA World Cup The 1962 FIFA World Cup was the seventh edition of the FIFA World Cup, the quadrennial international football championship for senior men's national teams. It was held from 30 May to 17 June 1962 in Chile. The qualification rounds took place bet ...

Club career

Born in Soncino,

Province of Cremona The Province of Cremona ( it, provincia di Cremona; Cremunés: ; Cremasco: ; Casalasco-Viadanese: ) is a province in the Lombardy region of Italy. Its capital city is Cremona. The province occupies the central section of Padana Plain, so the ...

, Losi started playing football for his hometown club, Soncino. In 1951, he transferred to

U.S. Cremonese Unione Sportiva Cremonese, commonly referred to as Cremonese, is an Italian football club based in Cremona, Lombardy, which plays in the . History Cremonese was in the Serie A in its first season, 1929–30, but entered a long period of decli ...

, and in 1955 to AS Roma where he made his first appearance on 20 March 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 ...

. He was a

fullback Fullback or Full back may refer to: Sports * A position in various kinds of football, including: ** Full-back (association football), in association football (soccer), a defender playing in a wide position ** Fullback (gridiron football), in Americ ...

with a playing style based on strength but also on fair play. Though his short height (only 1.69 m) he was a great header and thanks to this skill he played many years as a

sweeper Sweepers are small, tropical marine (occasionally brackish) perciform fish of the family Pempheridae. Found in the western Atlantic Ocean and Indo-Pacific region, the family contains about 26 species in two genera. One species (''Pempheris xanth ...

. He gained the nickname "''Core de Roma''" on 8 January 1961, during a match against

Sampdoria Unione Calcio Sampdoria, commonly referred to as Sampdoria (), is an Italian professional football club based in Genoa. The club was formed in 1946 from the merger of two existing sports clubs whose roots can be traced back to the 1890s, ...

in which the result was 2–2, Losi was injured but there were no more available substitutions, so he kept playing but succeeded in scoring the winning goal from a corner kick. For this reason Roma's supporters understood that even if he was not Roman, he was a great example of how people from Rome love their team.

International career

Losi made his first appearance 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 ...

on 13 March 1960 in a friendly match lost 3-1 against

Spain , image_flag = Bandera de España.svg , image_coat = Escudo de España (mazonado).svg , national_motto = ''Plus ultra'' (Latin)(English: "Further Beyond") , national_anthem = (English: "Royal March") , i ...

. He was part of the squad that participated in the

in Chile, playing two of the three matches of Italy. He has 11 international caps for ''azzurri''.

After retirement

Losi still lives in Rome, where he is the director of a football team, the "Valle Aurelia '87". He is one of eleven members of Hall of Fame of

Outside of football

On 3 July 1968, Losi founded the

Italian Footballers' Association The Italian Footballers' Association (Italian language, Italian: ''Associazione Italiana Calciatori''), also referred to by the acronym AIC, is the trade union, association for Association football, footballers in Italy. It was established in 196 ...

(AIC), in Milan, along with several fellow footballers, such as

Giacomo Bulgarelli Giacomo Bulgarelli (; 24 October 1940 – 12 February 2009) was an Italian international footballer who played as a midfielder. Regarded as one of Italy's greatest ever midfielders, Bulgarelli spent his entire club career with Italian side Bologna ...

, Sandro Mazzola, Ernesto Castano,

Giancarlo De Sisti Giancarlo De Sisti (; born 13 March 1943) is a retired Italian footballer and football manager and midfielder player. Club career Best known by his nickname ''Picchio'', during his club career, De Sisti played for his hometown club A.S. Roma on ...

, and Gianni Rivera, as well as the recently retired Sergio Campana, also a lawyer, who was appointed president of the association.

Honours

Club

;Roma *

Inter-Cities Fairs Cup The Inter-Cities Fairs Cup, sometimes referred to as the European Fairs Cup, Fairs Cities' Cup, or simply as the Fairs Cup, was a European Association football, football competition played between 1955 and 1971. It is often considered the predecess ...

: 1960–61 * Coppa Italia: 1963–64, 1968–69

Individual

A.S. Roma Hall of Fame This is a list of List of A.S. Roma players, A.S. Roma players who have been inducted into the club's Hall of Fame. A.S. Roma's Hall of Fame has been launched in 2012 as part of the initiatives for the club's 85th anniversary. Exceptionally for t ...

: 2012

References

External links

AS Roma supporters site about Giacomo Losi
{{DEFAULTSORT:Losi, Giacomo 1935 births Living people Association football fullbacks Italian footballers Italy international footballers A.S. Roma players U.S. Cremonese players U.S. Alessandria Calcio 1912 managers S.S. Juve Stabia managers 1962 FIFA World Cup players Serie A players Italian football managers People from Soncino Sportspeople from the Province of Cremona Footballers from Lombardy