Luigi Bertolini (; 13 September 1904 – 11 February 1977) was an Italian footballer 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

Born in

Busalla Busalla is a ''comune'' (municipality) in the Metropolitan City of Genoa in the Italy, Italian region Liguria, located about north of Genoa. Its territory is crossed by the upper valley of the Scrivia river. Nearby is the artificial Lago della Bu ...

, province of Genoa, Bertolini played in the 1920s for Savona, Alessandria and Juventus. He moved from Alessandria to Juventus in 1931, becoming an integral part of the remainder of their five-year championship run. In total, he played 135 matches for Juventus, scoring five goals, helping the team to win four

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 Cop ...

tournaments. He retired from playing football in 1940.

International career

With 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 ...

, Bertolini made his debut in 1929, and was a member of the teams that was runner-up at the 1931-32 Central European International Cup & winner at the

1933–35 Central European International Cup The 1933–35 Central European International Cup was the third edition of the Central European International Cup The European International Cup of Nations was an international football competition held by certain national teams from Central Europ ...

but most notably he was also a member of the team that won 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 ...

. Alongside Luisito Monti and

Attilio Ferraris Attilio Ferraris (; 26 March 1904 – 8 May 1947) was an Italian footballer who played as a defensive midfielder. Club career Ferraris played ten seasons (254 games, two goals) in the Serie A, for A.S. Roma, S.S. Lazio and A.S. Bari. In ...

, Luigi Bertolini made up the legendary Italian midfield established at the 1934 World Cup. In that tournament he started every game and was only rested by Pozzo in the first quarter-final encounter 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 ...

. Bertolini is very recognisable in the photos of the 1934 Italian World Cup-winning team by virtue of his big white bandana which he used to protect his head from the seams of the ball when attempting headers. He was also one of the 'Lions of Highbury' in the narrow loss to

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

in November 1934 known as the Battle of Highbury. As the story goes, during the second half he was disoriented from fatigue and with the English constantly in attack, he kept calling out for Luisito not realising that Monti was not on the field (due to a broken bone) and the midline was just himself and Ferraris.

Managerial career

Following his retirement, Bertolini began his coaching career with Tigullia in 1938.

Honours

Club

;Juventus *

: 1931–32, 1932–33, 1933–34, 1934–35 ;Tigullia * Prima Divisione: 1937–38

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 ...

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 Nepal–Bihar earthquake strikes Nepal and Bihar with a maxi ...

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

References

La Gazzetta dello Sport
1904 births 1977 deaths Sportspeople from the Province of Genoa Italian footballers Italy international footballers Association football midfielders Serie A players U.S. Alessandria Calcio 1912 players Juventus F.C. players Juventus F.C. managers Serie A managers 1934 FIFA World Cup players FIFA World Cup-winning players Brescia Calcio managers A.C. Cuneo 1905 managers Italian football managers Footballers from Liguria 20th-century Italian people {{Italy-footy-midfielder-1900s-stub