Virgilio Fossati (; 3 January 1891 – 25 December 1916) 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 ...

and manager. 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 ...

, he played for and coached Italian club

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 Italian professional football club based in Milan, Lombardy. Inter is ...

, also representing the Italy national team; he captained both teams throughout his career.

Career

Fossati spent his entire career with

. He played 97 times for the club and scored 4 goals. Throughout his career, Fossati served as Inter and Italy's captain and also the first Inter player to play with the Italy national team. On 15 May 1910, he scored in Italy's first official match, a 6–2 win over

France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic, Pacific and Indian Oceans. Its metropolitan area ...

. He later also coached Inter. Fossati's career was ended by

World War I World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...

. He died on Christmas Day 1916 at

Monfalcone Monfalcone (; Bisiacco: ; fur, Monfalcon; sl, Tržič; archaic german: Falkenberg) is a town and ''comune'' of the province of Gorizia in Friuli Venezia Giulia, northern Italy, located on the Gulf of Trieste. Monfalcone means 'falcon mountain ...

during a battle between the

Italian Italian(s) may refer to: * Anything of, from, or related to the people of Italy over the centuries ** Italians, an ethnic group or simply a citizen of the Italian Republic or Italian Kingdom ** Italian language, a Romance language *** Regional Ita ...

and Austrian armies. His brother Giuseppe (born 1894) played 43 matches in three years with Inter.

References

External links

* 1891 births 1916 deaths Italian footballers Association football midfielders Italy international footballers Inter Milan players Italian football managers Inter Milan managers Italian military personnel killed in World War I {{Italy-footy-midfielder-1890s-stub