Attila Sallustro (; 15 December 1908 – 28 May 1983) was a professional Italian–Paraguayan

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

striker Striker or The Strikers may refer to: People *A participant in a strike action *A participant in a hunger strike *Blacksmith's striker, a type of blacksmith's assistant *Striker's Independent Society, the oldest mystic krewe in America People wi ...

. He is considered an important player in

S.S.C. Napoli Società Sportiva Calcio Napoli, commonly referred to as Napoli (), is an Italian professional football club based in the city of Naples ( it, Napoli, nap, Napule), Campania that plays in Serie A, the top flight of Italian football. Napoli ha ...

's history, and became extremely popular with the fans during his time with the club.

Early life

Sallustro was born in

Asunción Asunción (, , , Guarani: Paraguay) is the capital and the largest city of Paraguay. The city stands on the eastern bank of the Paraguay River, almost at the confluence of this river with the Pilcomayo River. The Paraguay River and the Bay of ...

, Paraguay to Italian parents, but moved to

Naples Naples (; it, Napoli ; nap, Napule ), from grc, Νεάπολις, Neápolis, lit=new city. is the regional capital of Campania and the third-largest city of Italy, after Rome and Milan, with a population of 909,048 within the city's adminis ...

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 ...

, with his family as a youngster. He came from a wealthy background and his father wanted him to play football in Italy.

Club career

Napoli

He joined

Napoli Naples (; it, Napoli ; nap, Napule ), from grc, Νεάπολις, Neápolis, lit=new city. is the regional capital of Campania and the third-largest city of Italy, after Rome and Milan, with a population of 909,048 within the city's adminis ...

when they were first known as Internaples and stayed on with the club for the majority of his career. At Napoli he was nicknamed "''Il Veltro''" and "Il Divino". Due to his background, Sallustro chose not to take any financial pay from the club, though he was rewarded with a luxury motor car. At Napoli he played for 12 years, scoring 107 goals, in a career which was halted at one point due to

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

. He had a brother two years his junior, named Oreste Sallustro (referred to sometimes as Sallustro II). The two played together at Napoli though Oreste appeared less frequently. After retiring from football he stayed in

where he died in 1983.

International career

He was called up in 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 ...

twice in 1929 and scored for them once. One of the games in which he played was a 6–1 defeat of

Portugal Portugal, officially the Portuguese Republic ( pt, República Portuguesa, links=yes ), is a country whose mainland is located on the Iberian Peninsula of Southwestern Europe, and whose territory also includes the Atlantic archipelagos of ...

. Sallustro along with Marcello Mihalic was the first Napoli player to be called up in the Italy national team. He made one start in the silver winning 1931-32 Central European International Cup campaign, in the 3-0 win against Switzerland. Despite his goal-scoring pedigree at club level, he was kept out of the side during much of his playing days due largely to the inclusion of

Giuseppe Meazza Giuseppe "Peppino" Meazza (; 23 August 1910 – 21 August 1979), also known as il Balilla, was an Italian football manager and player. Throughout his career, he played mainly for Inter Milan in the 1930s, scoring 242 goals in 365 games for the ...

. This was famously much to the dismay of some Neapolitans who thought his exclusion from the squad was unjust.PianetaAzzurro.it
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Honours

;

Central European International Cup The European International Cup of Nations was an international football competition held by certain national teams from Central Europe & South Europe between 1927 and 1960.Leo Schidrowitz "Internationaler Cup", Vienna 1954 There were competitions f ...

: Runner-up: 1931-32

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Sallustro, Attila 1908 births 1983 deaths Paraguayan footballers Paraguayan expatriates in Italy Paraguayan people of Italian descent Italian footballers Serie A players Serie B players S.S.C. Napoli players U.S. Salernitana 1919 players S.S.C. Napoli managers Serie A managers Italy international footballers Italian football managers Association football forwards