Otávio Fantoni (; ;

Belo Horizonte Belo Horizonte is the List of largest cities in Brazil, sixth-largest city in Brazil, with a population of around 2.3 million, and the third largest metropolitan area, containing a population of 6 million. It is the List of cities in Sout ...

, 4 April 1907 –

Rome Rome (Italian language, Italian and , ) is the capital city and most populated (municipality) of Italy. It is also the administrative centre of the Lazio Regions of Italy, region and of the Metropolitan City of Rome. A special named with 2, ...

, 8 February 1935), best known as or Fantoni II, was a Brazilian-born Italian professional

football player 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

midfielder In the sport of association football, a midfielder takes an Glossary of association football terms#O, outfield position primarily in the middle of the pitch. Midfielders may play an exclusively defensive role, breaking up attacks, and are in t ...

Early life

He was born in

Minas Gerais Minas Gerais () is one of the 27 federative units of Brazil, being the fourth largest state by area and the second largest in number of inhabitants with a population of 20,539,989 according to the 2022 Brazilian census, 2022 census. Located in ...

, Brazil, into a family of Italian origin, which supported Cruzeiro, than known as . In Cruzeiro, he played along with his cousins João Fantoni () and Leonízio Fantoni (). In 1931, they were sold to

Lazio Lazio ( , ; ) or Latium ( , ; from Latium, the original Latin name, ) is one of the 20 Regions of Italy, administrative regions of Italy. Situated in the Central Italy, central peninsular section of the country, it has 5,714,882 inhabitants an ...

, where they would be known by their surnames similar to a dynasty, where was Fantoni I, was Fantoni II and , Fantoni III.

Career

Fantoni made an appearance for the Italy national team on one occasion: in

Vittorio Pozzo Vittorio Pozzo (; 2 March 1886 – 21 December 1968) was an Italian association football, football player, manager (association football), manager and journalist. The creator of the ''Formation (association football)#Metodo (2–3–2–3), Me ...

's selection in the 1934 FIFA World Cup qualification match, on 25 March 1934 against

Greece Greece, officially the Hellenic Republic, is a country in Southeast Europe. Located on the southern tip of the Balkan peninsula, it shares land borders with Albania to the northwest, North Macedonia and Bulgaria to the north, and Turkey to th ...

, a 4–0 home victory.Italia-Grecia 4-0
Italia1910.com

Death

Less than one year after his victory on the FIFA match, he injured his nose in a game against

Torino Turin ( , ; ; , then ) 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 from 1861 to 1865. The city is main ...

. The injury caused a generalized infection that would come to kill him on 8 February 1935 in

, Italy.

References

External links

Profile
on Laziowiki 1907 births 1935 deaths Brazilian people of Italian descent Brazilian men's footballers Italian men's footballers Men's association football midfielders Cruzeiro Esporte Clube players Serie A players SS Lazio players Italy men's international footballers Footballers from Belo Horizonte 20th-century Italian sportsmen 20th-century Brazilian sportsmen {{Italy-footy-forward-1900s-stub