Gianpiero Combi

1921/34 Juventus Turin (ITA) 370 matches

(Italian Championship: 352 matches)

(Italian Cup: 1 match)

(Central European Cup: 17 matches)

With the National Team :

47 selections

(Friendly matches: 28 selections)

(World Cup: 5 selections)

(International Cup: 14 selections)

1st selection: April 6, 1924 against Hungary (1-7)

Last selection: June 10, 1934 against Czechoslovakia (3-1)

Gianpiero Combi

Born November 20, 1902 in Turin (ITA)

Died August 12, 1956 in Imperia (ITA)

Italian, Goalkeeper, 1m74

Nicknames: "Fusetta", "l'uomo di gomma"

The goalkeeper was born on November 20, 1902 in Turin and spent his entire career with Juventus. He joined the youth teams of the Italian club from a young age before making his debut with the first team during a Juventus-AC Milan match, a 2-0 victory for the Milanese club. He was then under 20 years old. Showing enormous potential, he relegated the former starting goalkeeper to the bench: Giovanni Giacone, goalkeeper for the Italian national team in 1920.

Combi played his first match for the Italian national team in 1924, at the age of 21. He was a goalkeeper with a future and already among the best in the world. This first match with the Italian national team was horrible for the goalkeeper who conceded 7 goals against Hungary. But the coach trusted him and kept him as the team's starting goalkeeper.

In 1926, he won his first trophy, the Italian championship with Juventus. In 1928, he was part of the Italian team at the Olympic Games and finished the tournament with the bronze medal. From then on, it was the Italian goalkeeper's period of glory. He won the International Cup in 1930 and then a second time in 1935. With Juventus, he was the goalkeeper of the famous generation of the 1930s that dominated the Italian championship, he won 4 championships between 1931 and 1934.

At 31, in 1934, he had decided to leave the Italian selection, but he returned after his friend, Vittorio Pozzo, asked him to. He therefore participated in the 1934 World Cup, which he won with Italy and definitively entered the football legend.

This tournament would also be the last of his career. The 1934 World Cup final, on June 10 against Czechoslovakia, being the last match of his career, at only 31 years old, he leaves as a legend of this sport.

He will have notably formed a legendary trio with Virginio Rosetta and Umberto Caligaris, a trio that will have dominated Italian football and world football. The player will have played 370 matches for Juventus and 47 for the Italian selection. The player who was nicknamed "the rubber man" for his great agility is undoubtedly among the best goalkeepers of his time and in history.

- Named Knight of the Order of Merit of the Italian Republic in 1955

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