Julio Libonatti

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Julio Libonatti

Julio "Matador" Libonatti (born July 5, 1901 in Rosario ; † October 9, 1981 ) was an Argentine football player of Italian descent who played for the national teams of both countries. The striker was the first South American to move to Italy, making him the first of the Oriundi , who had a major impact on Italian football in the 1920s and 1930s .

Career in Argentina

Argentina at the Campeonato Sudamericano 1921
back: Tesoriero, Delavalle, Solari, Alfredo López, Bearzotti, cellos in
front: Calomino, Libonatti, Gabino Sosa, Echeverria, Chavin

Julio Libonatti was born the son of Italian immigrants in Rosario and made his debut at the age of 16 with Newell's Old Boys , a club from his hometown. At that time there was no national Argentine league, so the club played in the local league Rosarina de Fútbol . Libonatti stayed with the Leprosos for eight years and won the Copa Nicasio Vila , the league's most important title, three times . The winner of this trophy also acquired the right to compete against the champions of the Buenos Aires League for the Copa Dr. Playing Carlos Ibargurs . In 1921 Libonatti's team managed to win this unofficial Argentine championship with a 3-0 win against Club Atlético Huracán .

In 1919 Libonatti was called up for the first time in the Argentine national team . His greatest success with the gauchos came in 1921 when he won the Campeonato Sudamericano . With the decisive goals in the two 1-0 wins against Brazil and Uruguay , the right inner striker played a key role in winning the title and also became the tournament's top scorer . In total, he played 15 times in the Argentine selection and scored eight goals.

Career in Italy

Enrico Maroni, the president of Turin FC , saw Libonatti play on a business trip to Argentina and signed the striker, who thus became the first South American in the Italian league. Since Libonatti's parents had emigrated from Genoa , he immediately obtained Italian citizenship.

In his first season 1925/26, the now Italian was the second-best goalscorer of his team behind Adolfo Baloncieri with 16 goals. Participation in the finals was only just missed by local rivals Juventus Turin .

In the following season, Gino Rossetti also joined the Toros and the inner storm Baloncieri, Libonatti and Rossetti (also called trio delle meraviglie ) not only ensured the qualification for the final round, but also the victory in the final tournament and thus the supposed championship title. The championship title was stripped of Turin, however, because club officials had made the Juventus player Luigi Allemandi a bribe. In the next season, the Turin team again managed to win the final tournament with their dream storm and thus the first championship title in the club's history. Libonatti was the top scorer in the league with 35 goals.

In 1928/29 the Turin team again achieved group victory, this time the championship title was played directly between the two group winners. After the Turin lost in Bologna away, Libonatti forced a playoff with the only goal in the second leg. This was lost in Rome with 0: 1.

Libonatti stayed with the Turin team for another five years, but it should not be enough for a second title. In total, he played 238 games for the Toros and scored 158 times.

In 1934 he moved to Serie B for CFC Genoa and immediately achieved promotion to the top division, where he worked for another year before ending his career as a player-coach at Rimini Calcio .

As an Italian citizen, he was also eligible to play for the national team and made his debut against Czechoslovakia in October 1926 . He was in the victorious team at the European Cup of the National Football Teams 1927 to 1930 , was used in six games and with six goals, together with his club colleague Gino Rossetti, was also the most successful goalscorer of the competition. His last game in the national team was against Hungary in 1931 , where he contributed a goal to the 3-2 victory. For Italy he was international 17 times and scored 15 goals.

successes

Web links

Commons : Julio Libonatti  - collection of images, videos and audio files

Remarks

  1. ↑ For the previous 1926/27 season, Libonatti is also given in some sources as the top scorer with 21 goals. However, according to other sources, Anton Powolny had scored 22 goals that season.
personal data
SURNAME Libonatti, Julio
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Libonatti, Matador (nickname)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Argentinian-Italian soccer player
DATE OF BIRTH July 5, 1901
PLACE OF BIRTH Rosario , Argentina
DATE OF DEATH October 9, 1981