Narciso Soldan

Narciso Soldan (11 December 1927, Nervesa della Battaglia, Veneto - 30 July 1987, Conegliano, Veneto) was an Italian professional football player.

Treviso-Catania 0-0 Serie B 1951-52. From left to right: Soldan, Ruzza (Treviso Calcio) and Italo Rebuzzi.

Career

Soldan was a professional goalkeeper who played in the Italian Football League FIGC.

He began his playing career at the very late age of 19 having never previously kicked a ball. One day, while attending a local club match at Vittorio Veneto, he became fascinated by the goalkeeper's role on the playing field. At the end of the match he went onto the pitch, along with some friends, and had them take some shots at him. The team's coach, Enrico Colombari, approached Soldan and an agreement was made whereby Soldan signed his first professional football contract with Vittorio Veneto. For the remainder of that season (1946/1947), he was loaned out to his local team, F.C. Nervesa, to gain some experience and match practice.

The following year (1947/1948), Narciso Soldan was playing in Italy's third division - Serie C > North League : Group H. During that period, Italy's Serie C was overcrowded with teams and the Italian Football Federation (FIGC) decided that the top two teams of each group in the various leagues would all combine at the end of the season to form a "New" Serie C, thus reducing numbers and increasing the quality of the competition. The relegated teams were then placed into a "New" 4th Division which was a regional-based competition. As it turned out, after a fantastic season, Vittorio Veneto arrived in 3rd place and just missed promotion to the "New" Serie C.<

Season (1948/49) didn't go as well for Vittorio Veneto as the previous one had. The club was now playing in the new, recently named - Promozione Interregionale > 4th Division : Group E. The team struggled for long periods throughout the season but managed to finish in a respectable 10th position. On the one hand while the team wasn't performing so well, for Narciso Soldan, it became the turning point in his career. After having a great season defending his goal, coach Enrico Colombari decided to try his luck by taking young Soldan for trials in Milan under the watchful eyes of Giulio Cappelli, then Manager of F.C. Internazionale Milano.