Luigi Allemandi

Luigi Allemandi (8 November 1903^[1] – 25 September 1978) was an Italian footballer who played as a defender, usually as a left back. He was a member of the Italian national team which won the 1934 World Cup.

Club career

Born in San Damiano Macra, province of Cuneo, Allemandi debuted in 1921 with A.C. Legnano. Later, he played with Juventus F.C., F.C. Internazionale Milano, A.S. Roma, S.S.C. Venezia and S.S. Lazio, and also had a successful international career with Italy. However, the part of his career that stands out is the corruption scandal in the Torino–Juventus derby in 1927 that resulted in Torino being stripped of their title. A manager from Torino offered Allemandi 50,000 lira to throw the game, 25,000 immediately and the rest after the match. Torino won the match 2–1, but when Allemandi went to collect the rest of the money he was refused. The confrontation was overheard by a journalist from the Tifone newspaper who then went public with the information. Along with Torino's title revocation, Allemandi was banned for life. He was later pardoned by Umberto of Savoy in 1928 and joined Ambrosiana-Inter.

International career

After debuting for the Italian national team in 1925, Allemandi eventually won the left back position from Umberto Caligaris before their 1934 World Cup qualifying match against Greece. Manager Vittorio Pozzo started him in every match of the final tournament, helping the Azzurri win the title on home soil; he later served as Italy's captain between 1935 and 1936.

Death

Allemandi died in Pietra Ligure, Province of Savona.

References