Ivan Francescato (10 February 1967 – 19 January 1999) was an Italianrugby union player.
Francescato began his career in his native city,Treviso, like his five elder siblings before him, all of whom played the game at high levels; three (besides him) made the Italian National team,Bruno,Nello andRino. He got his technical and athletic training in the youth development teams atA.S. Ruggers Tarvisium 69.
He made his debut in the Italian Championship on 14 September 1986, as a centre, againstA.S.R. Milano inMilan. He remained faithful toBenetton Treviso throughout his life. Francescato also played as a scrum half.
Francescato made his International debut on 7 October 1990 againstRomania. His last appearance for the Azzurri was on 8 November 1997 againstSouth Africa. Perhaps his most famous moment in an Italian shirt was scoring one of the tries of the tournament in the1991 World Cup in the game against theUSA, in which he stepped and feinted past several American defenders before touching down between the posts.
Ivan Francescato died suddenly of a heart attack at 3 a.m. at his home in Treviso. The Benetton Treviso rugby board decided to retire the number 13 shirt for the season.