 Combi (left) together with refereeIvan Eklind (m.) andFrantišek Plánička (r.) before the1934 FIFA World Cup Final | |||
| Personal information | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Date of birth | 20 November 1902 | ||
| Place of birth | Turin,Italy | ||
| Date of death | 12 August 1956(1956-08-12) (aged 53) | ||
| Place of death | Imperia, Italy | ||
| Height | 1.74 m (5 ft8+1⁄2 in) | ||
| Position | Goalkeeper | ||
| Senior career* | |||
| Years | Team | Apps | (Gls) |
| 1921–1934 | Juventus[1] | 367 | (0) |
| International career | |||
| 1924–1934 | Italy | 47 | (0) |
| * Club domestic league appearances and goals | |||
Gianpiero Combi (Italian pronunciation:[dʒamˈpjɛːroˈkombi]; 20 November 1902 – 12 August 1956) was an Italianfootballer who played as agoalkeeper.[2] He spent his entire club career atJuventus, where he won five Italian League titles. At international level, he won the1934 World Cup with theItaly national team, as well as twoCentral European International Cups (in1930 and1935), and an Olympic bronze medal in1928.[3]
Combi was considered one of the best goalkeepers in the world during the 1930s, alongsideRicardo Zamora andFrantišek Plánička, and is regarded as one of Italy's best ever goalkeepers;[2][4][5][6] in a 1999IFFHS poll, he was elected Italy's second best goalkeeper of the twentieth century, behind onlyDino Zoff, and the sixteenth greatest European goalkeeper of the century, alongsideRinat Dasayev.[7]
Combi was born inTurin on 20 November 1902 and played forJuventus' youth side; he debuted in the ItalianSerie A on 5 February 1922 in a match againstMilan. Combi spent his entire club career withJuventus FC; he played 351 games in Serie A, winning five titles – in1926 (having conceded only 18 goals during the season[8]),1931,1932,1933 and1934 as part of the firstgolden age of the club with a record offive championship victories in a row, a feat known asIl Quinquennio d'Oro (The Golden Quinquennium[9]).
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Along withVirginio Rosetta andUmberto Caligaris, Combi formed a formidable defensive wall (known in Italy as theTrio Combi-Rosetta-Caligaris[10]) for both Juventus and the Italy national team. He played his last match in Serie A on 15 April 1934, in a 2–1 win overBrescia. In total Combi played for 13 seasons with Juventus, totaling 348Serie A matches and another 16 games in theCentral European Cup,[1] an international competition for clubs where Juventus played four consecutive semi-finals from 1932 to 1935[11] to claim the record for most appearances by a goalkeeper for the club (370), a record he held for more than 40 years untilDino Zoff overtook him in the 1970s (476 matches), followed byStefano Tacconi in the 1980s (377 matches), and subsequentlyGianluigi Buffon.[12]
Combi's first match for theItaly national team was inBudapest, at the age of 21, on 6 April 1924 in a 7–1 loss againstHungary.[2] He returned inAzzurro a year and seven games later when thetechnical commission, made up of Rangone, Giuseppe Milano and Baccani selected him to play againstFrance inTurin on 22 March 1925. This match was played inCorso Marsiglia Stadium and this time the large score was in favor of theAzzurri, a victory of 7–0.[13] After this match Combi never looked back and for the next ten years it was extremely rare to see another goalkeeper defending the Italian posts.
The1928 Olympic Games were held inAmsterdam and this time Combi formed part of the squad and defended the Italian squad for the rest of the tournament: Quarter Final againstSpain 1–1 after extra time, quarter-final replay against Spain 7–1,[13] semi-final againstUruguay (3–2 loss)[13] and third-place final againstEgypt 11–3.[13] With this result on 10 June 1928 in theOlympisch Stadion of Amsterdam, theAzzurri won their first honour: theBronze Medal of the9th edition of the Olympic games.
Other triumphs followed, the next being the winning of the inauguralCentral European International Cup,[14] a predecessor cup of theEuropean Nations Cup held between the National teams ofCentral Europe. In these matches Italy lost againstMatěj Šindelář'sAustria 3–0 inVienna[15] but won all the others, againstSwitzerland 3–2 inZürich,[15] againstCzechoslovakia 4–2 inBologna[15] and the last match againstHungary on 11 May 1930.
Combi made his debut as the Italiancaptain in his 33rd game on 15 November 1931.[15]
Around the beginning of 1934, 31-year-old Gianpiero Combi was preparing to retire from football. In this season he was on the way to winning his fifthItalian championship (a record fourth in a row) withJuventus and he had played more than 40 games for the national team. A new promising young goalkeeper was emerging:Carlo Ceresoli, who played forInter. On his debut Ceresoli had helped the national team to qualify for the1934 FIFA World Cup which was held in Italy that summer, by eliminatingGreece inMilan by a 4–0 win.[15] But the National CoachVittorio Pozzo included Combi in the Italian squad - he was also one of theNazio-Juve members - and was asked by Pozzo to postpone his retirement until the end of the tournament as his experience might be a great help. During a training session a few weeks before the beginning of the tournament, a shot by Pietro Arcari broke one of Ceresoli's forearms. This forced him to miss the World Cup and Combi again found himself the top goalkeeper in Italy, with the responsibility of leading theAzzurri to their debut in football's premier competition.
The first match was on 27 May 1934 when Italy played the first round of the World Cup in theStadio Nazionale of theP.N.F. inRome against theUnited States. TheAzzurri beat their opponents 7–1,[15] a victory provided by a hat trick fromAngelo Schiavio, adouble fromRaimundo Orsi and a goal each fromGiovanni Ferrari and Meazza. In the Quarter-finals the Italians metSpain, who were led by another great goalkeeper of the time,Ricardo Zamora. The game was played on 31 May 1934 in theStadio Comunale "Giovanni Berta" ofFlorence. The game against the Spanish team was a very difficult one, dominated by the speed and force used by both teams and finished in a 1–1 draw after extra time.[15] A replay had to be played the next day, in which Italy changed four players and Spain seven. Italy won 1–0 with a goal by Meazza.[15]
Their semi-final opponents were theAustrianWunderteam,[10] the squad who had beaten the Italians 4–2 inTurin four months earlier. The match was played in Milan'sStadio Calcistico San Siro on 3 June and theAzzurri won 1–0 with a goal byEnrico Guaita.[15] Combi was also decisive when he made two miraculous saves to keep the score in favor of Italy until the end. The final was held inRome on 10 June 1934 againstCzechoslovakia. The first half finished without a goal but in the 71st minute, against all odds,Antonin Puč managed to beat the Italian goalkeeper. Ten minutes later Orsi equalized and the game went to extra-time. With the help of a noisy support, so great that the rival coachPozzo had to continually run along the pitch so that the players could hear his instructions, Italy won the match through a goal by Schiavio and the Italian team were crowned World Champions. Gianpiero Combi, who played 510 minutes and conceded three goals ascaptain of the squad, received theJules Rimet trophy from the ItalianDictatorBenito Mussolini.[16]
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A year later, in November 1935, Combi played only five of the eight matches in the International Cup and in his absence the Italian team won the trophy. He totalled 47 caps[2] for the Italian team, five of which were as captain.
Although he had stopped playing football, his passion for the sport remained all his life and he still held a number of unofficial positions withJuventus. He offered advice to the technical staff and also served as a scout. In 1951 theItalian Football Federation offered him the job of technical commissioner for the Italy national team with Carlino Beretta and Toni Busini. They led the National Team for seven months, from 8 April to 25 November 1951 in which time the Italian squad played 5 games without any losses. They won 4–1 againstPortugal andFrance, and drew againstYugoslavia (0–0),Sweden (1–1) andSwitzerland (1–1) - the only competitive game of the five.
He died inImperia on 12 August 1956, aged 53.
Despite his relatively small stature for a player in his position, Combi was a commanding keeper, who possessed notable strength, which he combined with his elegance, agility, intelligence, shot-stopping ability, positional sense, and excellent technique; throughout his career, he stood out in particular due to his consistency, efficient goalkeeping style, and composure, rather than flamboyance, even though he was capable of producing spectacular diving saves when necessary.[17][18] He is regarded as one of the greatest goalkeepers of all time.[19][20]
Juventus[20]
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