Gianpiero Combi

Combi's first match for the Italy national team was in Budapest, at the age of 21, on 6 April 1924 in a 7–1 loss against Hungary. He returned in Azzurro a year and seven games later when the technical commission, made up of Rangone, Giuseppe Milano and Baccani selected him to play against France in Turin on 22 March 1925. This match was played in Corso Marsiglia Stadium and this time the large score was in favor of the Azzurri, a victory of 7–0. 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. The 1928 Olympic Games were held in Amsterdam and this time Combi formed part of the squad and defended the Italian squad for the rest of the tournament: Quarter Final against Spain 1–1 after extra time, quarter-final replay against Spain 7–1, semi-final against Uruguay (3–2 loss) and third-place final against Egypt 11–3. With this result on 10 June 1928 in the Olympisch Stadion of Amsterdam, the Azzurri won their first honour: the Bronze Medal of the 9th edition of the Olympic games. Other triumphs followed, the next being the winning of the inaugural Central European International Cup, a predecessor cup of the European Nations Cup held between the National teams of Central Europe. In these matches Italy lost against Matěj Šindelář's Austria 3–0 in Vienna but won all the others, against Switzerland 3–2 in Zürich, against Czechoslovakia 4–2 in Bologna and the last match against Hungary on 11…

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 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 with Juventus. He offered advice to the technical staff and also served as a scout. In 1951 the Italian 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 against Portugal and France, and drew against Yugoslavia (0–0), Sweden (1–1) and Switzerland (1–1) - the only competitive game of the five. He died in Imperia on 12 August 1956, aged 53.

Combi was born in Turin on 20 November 1902 and played for Juventus' youth side; he debuted in the Italian Serie A on 5 February 1922 in a match against Milan. Combi spent his entire club career with Juventus FC; he played 351 games in Serie A, winning five titles – in 1926 (having conceded only 18 goals during the season), 1931, 1932, 1933 and 1934 as part of the first golden age of the club with a record of five championship victories in a row, a feat known as Il Quinquennio d'Oro (The Golden Quinquennium).

Along with Virginio Rosetta and Umberto Caligaris, Combi formed a formidable defensive wall (known in Italy as the Trio Combi-Rosetta-Caligaris) 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 over Brescia. In total Combi played for 13 seasons with Juventus, totaling 348 Serie A matches and another 16 games in the Central European Cup, an international competition for clubs where Juventus played four consecutive semi-finals from 1932 to 1935 to claim the record for most appearances by a goalkeeper for the club (370), a record he held for more than 40 years until Dino Zoff overtook him in the 1970s (476 matches), followed by Stefano Tacconi in the 1980s (377 matches), and subsequently Gianluigi Buffon.

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. He is regarded as one of the greatest goalkeepers of all time.