Giovanni Ferrari

Ferrari began his footballing career with local club Alessandria in the prima divisione nazionale in 1923. He was at the start of the newly established Serie A in the season 1929-30, aside from a brief loan to Napoli during the 1925–26 season, where he scored 16 goals in 15 matches. He was given credit over a seven-year period (1923–1930) with Alessandria and Napoli in total to play in 137 matches and score 78 goals. The following year, Ferrari changed over to Juventus and was handed the number 10 shirt. Over that five-year period (1930–1935), which was his first spell at Juventus, he played in 160 games and scored 66 goals, in addition to providing many assists. Although the official number of assists he provided went unrecorded. Ferrari would next move to Inter, where he would play for five-years (1935-1940), and then subsequently to Bologna for the 1940–41 season, before return for second spell to Juventus in the 1941–42 season, this time as a player-manager in what turned out to be the final season of his playing career, winning his 10th major national trophy. After the Second World War, when Italian club football resumed in the season 1945-46, he became a full-time manager for Brescia. 1930-1935: Il Quinquennio d'Oro della Juventus Juventus had won 2 Italian Championships earlier in history, before it was named Serie A, but under his guidance, the club won 5 consecutive Serie A Titles, Il Quinquennio d'Oro, by then a record of 1st 5 successive titles ever in Italy,…

Ferrari's first taste of success with the Italy national team was as part of the silver medal-winning 1931–32 Central European International Cup squad. He then went on to win two consecutive World Cups (in 1934 & 1938), as well as the 1933–35 Central European International Cup. All 4 tournaments alongside teammates Giuseppe Meazza and Eraldo Monzeglio. All three won four international titles together with Italy. In total, he managed 44 appearances and 14 goals with the national side between 1930 and 1938. He later was the head coach of Italy from 1960 to 1961, and was part of the technical commission, being co-manager with Paolo Mazza, leading Italy in the 1962 FIFA World Cup, where Italy lost a match to the hosting nation Chile in the Battle of Santiago, a match noted for its violent play.

1931–32 Central European International Cup

Ferrari was a regular starter in his advanced playmaker/attacking midfielder role from the start of the 1931–32 Central European International Cup, and also scored a goal in the away match against Czechoslovakia. The campaign ended with Italy finishing as runners-up behind the Austrian Wunderteam led by Matthias Sindelar; this was Ferrari's first international medal with Italy (Silver).

1934 FIFA World Cup

At the 1934 World Cup, Ferrari finished as the top assist provider of the tournament with four assists. In addition to his playmaking role, he scored twp goals, both of them in the knockout stage, in his first World Cup. The…

Ferrari was born in Alessandria on 6 December 1907 and died in Milan in 1982, aged 74.

Club

Juventus Serie A: 1930–31, 1931–32, 1932–33, 1933–34, 1934–35 Coppa Italia: 1941–42 Internazionale Serie A: 1937–38, 1939–40 Coppa Italia: 1938–39 Bologna Serie A: 1940–41

International

Italy FIFA World Cup: 1934, 1938 Central European International Cup: 1933–35; Runner-up: 1931–32

Individual

Italian Football Hall of Fame: 2011 (Posthumous)