Angelo Schiavio

Schiavio spent his entire career with Bologna. He began his career with the first team during the 1922–23 Prima Divisione, playing 6 league games (11 in total) and scoring 6 goals; he made his debut for the club in 1923, at the age of 17. At that time, the Italian league was organised into several different regional groups. He continued to play (and score) regularly for Bologna, breaking into the starting line-up permanently at the age of 19, and in 1925 Bologna won the first league championship in their history, while Schiavio contributed to the victory with 16 goals in 27 games. The last season played in this "grouped" format was the 1928–29 season; that season, Bologna won their second championship, with Schiavio averaging more than a goal per game with 30 goals in 26 games – his most prolific domestic campaign.[2][3][5]

The 1929–30 season saw the advent of the Serie A format. Schiavio played in his first Serie A game away against Lazio on 6 October 1929 – a 3–0 loss for Bologna. His first goal in Serie A came on 13 November later that year, in a 2–2 draw at home to Triestina. In the 1931–32 season he scored 25 goals which led to him winning the Capocannonieri award for top scorer in Serie A. Bologna won two more Scudetti in 1936 and 1937, although Schiavio only played in two games in the latter victory. Schiavio's final season was in 1938–39, when he made 6 appearances in the league, but failed to score.

An important figure in the club's history, Schiavio spent 16 seasons with Bologna, winning four league titles. He made 361 appearances for the club in total, scoring 249 goals, and a club-record 242 goals in the Italian league, 109 of which were scored in the Italian Serie A format.[5]

Schiavio scoring against Czechoslovakia in the 1934 World Cup Final.

Schiavio made his debut for the Italy national football team in November 1925, when he was 20 years old; he marked the occasion by scoring both goals in a 2–1 win over Yugoslavia in Padova. He participated in the 1928 Olympic Games, scoring 4 goals in 4 games as Italy won a bronze medal in the tournament.[5] He then went on to win the 1927–30 Central European International Cup & 1933–35 Central European International Cup.

Schiavio was also instrumental in Italy's first World Cup win in 1934. Supported by players such as Luis Monti and Giuseppe Meazza, he scored a total of 4 goals, finishing the tournament as the second highest scorer.[5] FIFA originally credited Schiavio as one of three joint top scorers in the tournament (along with Czechoslovakia's Oldřich Nejedlý and Germany's Edmund Conen). However, FIFA revised this in November 2006, giving Nejedlý a fifth goal and the outright leading scorer title.[6] Schiavio opened his account in the tournament with a hat-trick in the opening game against the USA on 27 May, which included Italy's first ever World Cup goal; the match eventually ended in a 7–1 win to the Italians.[7] Despite his prolific display in Italy's opener, he was not able to score in any of the next two games Italy played in order to reach the final.

In the final, Czechoslovakia took the lead, but a late goal by Raimundo Orsi levelled the game. In the 5th minute of extra-time, despite carrying an injury, Schiavio converted a cross by Enrique Guaita – this goal ultimately proved decisive as the final score was 2–1; following the goal, he briefly fainted due to fatique. This was Schiavio's final goal and game for Italy, as injury struggles kept him out of the team.[2][3][4][5][8][9]

In total Schiavio gained 21 caps for the national team, scoring 15 goals.[3][10]

Regarded as one of Italy's greatest strikers, and one of Bologna's greatest players ever, Schiavio was 178 cm tall and weighed 69 kg; he made his name as a quick and powerful centre-forward, with good technique and dribbling skills. He was also known for his pace, reactions, and offensive movement, which enabled him to lose his markers and make runs to beat the defensive line and get on the end of passes. A prolific goalscorer, he was an accurate and powerful finisher with both feet and he often used physical force to score goals. Moreover, he was a generous and versatile team-player, and was known for his willingness to play in several other offensive positions, including as a left winger, or even as an inside forward on occasion, which was known as the mezzala role at the time in Italian football jargon. Despite his ability, however, he also struggled with injuries throughout his career.[2][3][4][8][9][11][12]

• Sports Illustrated World Cup Hall of Fame Archived 12 September 2005 at the Wayback Machine
• "SkySports 1934 Star Man – Angelo Schiavio". Archived from the original on 2 July 2006. Retrieved 16 June 2006.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: bot: original URL status unknown (link)
• Angelo Schiavio National Team Statistics from the RSSSF
• "Angelo Schiavio Bologna Statistics from the RSSSF". Archived from the original on 1 September 2005. Retrieved 17 June 2006.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: bot: original URL status unknown (link)
• "Angelo Schiavio at databaseOlympics.com". Archived from the original on 29 August 2007. Retrieved 16 February 2008.
• Angelo Schiavio at Olympics at Sports-Reference.com (archived)
• Angelo Schiavio at the International Olympic Committee
• Angelo Schiavio at the Comitato Olimpico Nazionale Italiano (in Italian)