Alfonso Negro

Alfonso Negro

Personal information
Date of birth	(1915-06-27)27 June 1915
Place of birth	Brooklyn, New York, United States
Date of death	7 November 1984(1984-11-07) (aged 69)
Place of death	Florence, Italy
Position(s)	Forward
Senior career*
Years	Team	Apps	(Gls)
1930–1933	Angri	?	(?)
1933–1934	Catanzaro	23	(6)
1934–1938	Fiorentina	52	(5)
1934–1938	Napoli	25	(3)
1942–1952	Ercolanese	?	(?)
International career
1936	Italy	1	(1)
Medal record Representing Italy Summer Olympics Summer Olympics 1936 Berlin
*Club domestic league appearances and goals

Alfonso Negro (Italian pronunciation: [alˈfɔnso ˈneːɡro]; 5 July 1915 – 7 November 1984) was an American-born Italian football (soccer) player, who played as a forward; he is believed to be the first American-born player in Serie A and the first American-born player to have played for Italy.

Club career

Born in Brooklyn, New York, Negro started his career with Angri in Serie C at the age of 15. He moved onward to Catanzarese in Serie B. While at Catanzarese, he made his international debut with Italy B team against Hungary in Vercelli.

In 1934, he transferred to Fiorentina in Serie A. At that era, three other American-born players -- Armando Frigo, Alfio Argentieri and Umberto Piccolo—played in Italy at that time, but only Armando Frigo played in the Serie A. Alfonso Negro played 51 games for Fiorentina, and scored five goals, before being transferred to Napoli in 1938, where he played 25 games and scored three goals.

International career

Negro was selected to play for Italy at the 1936 Olympic Games. He scored a goal against Norway and went on to win a gold medal in the tournament.

Education

Negro also entered university where he played for his school team. He graduated in medicine and surgery at Florence University and during the war served as a medical officer in Greece. Following the war he became a specialist in obstetrics and gynaecology and became a lecturer. He died in Florence, Italy on 7 November 1984.

Honours

International

Italy

• Olympic Gold Medal: 1936

Sources

• "Americans in Italy at National Soccer Hall of Fame". Archived from the original on 6 January 2009. Retrieved 12 October 2008.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: bot: original URL status unknown (link)
• "Alfonso Negro at databaseOlympics.com". Archived from the original on 8 March 2007. Retrieved 16 February 2008.
• "US Players in Italy". RSSSF. Retrieved 11 August 2014.

External links

• Alfonso Negro at Olympics.com
• Alfonso Negro at the Comitato Olimpico Nazionale Italiano (in Italian)
• Alfonso Negro at Olympics at Sports-Reference.com (archived)