Fony, Alfredo

Game career

Alfredo Foni began his performances at the Udinese club from his hometown of Udine in 1927 at the age of 16, preferring a player’s career as an economist ^[1] . After 2 years, Foni moved to Lazio , for which he spent 38 matches and scored 3 goals, playing on the spot of the forward. And in 1931, Foni left Rome, moving to Padova , where he played 3 seasons, having 96 meetings and scoring 19 goals, such high performance was due to the fact that in the first season for Padova, who played in series B , Foni “Pinned” 15 goals, playing in the position of the central striker , which helped his club to enter Serie A , where he had already moved to his favorite position of the extreme striker, also played in the center of midfield , and in recent seasons in the club, Fony has already started playing in the center protector.

In 1934, Foni transferred to the camp of the champion of Italy, the Juventus club, to help the two defense stars of the club, Umberto Caligaris and Virginio Rosetta (then Rosetta was replaced by Pietro Rava ). Fony played the first match of the Bianconeri on September 30, 1934, in which Juve beat Brescia 2-0, and 10 months later, on his debut season, June 2, 1935, Fony won his first ever scudetto, ”in the match in which Fiorentina was beaten. After that Florentine success, Foni played for Juventus for another 8 years, having survived many tragic events, so on January 31, 1943, Foni was ordered to come to the Roman military district for military service. Fony returned to Juventus only in 1945, but his career was almost over; he played only 9 matches in 2 seasons.

In the Italian national team, Foni made his debut on August 3, 1936 in the match of the Olympic Games against the US team. Fony spent all 4 games at the Olympics, including the tournament finals, in which the Italians beat the Austrians with a score of 2: 1 and received gold medals from the winner of the Olympic Games. After 2 years, Fony as part of the national team - the winner of the last World Cup went to the world championship in France, ousting Eraldo Monzello from the squad . At the World Championships, Fony spent all 4 games, and as part of the team he celebrated his victory in the tournament. The last match for the Foni national team was held on April 19, 1942 against Spain , in which the Italians won 4-0, this game became the 23rd for Fony in the “Azzurra Squadra” T-shirt.

Coaching career

Having completed his career as a football player, Fony decided to stay in football, becoming a coach. His first club was “ Venice ”, which in the previous season “took off” in series B. Foni was given the task of returning to Serie A , in those years the tournament of the second Italian division consisted of three zone group competitions, the winners of each of the three groups entered Serie A. The task set for him, Fony did not fulfill: the club took only 4 place in his group, after which the coach was fired. Then, from August 28, 1949 to June 17, 1951, Foni headed the Swiss “ Chiasso ”, but took only 11th place with the club, having missed 55 goals (only two clubs had worse results).

In 1950, Fony headed Sampdoria , taking the club 12th place in Serie A with the club, the team was characterized by a “terrible” defensive weight, having conceded most goals in the championship - 76 goals. The following season, Fony stood at the helm of the Internationale club. In the new team, Fony began with an experiment, proposing a new defensive model of the game according to the 3-4-4 scheme, according to which the team’s defense began from the center of the field, and the forward, acting in a “delay”, became the 4th midfielder and the first to defend his goal defensive "redoubt" of the team. This effective tactic became very popular in Italian football, many of the country's leading clubs began to copy it, and the game of defense itself, from the coaching genius Foni, was considered the main one in Italian football, which he voiced in one phrase: “The main thing is not to miss.” At Inter, Foney worked for 3 seasons, in two of which the team took first place in the championship, and in the third he did not finish until the end of the season, having been dismissed after a series of unsuccessful matches.

After Inter, Foni led the Italian team on the technical commission, but the team had long been in a crisis due to the death of the Torino team in 1949, most of whose players were the players of the "base" team. The “crown” of the career of Foni in the Italian team was the defeat of Northern Ireland in qualifying for the World Cup , after which the entire technical commission was dismissed. Then Fony led Bologna and Roma .

In 1964, Fony led the Swiss national team , with whom he “made his way” to the World Cup in 1958, but there his team failed, losing all 3 matches in Germany , Spain and Argentina , and Fony was fired in May 1967 after the Swiss defeated in qualifying tournament for the European Championship . After that, Fony worked at Inter and Mantov and Udinese , during which young goalkeeper Dino Zoff made his debut in big football.

Alberto Foni died on Sunday, January 28, 1985, in Swiss Lugano , while watching the Italian Championship match.

As a player

• Champion of Italy : 1935
• Olympic champion: 1936
• Italian Cup Winner : 1938, 1942
• World Champion : 1938

As a trainer

• Champion of Italy : 1953, 1954

• Profile on enciclopediadelcalcio.com
• Profile on myjuve.it
• Article on bocajuniors.ru (inaccessible link)
• Article on blogspot.com
• Italy Matches