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Miguel Montuori, Fiorentina footballer

First black footballer to play for the Italian national team

colour photograph of a football team before a match, they were blue jerseys and white shorts.
by
Adrian Murphy (opens in new window) (Europeana Foundation)

Miguel Montuori was a footballer in the Italian Serie A league during the 1950s and early 1960s. He was the first black footballer to play for the Italian national football team.

Origins

Montuori was born in Rosario, a city in Argentina, in 1932. His father was from Naples, while his mother was of Afro-Argentinian heritage.

black and white photograph of three men walking through a door.

Club career

His professional football career began in Chile, where he played for Universidad Católica in Santiago with whom he won the 1954 Chilean championship. In 1955, he was scouted to join Italian team ACF Fiorentina in Florence.

colour flag in maroon and white with red, blue and yellow AC Fiorentina crest.

Montuori played with Fiorentina for 6 years, making 162 Serie A appearances. He was a forward or attacking midfielder, and scored 72 goals.

In his first season, Fiorentina won the Italian league title, and were the runner-up for years in a row. They reached the final of the Coppa Italia tournament four times between 1958 and 1961, winning the cup in 1961.

colour image of a football team before a match, they wear dark navy jerseys and white shorts.

He was also part of the team which won the 1960–61 European Cup Winners' Cup, and were the runners-up in the European Cup in 1956-57.

International career

Although born in Argentina, Montuori played for the Italy national team internationally. He made his debut against France in 1956; his final appearance was against Switzerland in 1960.

He was the first black footballer to play for Italy. In 1959, he was the first footballer who had not been born in Italy to captain the team.

colour photograph of a football team before a match, they were blue jerseys and white shorts.
black and white photograph of a standing group of men wearing dark overcoats.

Aged just 28, Montuori's playing career ended prematurely. In 1961, during a friendly match against Perugia, his face was struck by a ball which caused his retina to detach. With his vision blurred, he retired from professional football.

black and white photograph of Miguel Montuori, he wears a suit and his arms are folded.

After retiring, he worked as a coach in Italian and Chilean teams. Miguel Montuori passed away in 1998, aged 65.

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