Antonio Permunian

Who is Antonio Permunian?

Antonio Permunian is a Swiss football goalkeeper who played for Switzerland in the 1962 FIFA World Cup.

Permunian played his youth fotball with his local team AC Bellinzona and started his active football career in their first team in 1948. In that year Bellinzona won the Swiss Football League Championship. He transferred to FC Luzern in 1960 and played there for six years. He returned to Bellinzona to end his active career.

He recalls the international game Switzerland against Hungary on 17 September 1955 in the Stade Olympique de la Pontaise with 45'000 spectators as the "match of his life". The Swiss team lost the game 4:5, but Permunian remembers Puskás, Kocsis and Hidegkuti running non-stop towards his goal. He played all games bare handed, but soon after this game he bought his first pair of goalie-gloves and was the first goalkeeper in Switzerland to play with gloves. Today Permunian still lives in Bellinzona.