Pietro Rava

Who was Pietro Rava?

Pietro Rava was an Italian football defender and coach. He won the 1936 Summer Olympics and the 1938 FIFA World Cup with the Italian national team.

Rava, born in Cassine, Province of Alessandria, played for the clubs U.S. Alessandria, Juventus F.C. and Novara Calcio. He won two Italian Cups in the 1937/38 and 1941/42 seasons, and two scudettos 1934/35 & 1949/50. He was Juventus' captain from 1947 to 1950. In total, he played in 352 Serie A matches, scoring 15 goals.

For the Italian national team, he appeared in 30 international matches from 1936 to 1946, losing only one game, becoming the captain in 1940. He won the gold medal at the 1936 Summer Olympics, and won the 1938 FIFA World Cup. He was selected to the "Best XI" of the 1938 World Cup. Along with Alfredo Foni, Sergio Bertoni, and Ugo Locatelli, Rava is one of only four Italian players ever to win both the Olympic tournament and the World Cup.

As a coach, he managed the clubs Sampdoria, Palermo, Padova, Monza, Alessandria, Novara, Carrarese, and A.C. Cuneo.

On 5 November 2006, Rava, the last surviving member of the 1938 World Cup champion squad, died in Turin after having had surgery on his right femur due to a fracture days before. He had been suffering from Alzheimer's disease for several years. Juventus announced that the following day, for a Serie B match against Napoli, the players would wear mourning armbands in his memory.