Role Football player Years Team Height 1.73 m | 1928–1933 Estudiantes Name Alejandro Scopelli | |
 | ||
Full name Alejandro Scopelli Casanova Date of birth (1908-05-12)12 May 1908 Date of death 23 October 1987(1987-10-23) (aged 79) Died October 23, 1987, Mexico City, Mexico Similar People Phil Neville, Ernesto Valverde, Nuno Espirito Santo, Shkodran Mustafi, Miguel Alfonso Herrero | ||
Place of birth La Plata, Argentina | ||
Alejandro Scopelli Casanova (12 May 1908 – 23 October 1987) was an Italian Argentine football player and coach. He played for Argentina between 1929 and 1941, and competed at the inaugural 1930 FIFA World Cup. He also represented the Italian national team on one occasion.
Contents
Playing career
Born in La Plata, Scopelli started his career in Argentina with Estudiantes de La Plata where he became part of the legendary side nicknamed "Los Profesores". In 1931 he scored 31 goals for the team but was beaten to the golden boot by team mate Alberto Zozaya's 33.
In 1933 Scopelli moved to Italy where he played for Roma. During this time he took the Italian cityzenship (as oriundo) and played for their national team. In 1936 Scopelli returned to Argentina to play for Racing Club de Avellaneda. In his later career he played for Red Star Paris in France, around the start of the Second World War he moved to neutral territory to play for Belenenses and then Benfica in Portugal. In 1942 Scopelli returned to South America to play for Universidad de Chile.
Managerial career
After retirement he became a manager, coaching many club teams including Club América in Mexico, and Valencia CF Español and Deportivo de La Coruña in Spain, Belenenses Sporting CP and FC Porto in Portugal and Universidad de Chile.
Scopelli was the Sporting CP manager in the inaugural game of European Cup on 4 September 1955 against FK Partizan Belgrade.
Scopelli also coached at international level, with Chile, Portugal and Mexico.
He died at Mexico City in 1987.
International goals
Argentina's goal tally first