27.2.13

Capocannonieri

The Capocannoniere is the top scorer in Italy's Serie A. As we have seen, before the introduction of the single national league in the 1929-30 season, the national Championships were a complicated affair. However, records relating to the highest scorer are reliable from the 1923-24 season onwards. 
1923-24:
 Heinrich Schönfeld (Austria)- Torino- 22 goals in 20 games scored 51.1 % of his team's goals).
Schönfeld made his debut in professional football at the age of 16 playing as a goalkeeper. After spending 3 seasons in Italy (2 at Torino and 1 at Inter Milan)  Schönfeld returned to Austria to play for Hakoah Vienna. He later spent 3 years in the USA ( Brooklyn WanderersBrooklyn Hakoah and New York Hakoah) before returning to Italy.

1924-24:
Mario Magnozzi - Livorno - 19 goals in 24 appearances. (Livorno finished mid-table in Northern Group B, scoring 45 goals. Magnozzi contributed 42.2% of his team's total goals).
Magnozzi was capped 29 times by Italy and appeared in the 1924 and 1928 Olympics (winning a bronze medal in the latter).

1925–26: 
Ferenc Hirzer (Ferenc Híres- Hungary)- Juventus - 35 goals in 26 games (41.6 %).
Hirzer was capped 32 times by Hungary in a 10 year international career, including 2 appearances at the 1924  Olympics . He played top level football in Hungary, Germany and Italy  He had two productive years at Juventus, scoring 50 goals in 43 games. He was Capocannoniere in his first season with Juventus, in which they were National Champions.


1926-27:

Antonio Powolny (Anton Powolny -Austria Internazionale- 22 goals in 27 games (35.4 %).
1926-1927  was Austrian born Powolny's only season at Internazionale. Inter finished in 5th place in the final group of 6. Powolny moved on to continue his career in Hungary.

1927-28:
Julio Libonatti (Argentina/Italy) Torino35 goals in 32 games (31.5%).
 Libonatti joined Torino in 1926, the first transatlantic move into Italian football.
 Torino  were National Champions in 1927-28.

Libonatti & Rosetti
1928-1929:
Gino Rosetti -Torino36 goals in 30 games (31.3%).
Rosetti had a 20 year club career. In 2 spells at Torino he made 238 appearances and scored 145 goals. He was capped 13 times by Italy and appeared in the 1928 Olympics, winning a bronze medal. Torino lost to Bologna in the 1928-29 National Finals.



1929-1930:

Giuseppi Meazza -Ambrosiana- 31 goals in 33 games (36.4%)
Ambrosiana were scudetto winners.
Meazza spent 13 years at Internazionale/ Ambrosiana. AC Milan rejected him because he was too small and Inter misguidedly played him as a defender in the reserves. They soon rectified this error and Meazza rewarded them with a return of  242 goals in 365 games, beginning with 2 goals on his first team debut. He was Capocannoniere on 3 occasions and scored 33 international goals in his 53 appearances, winning 2 World Cups.

1930-31:
 
Rodolfo Volk (Rodolfo Folchi- Austria-Hungary/ Croatia) - AS Roma 29 goals in 33 games (33.3%).
AS Roma were a creation of the Italian Fascist government. Rodolfo Volk was from Rijeka (Fiume) which is now in Croatia but was part of Austria -Hungary at the time of his birth. 
Roma finished the season as runners-up in Serie A.

1931-32:

Pedro Petrone (Uruguay)-Fiorentina 25 goals in 27 games (46.2%).


Angelo Schiavio - Bologna 25 goals in 30 games (29.4%).
Their respective percentages are telling. Second placed Bologna scored 85 goals whilst Fiorentina, in 4th, managed 54. 

1932-33:
Felice Borel - Juventus-29 goals in 28 games (34.9%).

1933-34:
Felice Borel - Juventus-31 goals in 34 games (35.2%).

In both of the seasons in which Borel was Capocannoniere Juve were scudetto winners. A big scoring side they notched up 80+ goals in both seasons. He celebrated his 20th birthday towards the end of the second season. 

1934-35:
Enrique Guaita  (Enrico Guaita- Argentina/Italy)- Roma-28 goals in 29 games (44.4%)
Guaita arrived in Italy in 1933.
The free scoring Roma ended the season in 4th spot.

1935-36:
Giuseppi Meazza -Ambrosiana- 25 goals in 29 games (40.9%).
Ambrosiana finished 4th despite scoring 22 goals more than champions Bologna.

1936-37:
Silvio Piola-  Lazio-21 goals  in 28 games (37.5%)
Piola was the most prolific goalscorer in the history of Serie A. He started out at Pro Vercelli and moved to Lazio in 1934. He played 619 games in the Italian league, scoring 333 goals. He won 34 international caps, scoring 34 goals, including 2 in the 1938 World Cup final.
In the 1936-37 season Lazio finished second in Serie A.