 Borel II with Juventus in the 1930s | |||
| Personal information | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Full name | Felice Placido Borel II | ||
| Date of birth | 5 April 1914 | ||
| Place of birth | Nice, France | ||
| Date of death | 21 February 1993 (aged 78) | ||
| Place of death | Turin, Italy | ||
| Height | 1.75 m (5 ft 9 in) | ||
| Position(s) | Forward | ||
| Senior career* | |||
| Years | Team | Apps | (Gls) |
| 1932–1941 | Juventus | 205 | (119) |
| 1941–1942 | Torino | 25 | (7) |
| 1942–1946 | Juventus | 75 | (24) |
| 1946–1947 | US Alessandria | 1 | (0) |
| 1948–1949 | Napoli | 1 | (0) |
| Total | 307 | (150) | |
| International career | |||
| 1933–1934 | Italy | 3 | (1) |
| Managerial career | |||
| 1942–1946 | Juventus | ||
| 1946–1947 | Alessandria | ||
| 1948–1949 | Napoli | ||
| 1954 | Cenisia (technical director) | ||
| 1954–1956 | Fossanese | ||
| 1958–1959 | Catania (technical director) | ||
| 1966–1967 | Ternana | ||
| *Club domestic league appearances and goals | |||
Felice Placido Borel (Italian pronunciation: [feˈliːtʃe boˈrɛl]; 5 April 1914 – 21 February 1993) was an Italian football player who played as a striker. He was a member of the Italy national football team that won the 1934 FIFA World Cup.
Borel was born in Nice, France. During his career, he played for Juventus and cross-city rivals Torino in Serie A and, in Serie B, for Alessandria, and finally for S.S.C. Napoli, where he finished his career.[1][2][3]
He scored 158 goals for Juventus, winning three Serie A titles (1933, 1934, and 1935) and a Coppa Italia (1938) during his time with the club, as well as the Serie A top-scorer award on two occasions (1933 and 1934); he is currently Juventus's sixth highest goal scorer. During his second spell with the club in the 1940s, he held the position of player-manager.[1][2][3]
He still holds the record for most goals, in winning the Capocannoniere/Top scorer title, in Serie A while playing for Juventus with 31 goals. Allthough Ferenc Hirzer still holds the record for most goals in winning the Capocannoniere/Top scorer title, in the Best Italian League while playing for Juventus with 35 goals (in only 24 matches) but then it was called Prima Divisione.
Borel made three appearances for the Italy national team between 1933 and 1934, scoring his only international goal on his debut against Hungary on 22 November, in Budapest, during the gold winning 1933-35 Central European International Cup campaign. He was part of the 1934 FIFA World Cup winning national team, appearing once throughout the tournament, during the quarter-final victory over Spain on 1 June.[2][4]
Nicknamed farfallino ("little butterfly," in Italian), Borel usually played as a centre-forward, and is regarded as one of Italy's and Juventus's greatest forwards of all time. He was known for his speed, movement, shooting, goalscoring, dribbling, team-play, and technical ability. In his later career he usually played as an inside forward or mezzala, or even as an offensive–minded central midfielder. Despite his ability, however, he was also injury prone.[2][3][5]
During the 1958–59 season, he was technical director of Catania.[1]
Felice's older brother Aldo Borel played football professionally, spending 10 seasons in the Serie A, and their father Ernesto Borel played for OGC Nice, AS Cannes and Juventus in the 1900s and 1910s, and later also served as a manager. To distinguish the brothers, Aldo was known as Borel I and Felice - as Borel II.[3]
