Mauro Bellugi

{{Infobox football biography

| name = Mauro Bellugi

| image = 1971-72 European Cup Final - AFC Ajax v Inter Milan - Mauro Bellugi (edited) - 2.jpg

| image_size =

| caption = Mauro Bellugi with Inter Milan in 1972

| fullname = Mauro Bellugi

| birth_date = {{birth date|1950|02|07|df=y}}

| birth_place = Buonconvento, Italy

| death_date = {{death date and age|2021|02|20|1950|02|07|df=y}}

| death_place = Milan, Italy

| height = 1.83 m

| position = Defender

| years1 = 1969–1974

| clubs1 = Inter Milan

| caps1 = 90

| goals1 = 1

| years2 = 1974–1979

| clubs2 = Bologna

| caps2 = 93

| goals2 = 0

| years3 = 1979–1980

| clubs3 = Napoli

| caps3 = 30

| goals3 = 0

| years4 = 1980–1981

| clubs4 = Pistoiese

| caps4 = 20

| goals4 = 0

| totalcaps = 233

| totalgoals = 1

| nationalyears1 = 1972–1980

| nationalteam1 = Italy

| nationalcaps1 = 32

| nationalgoals1 = 0

| manageryears1 =

| managerclubs1 =

}}

Mauro Bellugi ({{IPA|it|ˈmauro belˈluːdʒi}}; 7 February 1950 – 20 February 2021) was an Italian footballer who played as a defender.

Club career

Bellugi started his career with Inter Milan, making his debut for them on 31 August 1969 in a Coppa Italia match. In five seasons with Inter he played 90 Serie A matches, and 137 times in all senior competitions.{{cite web|title=Mauro Bellugi|url=http://archivio.inter.it/cgi-bin/giocatori-scheda?codice=G0052&L=en|work=Inter.it archive|publisher=FC Internazionale Milano Spa|accessdate=21 August 2011}}

Bellugi later also played for Bologna F.C. (1974–79), S.S.C. Napoli (1979–80) and A.C. Pistoiese (1980–81).

International career

Bellugi played 31 matches for the Italy national football team from 1972 to 1979.{{NFT player|id=17323|accessdate=}} He played five games in the 1978 FIFA World Cup,[https://web.archive.org/web/20090725063020/http://www.fifa.com/worldfootball/statisticsandrecords/players/player=46395/index.html FIFA stats] where Italy managed a fourth-place finish, and was also in the squad for the 1974 tournament.[http://www.planetworldcup.com/CUPS/1974/squad_ita74.html Italy 1974 WC Squad] His final game for Italy was against Switzerland in Udine on 17 November 1979.[https://www.rsssf.org/miscellaneous/bellugi-intl.html List of international appearances at RSSSF] He was an unused member of the Italian squad that managed a fourth-place finish at UEFA Euro 1980 on home soil.

Death

Bellugi died from complications of COVID-19 during the COVID-19 pandemic in Italy, thirteen days after his 71st birthday.[https://www.gazzetta.it/Calcio/Serie-A/20-02-2021/lutto-calcio-morto-bellugi-400846896604.shtml Il calcio piange Mauro Bellugi: se ne va a 71 anni l’ex difensore dell’Inter] {{in lang|it}}