The Superga tragedy: The entire football team died. A plane crash in 1949 shook Italy

The Italian team Grande Torino celebrated one victory after another. In 1949, he was nearly unbeatable, aspiring to a fifth consecutive season title. It was from his ranks that a substantial part of the players of the Italian national team were recruited.

But all hopes and dreams, along with the lives of football players, were ended by an unexpected misfortune, the exact cause of which we still do not know.

Storm over Turin

The entire team, including the legendary captain, thirty-year-old Valentino Mazzola, coaches, managers and sports journalists, flew home from Lisbon on May 4, 1949, where they played a friendly match. Everything went smoothly until the layover in Barcelona. And even after the three-engined Fiat G.212 took off again at 2:50 p.m., it didn’t look like there was going to be any trouble.

But the clouds were already gathering over Turin at that time. Literally – because of the cloud cover, you couldn’t see more than 40 meters away, there was a strong, gusty wind, and heavy rain showers were lashing the landscape. The pilots tried to direct the plane to the Aeritalia runway. In reality, however, they found themselves a little further north, right in front of the Superga hill, on which stands the basilica of the same name.

Half a million people came to bury their heroes

Apparently, the impact came completely unexpectedly. An investigation showed that the pilots did not even attempt to change course. At a speed of 180 kilometers per hour, the plane flew directly into the massive, stone back wall of the basilica, against which it shattered.

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Why the plane veered off course has never been determined. According to experts, the problem could be a strong side wind, extremely poor visibility, or even a defect in the altimeter. In any case, no one survived the accident, and even the subsequent thorough investigation did not reveal the cause of the accident.

In addition to the four crew members, a total of 18 footballers, three managers, three coaches, and three sports journalists were among the dead. It was a huge blow for Italian football, which is also demonstrated by the fact that only one man came to identify the dead, the former coach of the Italian national team, Vittorio Pozzo, because he knew the entire team. During the mass funeral, which took place two days after the accident, more than half a million people took to the streets.

Invincible, immortal

Almost no one was left alive from the legendary football team, there was no way to restore it. And of course everyone wondered what would happen to the Italian title that Grande Torino was aiming for, and which was almost within reach at the time of the crash.

But his opponents immediately answered this question. They relinquished the title to the team because “only fate could defeat them”. For the following season, all the country’s leading football clubs provided one of their players and a new Turin team was created. He eventually won the title as well, but only once, a full 6 years after the tragedy.

Source: Football Break, Torino FC, BBC, Simple Flying

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