Ezio Loik was an Italian football player, who played for Torino FC and died in the Superga air disaster

Superga air disaster

The Superga air disaster took place on Wednesday, 4 May 1949, when a plane carrying almost the entire Torino A.C. football squad, popularly known as Il Grande Torino, crashed into the hill of Superga near Turin killing all 31 aboard including 18 players, club officials, journalists accompanying the...

 together with the whole Grande Torino team.

Biography

Loik was born in Fiume (then part of Italy, current Rijeka

Rijeka

Rijeka is the principal seaport and the third largest city in Croatia . It is located on Kvarner Bay, an inlet of the Adriatic Sea and has a population of 128,735 inhabitants...

, Croatia). He played as a midfielder

Midfielder

A midfielder is an association football position. Some midfielders play a more defensive role, while others blur the boundaries between midfielders and forwards. The number of midfielders a team uses during a match may vary, depending on the team's formation and each individual player's role...

, debuting for U.S. Fiumana

U.S. Fiumana

Unione Sportiva Fiumana or U.S. Fiumana was an Italian football club based in the present-day Croatian city of Rijeka. The club was active between 1926 and 1945, at the time when the city was part of Kingdom of Italy and was commonly referred to by its Italian name Fiume...

 aged 17 in the 1936-1937 serie C

Serie C

The Lega Italiana Calcio Professionistico , commonly known as Lega Pro , is the governing body that runs the third and fourth highest football divisions in Italy, the Prima Divisione and Seconda Divisione respectively. It also includes the sole professional club of San Marino...

 tournament. After three seasons in Serie A

Serie A

Serie A , now called Serie A TIM due to sponsorship by Telecom Italia, is a professional league competition for football clubs located at the top of the Italian football league system and has been operating for over eighty years since 1929. It had been organized by Lega Calcio until 2010, but a new...

 with AC Milan, he moved to Venezia

F.B.C. Unione Venezia

Football Club Unione Venezia , commonly referred to as simply Venezia, is an Italian football club from Venice, Veneto....

, where he obtained a third place and a Coppa Italia

Coppa Italia

The Coppa Italia is an Italian football annual cup competition. Its first edition was held in 1922, but the second champions were not crowned until 1936. Roma and Juventus lead the way with nine wins. Roma has contested more finals, 16, while Torino and Juventus follow with 13...

 in 1941. He moved to Torino in 1942, where he formed a midfield duo with Valentino Mazzola

Valentino Mazzola

Valentino Mazzola was an Italian footballer and captain of the legendary Grande Torino side, killed in the Superga air disaster. He is considered one of the best football players of all time and perhaps the first modern all-around footballer, as he was an attacking midfielder who could score,...

, also coming from Venezia.

With Torino, Loik won five consecutive Serie A scudetti and one further Coppa Italia (1942–1943), until dying with most of the team in the Superga air disaster

Superga air disaster

The Superga air disaster took place on Wednesday, 4 May 1949, when a plane carrying almost the entire Torino A.C. football squad, popularly known as Il Grande Torino, crashed into the hill of Superga near Turin killing all 31 aboard including 18 players, club officials, journalists accompanying the...

 near Turin

Turin

Turin is a city and major business and cultural centre in northern Italy, capital of the Piedmont region, located mainly on the left bank of the Po River and surrounded by the Alpine arch. The population of the city proper is 909,193 while the population of the urban area is estimated by Eurostat...

, in May 1949. He was capped nine times for the Italian national team, scoring four goals.

External links

• Statistics at Enciclopedia del Calcio website