Luigi Di Franco is a retired Italian

Italy

Italy , officially the Italian Republic languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Italy's official name is as follows:;;;;;;;;), is a unitary parliamentary republic in South-Central Europe. To the north it borders France, Switzerland, Austria and...

 football player.

Playing as a winger, Di Franco played in the Yugoslav Championship

Yugoslav First League

The Yugoslav First League was the premier football league in the Kingdom of Yugoslavia and socialist Yugoslavia...

 with SK Jedinstvo Belgrade

SK Jedinstvo Beograd

SK Jedinstvo Beograd was a Serbian football club based in Belgrade, Kingdom of Yugoslavia.It was formed in 1924 and it became one of the most important minor clubs in Belgrade, after the bigger BSK, SK Jugoslavija and BASK.It competed in the Yugoslav First League in the seasons 1937–38, finishing...

 until 1941. In 1941 he moved to a more popular Belgrade

Belgrade

Belgrade is the capital and largest city of Serbia. It is located at the confluence of the Sava and Danube rivers, where the Pannonian Plain meets the Balkans. According to official results of Census 2011, the city has a population of 1,639,121. It is one of the 15 largest cities in Europe...

 club SK Jugoslavija

SK Jugoslavija

Sportski klub Jugoslavija, commonly known as SK Jugoslavija was a Serbian football club from Belgrade. It was originally formed as SK Velika Srbija in 1913 and changed its name to SK Jugoslavija in 1919.-History:...

. With the beginning of the Second World War, the national league was divided, and Di Franco (spelled as Di Franko in Serbian press) finished second with Jugoslavija in the 1940–41 season.

With the Axis invasion of Yugoslavia

Invasion of Yugoslavia

The Invasion of Yugoslavia , also known as the April War , was the Axis Powers' attack on the Kingdom of Yugoslavia which began on 6 April 1941 during World War II...

 Di Franco returned to Italy signing with 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...

 side Venezia

F.B.C. Unione Venezia

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

. They finished the 1942–43 season at 13th place.

At the end of the war, in 1945, Di Franco signed with Mestrina which was playing in the Serie B

Serie B

Serie B, currently named Serie bwin due to sponsorship reasons, is the second-highest division in the Italian football league system after the Serie A. It is contested by 22 teams and organized by the Lega Serie B since July 2010, after the split of Lega Calcio that previously took care of both the...

. However at the end of the 1946–47 season they were relegated to 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...

. Luigi Di Franco stayed with Mestrina until 1949.

External sources

• Luigi Di Franco at enciclopediadelcalcio.it