Mario Frustalupi was an 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...

 footballer

Football (soccer)

Association football, more commonly known as football or soccer, is a sport played between two teams of eleven players with a spherical ball...

, in the role of mid-fielder.

Born in Orvieto

Orvieto

Orvieto is a city and comune in Province of Terni, southwestern Umbria, Italy situated on the flat summit of a large butte of volcanic tuff...

 (Umbria

Umbria

Umbria is a region of modern central Italy. It is one of the smallest Italian regions and the only peninsular region that is landlocked.Its capital is Perugia.Assisi and Norcia are historical towns associated with St. Francis of Assisi, and St...

), he debuted in Italian 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...

 in 1963 with Sampdoria, for which he played in 8 seasons. In 1970 he moved to FC Internazionale, then in need of a replace for Luis Suárez

Luis Suárez Miramontes

Luis Suárez Miramontes , also known by the diminutive Luisito, is a Spanish former footballer and manager. He played as a midfielder for Deportivo de La Coruña, CD España Industrial, CF Barcelona, Internazionale, Sampdoria and Spain. Suárez is regarded as one of Spain's greatest players; as a...

, but Frustalupi disappointed the premises. With the Milanese team he won a scudetto reached the final of European Cup

UEFA Champions League

The UEFA Champions League, known simply the Champions League and originally known as the European Champion Clubs' Cup or European Cup, is an annual international club football competition organised by the Union of European Football Associations since 1955 for the top football clubs in Europe. It...

, lost against Ajax.

The following years he was sold to SS Lazio. Although often quarrelling with leader star Giorgio Chinaglia

Giorgio Chinaglia

Giorgio Chinaglia is a former football striker from Italy. He grew up and played his early football in Cardiff, Wales and began his career with Swansea Town in 1964. A year later at age 19, Chinaglia returned to Italy to play for Massese, and then Internapoli, before joining S.S. Lazio in 1969...

, he contributed to make the team one of the strongest in Italy, as showed by the scudetto won in 1974. Also successful was his stint with A.C. Cesena

A.C. Cesena

Associazione Calcio Cesena is an Italian football club based in Cesena, Romagna. The club was formed in 1940 and won the first promotion to Serie A in 1973. Since then, the club have been in the Italian Premier League for a total of in 11 seasons, reaching the best achievement in 1976 with the 6th...

, which under him reached its best result ever (a 6th place 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...

 and the right to play in UEFA Cup

UEFA Cup

The UEFA Europa League is an annual association football cup competition organised by UEFA since 1971 for eligible European football clubs. It is the second most prestigious European club football contest after the UEFA Champions League...

).

In 1977 Frustalupi went to Pistoiese, being a protagonist of the first team's promotion to Serie A. He retired in 1981.

He died in a car accident in 1990.