Bruno Gerzelli

Bruno Gerzeli (3 October 1925 – 8 November 1982) was an Italian professional footballer who played as a forward.

Career Born in Monfalcone, Gerzeli, a winger, inside forward and centre-forward, started his career in the Serie C side C.R.D.A. Monfalcone, which was the team of his hometown Monfalcone. After World War II, Gerzeli played the 1945-46 Serie C season for Monfalconese (which was the new name of C.R.D.A. Monfalcone); he was then signed by Venezia, a team which was competing in the Serie A. Gerzeli only played one match during the 1946–47 Serie A season, on 6 July 1947, against Triestina. After this one-match experience, he left Venezia and moved to Marzotto Valdagno, coming back to Serie C. He played the Serie B championship in 1948–1949 with Salernitana. In 1952, he decided to leave Italy for Colombia, a nation in which professional football was well-paid because of the so-called El Dorado period. He played for Deportivo Samarios in Colombia along with two other Italian footballers, Corrado Contin and Alessandro Adam. He collected 20 appearances with Samarios, scoring five goals (the first of which was scored against Atlético Nacional on 1 June 1952). In the summer of 1954 he played in the National Soccer League (NSL) with Toronto Hungarians. In 1956, he continued playing in the NSL with Toronto Sparta, and was suspended by the league until 1960 after an incident with a referee in late 1958. In 1963, he served as a player-coach for K.F.C. Estonia in the National Soccer League.

Personal life After he retired from playing, Gerzeli emigrated to Canada in 1954. He married and moved to the United States where he coached the Brigham Young University soccer program. He was originally baptized as a Roman Catholic, but later converted to Mormonism.