Leonízio Fantoni was born in Belo Horizonte on February 12, 1912.
In Brazil he was known as Niginho while in Italy he became Leonisio Fantoni III.
He started his career with Palestra Itália, now known as Cruzeiro. He played with "A Raposa" (The Fox) from 1927 to 1932. In this period, he won 3 Mineiro league titles.
In 1932 he moved to Europe and joined Lazio. He stayed three seasons in the capital.
In 1932-33 the manager was Austrian Karl Stürmer and the Biancocelesti finished 10th. Lazio had nine Brazilians in the squad, including Leonízio's brother Joāo Fantoni I and cousin Octavio Fantoni II. Leonízio played 2 league games.
In 1933-34 the manager was still Stürmer and Lazio again finished 10th. Leonízio played more regularly, making 21 league appearances with 9 goals (Torino, Genova 1893, Alessandria, Juventus x2, Milan x3, Casale). His finest moments were obviously getting a brace in a 2-2 away draw to Juventus and his hat-trick in a 4-0 home demolition of Milan.
The 1934-35 season would be his last. The manager was now Czech Walter Alt and Lazio finished 5th with the help of new star Silvio Piola. Leonízio only played 2 league games with 1 goal (Juventus). He left Lazio mainly because he was worried he could be called up by the Italian army for the imminent war in Abyssinia (Fantoni was "Oriundo" so also classified as Italian).
In 1935 he returned to Brazil and Palestra Itália. He stayed with the Foxes two seasons (with 1 Paulista league title), then spent one at Vasco da Gama, another three at Palestra Itália (with 1 Mineiro league title) and then four with Palestra when they changed name to Cruzeiro (with another 3 Mineiro league titles).
He won 5 caps for Brazil with 2 goals. He won bronze at the 1938 World Cup in France and silver at the 1937 South-American Championship in Argentina. In the 1938 World Cup semi-final against Italy he was supposed to play due to an injury to top scorer Leônidas but Benito Mussolini protested claiming a "traitor" could not play against Italy and FIFA forced Brazil not to play him. Another twist in the story came when Fantoni accused Leonidas of feigning injury behind payment by the Italian Football Federation. Fantoni never managed to prove it and Italy won 2-1 before going on to become World Champions.
After retiring he became a manager in Brazil. He coached Cruzeiro in 1948-49, Santos 1950-51 and then Cruzeiro for three more spells; 1953-55, 1959-61 and 1962-63.
Leonízio Fantoni III was a forward. He was nicknamed "Menino Metralha" (Machine Gun) and "Tanque" (Tank) for his goal scoring skills. He made up the group of Brazilian players which led the Biancocelesti to be called Brasilazio in that period. He played 25 league games for Lazio with a memorable brace and hat-trick against Juventus and Milan.
He died in Belo Horizonte on September 5, 1975.
Lazio Career
Season | Serie A Appearances | Serie A Goals |
1932-33 | 3 | - |
1933-34 | 21 | 8 |
1934-35 | 2 | 1 |
Total | 26 | 9 |
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