The footballer Pietro Rava, who has died aged 90, was the last survivor of the Italy team that won the 1938 World Cup. In the final, where Hungary were beaten 4-2 in Paris, Rava, playing in the centre of the defence, had an outstanding game. Two years earlier, he had been in the team of so-called students that won the Olympic title in Berlin, though at that time he had played only seven Campionato (championship) games for Juventus.
The Turin club was his only one in a long career, bar one season, 1946-47, when he went to Alessandria, with whom he gained just one of his 30 international caps. He had been born near Alessandria, at Cassine.
A left back, he had a famous partnership both for Juventus and Italy with Alfredo Foni. Solidly built and a firm tackler, he made his Juventus debut, alongside Foni, in Florence against Fiorentina in a 1-1 draw on November 1 1935, but was no more than a reserve that season, and it was quite bold of the Italian supremo, Vittorio Pozzo, to choose him for the Olympics. The following season, he replaced veteran full back Virginio Rosetta, 52 times an international, eventually making 289 appearances for Juve; though in that period, the club could never regain a championship they had once dominated.
When Italy began the Olympics with a match against the United States, every player was making his international debut, and it showed. The match was taken much too lightly, with memories, perhaps, of the 7-1 victory against the US as a curtain raiser, in Rome, to the 1934 World Cup. Pozzo's tactical instructions were largely ignored and Italy scraped through only 1-0. Pozzo took the team to task. They buckled down to beat Japan 8-0, Norway 2-1 and Austria 2-1 in the final. Full caps were somewhat surprisingly awarded to all the players, of whom Foni, Rava and Locatelli would play in the 1938 World Cup final.
Described in a history of his club as "a somewhat fiery lad", Rava began the 1938-39 season disastrously. Sent off against a Lucchese team which beat Juve 1-0, he was suspended for three matches. He would play just 12 league games that season and, angered by his exclusion, when he did return against Modena, it was to play with such studied insouciance that he gave away both goals in a 2-0 defeat. But the following season saw him miss only two of the 30 Campionato games.
The post-season tour took the Azzurri to Belgrade, where Yugoslavia had recently beaten England. Italy had the temerity to win, and were subjected to terrifying hostility. Rava was struck by a missile outside the stadium, and the team's coach took a circuitous route to the airport to avoid trouble. Even then they were ambushed and bombarded, with several players cut by flying glass.
Apart from his sojourn in Alessandria, Rava continued to play for Juventus regularly, latterly as an orthodox third back, and as late as the 1948-49 season played in all 38 championship matches. In the following season, Juventus won the championship again, but it would be Rava's last there, for he played only half a dozen times. He had been captain since his return in 1947.
After retiring, he became manager of a number of clubs, including Simmenthal-Monza, Sampdoria and Palermo. He died after an operation on his right thigh, and had suffered from Alzheimer's disease for some years. He is survived by a wife, daughter and grandson.
· Pietro Rava, footballer, born January 21 1916; died November 5 2006