Vittorio Santini was born on October 29, 1936 in Lucca, Italy. He started his career with local club Società Sportiva Dilettantistica Lucchese.

Vittorio joined Montreal Cantalia in 1956. The club played in the Quebec version of the National Soccer League. He stayed with Cantalia until he left Canada in November 1958 to join the famous River Plate club in Argentina. He only played in some friendly games before he left for Italy in March 1959. In Italy he joined Serie A club Lazio. However, a feud broke out between Cantalia and Lazio as his former Canadian club demanded a transfer fee of $25,000 for his playing rights.

Vittorio returned to Montreal in the beginning of June 1959. On June 28 Vittorio scored five goals when Cantalia defeated Hamilton Italo-Canadians 6-1 at Faillon Stadium. Cantalia won the 1959 National Soccer League championship and the playoff championship. Vittorio scored 15 league goals during the 1959 season.

In the 1959/60 and 1960/61 seasons he played in the Italian Serie D with Libertas Correggio. During the winter of 1961-62 he played for New York Inter in the American Soccer League. He returned to Montreal in the summer of 1962 to play for Montreal Ukraina in the Quebec National Soccer League. He helped the club to a second place finish in the league standings.

During the 1962-63 season he played with Hartford Italian-Americans in the Connecticut National Soccer League. In the 1964-65 season he played with Newark Ukrainan Sitch in the Eastern Soccer Conference. In the 1965-66 season he played with Newark Ukrainian Sitch in the American Soccer League.

Vittorio was a youth coach in New Jersey in the 1970’s and 1980’s.

If you have more information about Vittorio’s great soccer career please contact me at thecnsl@outlook.com