[1] In 2010, Carlo Felice Chiesa wrote: "If it were possible to rank all-time great "registas" of world football, Adolfo Baloncieri, an athlete from a period so remote from our own, would end up among the first, if not first.

During childhood he lived with his family in Rosario, Argentina for 12 years where he entered the world of football at age nine.

His brother Carlo drowned in Finale Ligure in August 1933, while his son also died at a young age.

[4][5] After spending much of his childhood in Argentina, Baloncieri returned to Italy in 1913 and joined Alessandria; for which he debuted in 1914 at the age of 17 before World War I suspended league fixtures.

At International level, Baloncieri was the captain of the Italy national team that won the bronze medal at the 1928 Olympic Games,[6] and the winner of the 1930 Coppa Internazionale, alongside Giuseppe Meazza.