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The Italian fascist regime sought to bring about a genuine anthropological revolution by implementing an ambitious sports policy. The aim was to build a strong, conquering new man. While the giant stature of boxer Primo Carnera embodied this project, the footballers of the Italian national team illustrated it above all through their virile style of play and their two world titles (1934 and 1938). Their bodies were also subject to great care, given their fragility at a time when antibiotics were not yet available and surgery was sometimes rudimentary. Footballers’ bodies were subjected to regulated training, strict personal hygiene, and the supervision of managers who wanted to keep them away from sinful temptation by sending them to the country or supervising rest periods. The body was also an economic asset in professional football. A well-managed career should have enabled the player to save up for a business while enjoying goods such as a car, or leisure activities such as beach vacations, which were still largely inaccessible to ordinary Italians. The footballer’s body in the fascist era is therefore ambivalent: it was a symbol of the victories to come, but also a means of social ascent and access to the forms of consumption that fascism also promised.