Alessandro Altobelli (; born 28 November 1955) is a former professional Italian

footballer A football player or footballer is a sportsperson who plays one of the different types of football. The main types of football are association football, American football, Canadian football, Australian rules football, Gaelic football, rugb ...

who played as a forward, and who won the 1982 World Cup with

Italy Italy ( it, Italia ), officially the Italian Republic, ) or the Republic of Italy, is a country in Southern Europe. It is located in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea, and its territory largely coincides with the homonymous geographical ...

. Nicknamed ''Spillo'' ("Needle") for his slender build, Altobelli was a prolific goalscorer, and he became one of the greatest and most effective Italian strikers of the late 1970s and 1980s. Altobelli is currently the all-time top scorer in the

Coppa Italia The ("Italy Cup") is an annual knockout cup competition in Italian football organized by the FIGC until the 2009–10 season and the Lega Serie A ever since. History The beginning of the tournament was turbulent, due to the complexity of ...

, with 56 goals in 93 appearances, and the ninth-highest scoring Italian player in all competitions, with almost 300 career goals.

Club career

Altobelli was born in Sonnino, Latina. Following spells at Latina (Serie C) and

Brescia Brescia (, locally ; lmo, link=no, label= Lombard, Brèsa ; lat, Brixia; vec, Bressa) is a city and '' comune'' in the region of Lombardy, Northern Italy. It is situated at the foot of the Alps, a few kilometers from the lakes Garda and Iseo ...

(Serie B), he was signed by

Serie A The Serie A (), also called Serie A TIM for national sponsorship with TIM, is a professional league competition for football clubs located at the top of the Italian football league system and the winner is awarded the Scudetto and the Cop ...

club Internazionale in 1977, for whom he played 466 times, scoring 209 goals (128 in

). He contributed heavily to his team's

scudetto The ''scudetto'' ( Italian for: "little shield") is a decoration having the colors of the flag of Italy which is sewn onto the jersey of the Italian sports clubs that won the highest level championship of their respective sport in the previous sea ...

victory of

1980 Events January * January 4 – U.S. President Jimmy Carter proclaims a grain embargo against the USSR with the support of the European Commission. * January 6 – Global Positioning System time epoch begins at 00:00 UTC. * January 9 – In ...

(scoring 15 goals), and also helped Inter to win two

titles in 1978 and 1982, finishing as the tournament's top scorer in the 1982 edition, with nine goals. Altobelli was also the top scorer in the

1978–79 European Cup Winners' Cup The 1978–79 season of the European Cup Winners' Cup was won by FC Barcelona in the final in Basel against Fortuna Düsseldorf. It was the first of four occasions that the Spanish club won the tournament. No club from Finland, Albania and Turkey ...

, with seven goals, leading Inter to the quarter-finals of the tournament. After his lengthy period with Inter, he played one season with

Juventus Juventus Football Club (from la, iuventūs, 'youth'; ), colloquially known as Juve (), is a professional football club based in Turin, Piedmont, Italy, that competes in the Serie A, the top tier of the Italian football league system. Founded in ...

during the 1987–88 season, before ending his career with Brescia in Serie B once again, during the 1989–90 season.

International career

For

, Altobelli was capped 61 times between 1980 and 1988, scoring 25 goals, and he is currently Italy's sixth highest goalscorer. His most notable international goal was Italy's third goal in the

1982 FIFA World Cup The 1982 FIFA World Cup was the 12th FIFA World Cup, a quadrennial football tournament for men's senior national teams, and was played in Spain between 13 June and 11 July 1982. The tournament was won by Italy, who defeated West Germany 3–1 ...

final, which Italy won 3–1 over

West Germany West Germany is the colloquial term used to indicate the Federal Republic of Germany (FRG; german: Bundesrepublik Deutschland , BRD) between its formation on 23 May 1949 and the German reunification through the accession of East Germany on 3 ...

. After coming on in the seventh minute of play for the injured Francesco Graziani, he became the second ever substitute to score in a

FIFA World Cup The FIFA World Cup, often simply called the World Cup, is an international association football competition contested by the senior men's national teams of the members of the ' ( FIFA), the sport's global governing body. The tournament has ...

final (after

Dick Nanninga Dirk Jacobus Willem "Dick" Nanninga (17 January 1949 – 21 July 2015) was a Dutch footballer who played as a forward. At club level, he played for Dutch sides BV Veendam, Roda JC and MVV Maastricht. He also had a short spell with Hong Kong ...

in 1978 and with Rudi Völler and Mario Götze repeating this, in

1986 The year 1986 was designated as the International Year of Peace by the United Nations. Events January * January 1 ** Aruba gains increased autonomy from the Netherlands by separating from the Netherlands Antilles. **Spain and Portugal en ...

and in

2014 File:2014 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: Stocking up supplies and personal protective equipment (PPE) for the Western African Ebola virus epidemic; Citizens examining the ruins after the Chibok schoolgirls kidnapping; Bundles of wa ...

, respectively). Altobelli also played at Euro 80, with Italy finishing in fourth place on home soil, as well as representing Italy at the

1986 FIFA World Cup The 1986 FIFA World Cup was the 13th FIFA World Cup, a quadrennial football tournament for men's senior national teams. It was played in Mexico from 31 May to 29 June 1986. The tournament was the second to feature a 24-team format. Colombia ha ...

, scoring four goals, which were, however, not enough to prevent the defending champions from crashing out of the tournament in the round of 16. He also represented Italy at

Euro 88 The 1988 UEFA European Football Championship final tournament was held in West Germany from 10 to 25 June 1988. It was the eighth UEFA European Championship, which is held every four years and supported by UEFA. The tournament crowned the Neth ...

, where he played as the team's

captain Captain is a title, an appellative for the commanding officer of a military unit; the supreme leader of a navy ship, merchant ship, aeroplane, spacecraft, or other vessel; or the commander of a port, fire or police department, election precinct, e ...

, leading the Italian squad to the semi-finals once again. He made four substitute appearances scoring just after coming on in a 2–0 win over

Denmark ) , song = ( en, "King Christian stood by the lofty mast") , song_type = National and royal anthem , image_map = EU-Denmark.svg , map_caption = , subdivision_type = Sovereign state , subdivision_name = Kingdom of Denmark , establish ...

in the group stages.

Style of play

Altobelli was a highly prolific goalscorer, who was regarded as a complete, world class striker. A well rounded

centre-forward Forwards (also known as attackers) are outfield positions in an association football team who play the furthest up the pitch and are therefore most responsible for scoring goals as well as assisting them. As with any attacking player, the role ...

, with an eye for goal, he excelled in the air due to his heading accuracy, power, elevation, agility and acrobatic ability; he was also a fast, hard-working, and opportunistic player, with excellent technique, and he possessed an accurate shot with either foot, in spite of being naturally left-footed. Despite his slender build, he had excellent balance and deceptive strength. Moreover, he was capable of protecting the ball with his back to goal, and holding it up for his teammates.

After retirement

After retirement, he played for

Italy national beach soccer team The Italy national beach soccer team represents Italy in international beach soccer competitions and is controlled by the Federazione Italiana Giuoco Calcio The Italian Football Federation ( it, Federazione Italiana Giuoco Calcio; FIGC), kn ...

, being the top scorer at the

1995 File:1995 Events Collage V2.png, From left, clockwise: O.J. Simpson is acquitted of the murders of Nicole Brown Simpson and Ronald Goldman from the year prior in "The Trial of the Century" in the United States; The Great Hanshin earthquake str ...

and 1996 Beach Soccer World Championships. In the 1990s, he entered politics. He also worked as a sporting director for

Padova Padua ( ; it, Padova ; vec, Pàdova) is a city and ''comune'' in Veneto, northern Italy. Padua is on the river Bacchiglione, west of Venice. It is the capital of the province of Padua. It is also the economic and communications hub of the ...

and as a football scout for Inter. In the 2000s, he served as a pundit for

Al Jazeera Al Jazeera ( ar, الجزيرة, translit-std=DIN, translit=al-jazīrah, , "The Island") is a state-owned Arabic-language international radio and TV broadcaster of Qatar. It is based in Doha and operated by the media conglomerate Al Jazee ...

. Since September 2020, he serves as pundit for

RAI RAI – Radiotelevisione italiana (; commercially styled as Rai since 2000; known until 1954 as Radio Audizioni Italiane) is the national public broadcasting company of Italy, owned by the Ministry of Economy and Finance. RAI operates many ter ...

TV show ''A tutto campo''. He also featured as a pundit in '' 90º minuto.''

Career statistics

Club

International

:''Scores and results list Italy's goal tally first, score column indicates score after each Altobelli goal.''

Honours

Inter Milan *

: 1979–80 *

: 1977–78, 1981–82 Italy *

1982 Events January * January 1 – In Malaysia and Singapore, clocks are adjusted to the same time zone, UTC+8 (GMT+8.00). * January 13 – Air Florida Flight 90 crashes shortly after takeoff into the 14th Street Bridge in Washington, D.C ...

Individual *

European Cup Winners' Cup The UEFA Cup Winners' Cup was a European football club competition contested annually by the winners of domestic cup competitions. The cup was, chronologically, the second seasonal inter-European club competition organised by UEFA. The tournam ...

top goalscorer: 1978–79 *

top goal scorer: 1981–82 *

FIFA Beach Soccer World Cup The FIFA Beach Soccer World Cup is an international beach soccer competition contested by the national teams of the member associations of FIFA, the sport's global governing body. The tournament was preceded by the ''Beach Soccer World Champions ...

top goalscorer:

1996 File:1996 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: A bomb explodes at Centennial Olympic Park in Atlanta, set off by a radical anti-abortionist; The center fuel tank explodes on TWA Flight 800, causing the plane to crash and killing everyone o ...

References

External links

Official website

Alessandro Altobelli
at

Treccani The ''Enciclopedia Italiana di Scienze, Lettere e Arti'' ( Italian for "Italian Encyclopedia of Science, Letters, and Arts"), best known as ''Treccani'' for its developer Giovanni Treccani or ''Enciclopedia Italiana'', is an Italian-language ...

{{DEFAULTSORT:Altobelli, Alessandro Italian footballers Italy international footballers Italy under-21 international footballers Association football forwards Serie A players Serie B players Serie C players Brescia Calcio players Inter Milan players Juventus F.C. players FIFA World Cup-winning players 1982 FIFA World Cup players 1986 FIFA World Cup players UEFA Euro 1980 players UEFA Euro 1988 players Italian beach soccer players Sportspeople from the Province of Latina 1955 births Living people Footballers from Lazio People from Sonnino