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, rugby lea ...

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

Italy Italy, officially the Italian Republic, is a country in Southern Europe, Southern and Western Europe, Western Europe. It consists of Italian Peninsula, a peninsula that extends into the Mediterranean Sea, with the Alps on its northern land b ...

. Nicknamed ''Spillo'' ("Needle") for his slender build, Altobelli was a prolific goalscorer and regarded as 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 Coppa Italia () is the annual domestic cup of Italian football. The knockout competition was organized by the DDS and the Lega Calcio until the 2009–10 season and by Lega Serie A ever since. Juventus is the competition's most successf ...

, 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 (, ; ; or ; ) is a city and (municipality) in the region of Lombardy, in Italy. It is situated at the foot of the Alps, a few kilometers from the lakes Lake Garda, Garda and Lake Iseo, Iseo. With a population of 199,949, it is the se ...

(Serie B), he was signed by

Serie A The Serie A (), officially known as Serie A Enilive in Italy and Serie A Made in Italy abroad for sponsorship reasons, is a professional association football league in Italy and the highest tier of the Italian football league system. Establish ...

club

Inter Milan Football Club Internazionale Milano, commonly referred to as Internazionale () or simply Inter, and colloquially known as Inter Milan in English-speaking countries, is an Italian professional Association football, football List of football ...

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 ...

victory of

1980 Events January * January 4 – U.S. President Jimmy Carter proclaims a United States grain embargo against the Soviet Union, grain embargo against the USSR with the support of the European Commission. * January 6 – Global Positioning Sys ...

(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, 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 , ), commonly known as Juventus or colloquially as Juve (), is an Italian professional Association football, football List of football clubs in Italy, club based in Turin, Piedmont, who compete in Serie A, the ...

during the 1988–89 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 Association football, football tournament for men's senior national teams, and was played in Spain from 13 June to 11 July 1982. The tournament was won by Italy national footbal ...

final, which Italy won 3–1 over

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. 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 called the World Cup, is an international association football competition among the senior List of men's national association football teams, men's national teams of the members of the FIFA, Fédération Internatio ...

final (after Dick Nanninga in 1978 and with Rudi Völler and

Mario Götze Mario Götze (; born 3 June 1992) is a German professional Association football, footballer who plays for club Eintracht Frankfurt. Although his favoured position is that of an attacking or central midfielder, he has also played as a Winger (f ...

repeating this, in 1986 and in

2014 The year 2014 was marked by the surge of the Western African Ebola epidemic, West African Ebola epidemic, which began in 2013, becoming the List of Ebola outbreaks, most widespread outbreak of the Ebola, Ebola virus in human history, resul ...

, 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 Association football, 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-tea ...

, 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, 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 or highest rank officer of a navy ship, merchant ship, aeroplane, spacecraft, or other vessel; or the commander of a port, fire or police depa ...

, 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

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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, 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, being the top scorer at the

1995 1995 was designated as: * United Nations Year for Tolerance * World Year of Peoples' Commemoration of the Victims of the Second World War This was the first year that the Internet was entirely privatized, with the United States government ...

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

Padova Padua ( ) is a city and ''comune'' (municipality) in Veneto, northern Italy, and the capital of the province of Padua. The city lies on the banks of the river Bacchiglione, west of Venice and southeast of Vicenza, and has a population of ...

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

Al Jazeera Al Jazeera Media Network (AJMN; , ) is a private-media conglomerate headquartered in Wadi Al Sail, Doha, funded in part by the government of Qatar. The network's flagship channels include Al Jazeera Arabic and Al Jazeera English, which pro ...

. Since September 2020, he serves as a pundit for RAI 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 association football, football club competition contested annually by the winners of domestic cup competitions. The competition's official name was originally the European Cup Winners' Cup; it was renam ...

top goalscorer: 1978–79 *Coppa Italia top goalscorer: 1981–82 * Beach Soccer World Championships top goalscorer:

1996 1996 was designated as: * International Year for the Eradication of Poverty Events January * January 8 – A Zairean cargo plane crashes into a crowded market in the center of the capital city of the Democratic Republic of the Congo ...

Italian Football Hall of Fame The Italian Football Hall of Fame () is the hall of fame for association football players that have had a significant impact on Italian football. It is housed at the '' Museo del Calcio'' in Coverciano, Italy. History and regulations The Hall o ...

: 2022

References

External links

Official website

Alessandro Altobelli
at

Treccani Institute Giovanni Treccani for the publication of the Italian Encyclopedia (), also known as Treccani Institute or simply Treccani, is a cultural institution of national interest, active in the publishing field, founded by Giovanni Treccani ...

{{DEFAULTSORT:Altobelli, Alessandro Italian men's footballers Italy men's international footballers Italy men's under-21 international footballers Men's association football forwards Serie A players Serie B players Serie C players Brescia Calcio players Inter Milan players Juventus FC players 1982 FIFA World Cup players 1986 FIFA World Cup players FIFA World Cup–winning players UEFA Euro 1980 players UEFA Euro 1988 players Italian beach soccer players Footballers from the Province of Latina 1955 births Living people People from Sonnino 20th-century Italian sportsmen