Antonio Valentín Angelillo (; 5 September 1937 – 5 January 2018) was an

Italian Argentine Italian Argentines (; , or ''tanos'' in Rioplatense Spanish) are Argentine-born citizens who are fully or partially of Italian descent, whose ancestors were Italians who emigrated to Argentina during the Italian diaspora, or Italian-born people ...

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kick (football), kicking a football (ball), ball to score a goal (sports), goal. Unqualified, football (word), the word ''football'' generally means the form of football t ...

forward Forward is a relative direction, the opposite of backward. Forward may also refer to: People *Forward (surname) Sports * Forward (association football) * Forward (basketball), including: ** Point forward ** Power forward (basketball) ** Smal ...

who played the majority of his professional career in the Italian

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 ...

; he was a member of both the

Argentine Argentines, Argentinians or Argentineans are people from Argentina. This connection may be residential, legal, historical, or cultural. For most Argentines, several (or all) of these connections exist and are collectively the source of their ...

and the

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 ...

national teams.

Club career

Born in

Buenos Aires Buenos Aires, controlled by the government of the Autonomous City of Buenos Aires, is the Capital city, capital and largest city of Argentina. It is located on the southwest of the Río de la Plata. Buenos Aires is classified as an Alpha− glob ...

, Angelillo started playing professionally in Arsenal de Llavallol in 1952. In 1955 he played with

Racing Club de Avellaneda Racing Club () is a professional Football club (association football), football club based in Avellaneda, Argentina. They compete in the Argentine Primera División, Primera División, the top tier of Argentine football league system, Argentine f ...

and moved to

Boca Juniors Club Atlético Boca Juniors () is an Argentine professional sports club based in La Boca, a neighbourhood of Buenos Aires. The club is best known for its men's professional Association football, football team which, since its promotion in 1913 ...

in 1956. Angelillo was part of the Argentina national team that won the

1957 South American Championship The South American Championship 1957 was a football tournament held in Peru and won by Argentina with Brazil as runners-up. Bolivia, and Paraguay withdrew from the tournament. Humberto Maschio from Argentina and Javier Ambrois from Uruguay bec ...

. That team, and its forward line in particular, was nicknamed ''The Angels with Dirty Faces'' (a reference to the then-celebrated ''

Angels with Dirty Faces ''Angels with Dirty Faces'' is a 1938 American crime drama film directed by Michael Curtiz for Warner Brothers. It stars James Cagney, Pat O'Brien, The Dead End Kids, Humphrey Bogart, Ann Sheridan, and George Bancroft. The screenplay was wr ...

'' movie) due to both their irreverent style of play as well as to their less than rigorous attitude to training. The nickname followed Angelillo when he, along with fellow national team forwards

Omar Sívori Enrique Omar Sívori (, ; 2 October 1935 – 17 February 2005) was an Argentine-Italian Association football, football player and manager who played as a Forward (association football), forward. At club level, he is known for his successful tim ...

and

Humberto Maschio Humberto Dionisio Maschio (; 20 February 1933 – 20 August 2024) was an Argentine-Italian association football, football player and manager who played as a forward (association football), forward or midfielder. At international level, he repre ...

, moved from Argentina to play football in

after the tournament. There, the trio was also known as ''The Trio of Death'' due to their clinical ability in scoring goals. In 1957 Angelillo was signed by the Italian club

Internazionale 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 football club based in Milan, Lombardy. Since 1 ...

by the club's president at the time,

Angelo Moratti Angelo Moratti (5 November 1909 – 12 August 1981) was an Italian oil tycoon and the former owner of Inter Milan from 1955 to 1968. Biography In 1962, after a long history in the oil business, Moratti founded Saras S.p.A., an energy multinati ...

; he made his Serie A debut with the club on 8 September 1957, in a 0–0 home draw against

Torino Turin ( , ; ; , then ) is a city and an important business and cultural centre in northern Italy. It is the capital city of Piedmont and of the Metropolitan City of Turin, and was the first Italian capital from 1861 to 1865. The city is main ...

, and scored 16 goals in his first season. From 1957 to 1961, he played 127 games with the ''Nerazzurri'', scoring 77 times. In Serie A, he appeared in 113 matches and scored 68 goals for Internazionale, also serving as the club'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 ...

. During the

1958–59 Serie A The 1958–59 Serie A season was the 29th edition of Serie A, the top-level football competition in Italy. The championship was won by Milan. Teams Triestina and Bari had been promoted from Serie B. Final classification Juventus was the cupw ...

season, Angelillo scored 33 goals in 33 matches, finishing the season as the tournament's top scorer. His goal total was the highest since

Gunnar Nordahl Nils Gunnar Nordahl (; 19 October 1921 – 15 September 1995) was a Swedish professional footballer. A highly prolific, powerful, and physically strong striker, with an eye for goal, he is best known for his spell at AC Milan from 1949 to 1956, ...

had scored 34 in the

1950–51 Serie A The 1950-51 Serie A was the forty-ninth edition of the Italian Football Championship. It was the eighteenth Italian Football Championship branded Serie A, since Serie A was launched in 1929. This was the twenty-fifth season from which the Italian ...

season, and is still the record for most goals in a single 18-team Italian division season; no player scored as many goals in a single Serie A season until

Gonzalo Higuaín Gonzalo Gerardo Higuaín (; born 10 December 1987) is a former professional footballer who played as a striker. Nicknamed ''El Pipita'' or ''Pipa,'' he is considered to be one of the best strikers of his generation and was a prolific striker kn ...

finished the

2015–16 Serie A The 2015–16 Serie A (known as the Serie A TIM for sponsorship reasons) was the 114th season of top-tier Italian football, the 84th in a round-robin tournament, and the 6th since its organization under a league committee separate from Serie B. ...

season with 36 goals – until then, the only player since Angelillo to break the 30 goal barrier had been

Luca Toni Luca Toni (; born 26 May 1977) is an Italian former professional footballer who played as a striker. A prolific goalscorer, Toni scored over 300 goals throughout his career, and is one of the top-five highest scoring Italians in all competition ...

, who scored 31 goals during the

2005–06 Serie A The 2005–06 Serie A (known as the Serie A TIM for sponsorship reasons) was the 104th season of top-tier Italian football, the 74th in a round-robin tournament. The league commenced on 28 August 2005 and finished on 14 May 2006. While Juventus w ...

season. With 38 goals for Inter in all competitions throughout the 1950–51 season, Angelillo holds the club record for most goals in a single season, alongside

Giuseppe Meazza Giuseppe Meazza (; 23 August 1910 – 21 August 1979) was an Italian football manager and player. Throughout his career, he played mainly for Inter Milan in the 1930s, scoring 284 goals in 408 games for the club, and winning three Serie A title ...

. Although Angelillo was Internazionale's highest goalscorer while he was playing there, he did not win any titles with the ''Nerazzurri''. When the club appointed

Helenio Herrera Helenio Herrera Gavilán (; 10 April 1910 – 9 November 1997) was an Argentina, Argentine and naturalised France, French association football, football player and Manager (association football), manager. He is best remembered for his success ...

as the team's new manager, Angelillo's independent nature, rebellious character, and hedonistic lifestyle off the pitch led to several disagreements between the two; as a result, Angelillo was sold to

Roma Roma or ROMA may refer to: People, characters, figures, names * Roma or Romani people, an ethnic group living mostly in Europe and the Americas. * Roma called Roy, ancient Egyptian High Priest of Amun * Roma (footballer, born 1979), born ''Paul ...

during the 1961–62 season, for 270 million lire, in spite of offers in Argentina from his former club, Boca Juniors. From 1961 to 1965, Angelillo played 106 games with Roma in Serie A, scoring 27 times, winning the

1960–61 Inter-Cities Fairs Cup The third Inter-Cities Fairs Cup was the first to be played over a single season, namely the 1960–61 season. Birmingham City Birmingham City Football Club is a professional football club based in Birmingham, England. Formed in 1875 as ...

, and the 1963–64

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 the club. He then spent one season at

Milan Milan ( , , ; ) is a city in northern Italy, regional capital of Lombardy, the largest city in Italy by urban area and the List of cities in Italy, second-most-populous city proper in Italy after Rome. The city proper has a population of nea ...

, scoring one goal in 11 matches. The following year, he signed with

Lecco Lecco (, , ; ) is a city of approximately 47,000 inhabitants in Lombardy, Northern Italy, north of Milan. It lies at the end of the south-eastern branch of Lake Como (the branch is named ''Branch of Lecco'' / ''Ramo di Lecco''). The Bergamasqu ...

, playing 12 matches and scoring one goal, with the team being relegated to

Serie B The Serie B (), officially known as Serie BKT for sponsorship reasons, is the second-highest division in the Italian football league system after the Serie A. It has been operating for over ninety years since the 1929–30 season. It had b ...

at the end of the season. Wanting to return to first division football, he subsequently had a trial with

Napoli Naples ( ; ; ) is the regional capital of Campania and the third-largest city of Italy, after Rome and Milan, with a population of 908,082 within the city's administrative limits as of 2025, while its province-level municipality is the thir ...

, before agreeing to return to Milan as a reserve; he only made three appearances, scoring one goal, winning the

1967–68 Serie A The 1967–68 Serie A season was won by Milan. Teams Sampdoria and Varese had been promoted from Serie B. Six out of the sixteen clubs came from Lombardy, a record for a single region of Italy. Final classification Results Top goalscorer ...

title with the club, although he did not appear in Milan's victorious

1967–68 European Cup Winners' Cup The 1967–68 season of the European Cup Winners' Cup club football tournament was won by A.C. Milan following their final victory against Hamburger SV Hamburger Sport-Verein e.V. (), commonly known as Hamburger SV () or Hamburg (), or HSV ...

campaign that season. In order to gain playing time he then moved to

Genoa Genoa ( ; ; ) is a city in and the capital of the Italian region of Liguria, and the sixth-largest city in Italy. As of 2025, 563,947 people live within the city's administrative limits. While its metropolitan city has 818,651 inhabitan ...

in Serie B, where he made 22 appearances, scoring five goals. His next and last team was Angelana, which he joined in 1969 as a player-manager, before retiring from professional football in 1971.

International career

In official tournaments, Angelillo played 11 matches and scored 11 goals for the Argentina national team. During the

, which

Argentina Argentina, officially the Argentine Republic, is a country in the southern half of South America. It covers an area of , making it the List of South American countries by area, second-largest country in South America after Brazil, the fourt ...

won, Angelillo was tied for the second-most goals in the tournament, with eight in six matches, scoring in all matches but the last one against

Peru Peru, officially the Republic of Peru, is a country in western South America. It is bordered in the north by Ecuador and Colombia, in the east by Brazil, in the southeast by Bolivia, in the south by Chile, and in the south and west by the Pac ...

After the tournament, he and two other Argentine players (

and

) were bought by different Italian club teams, and, as a result, the trio were banned from playing for the Argentina national team by the Argentine Football Federation, and missed out on the

1958 World Cup The 1958 FIFA World Cup was the 6th FIFA World Cup, a quadrennial football tournament for men's senior national teams. It was played in Sweden from 8 to 29 June 1958. It was the first and only FIFA World Cup to be played in a Nordic country. Br ...

in Sweden; Argentina were eliminated in the first round of the competition. After moving to Italy and acquiring Italian citizenship through his grandfather, Angelillo later appeared for the Italy national team, making his debut in a 2–1 away defeat to

Austria Austria, formally the Republic of Austria, is a landlocked country in Central Europe, lying in the Eastern Alps. It is a federation of nine Federal states of Austria, states, of which the capital Vienna is the List of largest cities in Aust ...

on 10 December 1960, although, in spite of the presence of several foreign-born Italian players – including his compatriots and former teammates Sívori and Maschio –, he was left out of the Italian squad for the World Cup in Chile two years later; in total he made two appearances for Italy between 1960 and 1962, scoring 1 goal, which came in his second and final appearance – a 6–0 home victory over

Israel Israel, officially the State of Israel, is a country in West Asia. It Borders of Israel, shares borders with Lebanon to the north, Syria to the north-east, Jordan to the east, Egypt to the south-west, and the Mediterranean Sea to the west. Isr ...

, held in Turin, on 4 November 1961.

Style of play

A quick, talented, complete and prolific forward, with good movement and technique, Angelillo was mainly knowing for his goalscoring ability, although he was not a traditional striker who limited himself to operating in the penalty area; indeed, he was also known for his defensive work-rate, as well as his ability to orchestrate attacking plays and provide assists for his teammates. Because of his many skills, he was capable of playing in several other positions, both in attack or in

midfield In many sports, midfield is the part of a sports field that is near the line that is equally far from the end lines. That is, in American football it is the part of the field near the 50-yard line; in association football (soccer) and field hoc ...

, and throughout his career he was deployed as an

inside forward In the sport of association football, a forward (attacker or striker) is an Glossary of association football terms#O, outfield position which primarily plays further up the pitch than Midfielder, midfielders and Defender (association football), d ...

second striker In the sport of association football, a forward (attacker or striker) is an outfield position which primarily plays further up the pitch than midfielders and defenders. As with any attacking player, the role of the forward relies heavily on bein ...

, as a

centre-forward In the sport of association football, a forward (attacker or striker) is an Glossary of association football terms#O, outfield position which primarily plays further up the pitch than Midfielder, midfielders and Defender (association football), d ...

, as a winger, and even as a central

attacking midfielder In the sport of association football, a midfielder takes an outfield position primarily in the middle of the pitch. Midfielders may play an exclusively defensive role, breaking up attacks, and are in that case known as defensive midfielders. ...

Coaching career

After retiring, Angelillo remained in Italy, where he became a coach, managing several lower division clubs. His most notable success came with

Arezzo Arezzo ( , ; ) is a city and ''comune'' in Italy and the capital of the Province of Arezzo, province of the same name located in Tuscany. Arezzo is about southeast of Florence at an elevation of Above mean sea level, above sea level. As of 2 ...

, which he led to win a

Coppa Italia Serie C Coppa Italia Serie C (), formerly named Coppa Italia Lega Pro, is a straight knock-out based competition involving teams from Serie C in Italian football first held in 1972. Format There are a total of six rounds in the competition. It begins i ...

title, a

Serie C1 Serie C1 was the third highest football league in Italy. It consisted of 36 teams, divided geographically into two divisions. History Before the 1978–79 season, there were only three professional football leagues in Italy, the third being Se ...

title, and narrowly also missed out on a promotion to

on his first attempt after being promoted to Serie B. Following his managerial career, Angelillo later worked as a scout with his former club Inter in South America, and reportedly discovered

Javier Zanetti Javier Adelmar Zanetti (, ; born 10 August 1973) is an Argentine former professional footballer. Regarded as one of the greatest right-backs of all time, Zanetti is well known for having dedicated almost his entire career at Inter Milan, having ...

, who would later go on to captain the club and become Inter's record appearance holder; he later continued to live in

. His last club was

Provincial Osorno Provincial Osorno is a football club based in Osorno, Los Lagos Region, Chile. The club is currently playing at the third tier of the Chilean football system, the Segunda División. The club were founded on 5 June 1983 and then re-founded on 3 ...

in the

1994 Primera División of Chile The Campeonato Nacional Copa Banco del Estado 1994, was the 62nd season of top-flight football in Chile. Universidad de Chile won their eight title following a 1–1 away tie at Cobresal on 18 December. Universidad Católica also qualified for th ...

Personal life

Angelillo was married to Bianca, and had two children. Prior to his marriage, while playing for Inter during the 1960–61 season, he had a much publicised affair with the dancer Attilia Tironi – whose stage name was Ilya Lopez – whom he had met in a nightclub. His father was a butcher.

Death

Angelillo died on 5 January 2018, in a hospital in Siena, at the age of 80.

Honours

Player

Roma *

Inter-Cities Fairs Cup The Inter-Cities Fairs Cup, most commonly referred to as the Fairs Cup and sometimes as the European Fairs Cup or Fairs Cities' Cup, was a European football competition played between 1955 and 1971. The Fairs Cup was the idea of FIFA vice-presid ...

: 1960–61 *

: 1963–64 Milan *

: 1967–68 *

UEFA 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 ...

: 1967–68 Argentina *

Copa América The CONMEBOL Copa América (; known until 1975 as the South American Football Championship), often simply called the Copa America, is the top men's quadrennial association football, football tournament contested among list of men's national ass ...

1957 Events January * January 1 – The Saarland joins West Germany. * January 3 – Hamilton Watch Company introduces the first electric watch. * January 5 – South African player Russell Endean becomes the first batsman to be Dismissal (cricke ...

Individual * Serie A Top-scorer: 1958–59 (33 goals)

Manager

Angelana *

Prima Categoria The Prima Categoria is the seventh level (since 2014–15) in the Italian football league system and is organized by the National Amateur League by the Regional Committees. Each individual league winner within the Prima Categoria level progress ...

: 1970–71 Arezzo *

: 1980–81 *

: 1981–82 (Girone B) AS FAR * Moroccan League: 1988–89

References

External links

Inter Archive
*

FIGC profile

{{DEFAULTSORT:Angelillo, Antonio 1937 births 2018 deaths Footballers from Buenos Aires Argentine emigrants to Italy Argentine sportspeople of Italian descent Argentine men's footballers Argentine expatriate men's footballers Argentina men's international footballers Copa América–winning players Dual internationalists (men's football) Naturalised citizens of Italy Italian men's footballers Italy men's international footballers Argentine Primera División players Racing Club de Avellaneda footballers Boca Juniors footballers Serie A players Serie B players Inter Milan players AS Roma players AC Milan players Calcio Lecco 1912 players Genoa CFC players Men's association football forwards Argentine football managers Argentine expatriate football managers Italian football managers Italian expatriate football managers Montevarchi Calcio Aquila 1902 managers S.S. Chieti Calcio managers Rimini FC 1912 managers Brescia Calcio managers AS Reggina 1914 managers Delfino Pescara 1936 managers SS Arezzo managers US Avellino 1912 managers Palermo FC managers Mantova 1911 managers AS FAR managers Morocco national football team managers Provincial Osorno managers Serie D managers Serie C managers Serie B managers Botola managers Chilean Primera División managers Expatriate football managers in Morocco Expatriate football managers in Chile Italian expatriate sportspeople in Morocco Italian expatriate sportspeople in Chile Argentine expatriate sportspeople in Morocco Argentine expatriate sportspeople in Chile Argentine expatriate sportspeople in Italy 20th-century Italian sportsmen 20th-century Argentine sportsmen