Giancarlo Antognoni (; born 1 April 1954) is an Italian former professional

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

midfielder In the sport of association football, a midfielder takes an Glossary of association football terms#O, outfield position primarily in the middle of the pitch. Midfielders may play an exclusively defensive role, breaking up attacks, and are in t ...

. A skilful and creative offensive

playmaker In association football, a playmaker is a footballer who controls the flow of the team's play, and is often involved in offensively and defensively playing Passing (association football), passing moves which lead to Goal (sport), goals, through ...

, he played most of his club career with

Fiorentina ACF Fiorentina, commonly referred to as Fiorentina (), is an Italian professional Association football, football List of football clubs in Italy, club based in Florence, Tuscany. The original team was founded by a merger in August 1926, while ...

, with whom they won 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 ...

and the Anglo-Italian League Cup in 1975. At international level, Antognoni won 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 ...

with the Italy national team and represented his country at the

1978 FIFA World Cup The 1978 FIFA World Cup was the 11th edition of the FIFA World Cup, a Anniversary#Latin-derived numerical names, quadrennial international Association football, football world championship tournament among the men's senior national teams. It wa ...

and at the

1980 UEFA European Championship The 1980 UEFA European Football Championship finals tournament was held in Italy. This was the sixth UEFA European Championship, which is held every four years and endorsed by UEFA. It was the first European Championship to feature eight teams ...

. On 11 October 2010, he was awarded the "Legends of football" Golden Foot award.

Club career

Antognoni was born in Marsciano. His career started in the

Serie D The Serie D () is the highest level of semi-professional football in Italy, and the fourth tier of the Italian national league system. It sits beneath the third and lowest fully professional league, Serie C, and feeds in to it through promotion ...

with Asti Ma.Co.Bi., when he was only sixteen. In 1972,

Nils Liedholm Nils Erik Liedholm (; 8 October 1922 – 5 November 2007) was a Swedish association football, football midfielder and coach. ''Il Barone'' (the Baron), as he is affectionately known in Italy, was renowned for being part of the Swedish "Gre-No-Li ...

convinced him to join

. He made his debut in

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 ...

in October 1972 with Fiorentina, whom he later captained, also eventually inheriting the number 10 shirt. He won the

(Italian Cup) during the 1974–75 season, as well as the 1975 Anglo-Italian League Cup that season, over

West Ham West Ham is a district in East London, England and is in the London Borough of Newham. It is an inner-city suburb located east of Charing Cross. The area was originally an ancient parish formed to serve parts of the older Manor of Ham, a ...

. He narrowly missed out on the Serie A title with Fiorentina during the 1981–82 season, losing out to rivals

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 ...

by a single point on the final match-day. Antognoni played 412 games with

and scored 61 goals. Antognoni is regarded as a Fiorentina legend, and as one of the club's best ever players, as he played for the club throughout his entire Italian professional career between the 70s and 80s. He holds the record for the most appearances in Serie A for Fiorentina, with 341 appearances. In November 1981, Antognoni fractured his skull in two places and went into a coma for two days following an accidental collision with

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 ...

's goalkeeper Silvano Martina, which saw the latter's knee come into heavy contact with Antognoni's head; according to '' FIFA.com'', the playmaker went into cardiac arrest for 30 seconds, which led Genoa's captain, Claudio Onofri, to exclaim "he’s dead, he’s dead!" However, Genoa's team doctor – Pierluigi Gatto – was able to act quickly and revive Antognoni's pulse by untwisting his tongue and giving him CPR through chest compressions and mouth-to-mouth resuscitation. In 1987, Antognoni joined Lausanne Sports. He made 51 appearances and scored seven goals. He retired in 1989 while at Lausanne.

International career

Antognoni's senior international career with the Italy national team started on 20 November 1974, in a 3–1 away loss to the

Netherlands , Terminology of the Low Countries, informally Holland, is a country in Northwestern Europe, with Caribbean Netherlands, overseas territories in the Caribbean. It is the largest of the four constituent countries of the Kingdom of the Nether ...

at the age of twenty, in a Euro 1976 qualifying match. Antognoni took part in the 1978 World Cup with Italy under manager

Enzo Bearzot Enzo Bearzot (; 26 September 1927 – 21 December 2010) was an Italian professional football player and manager. A defender and midfielder in his playing career, he also coached the Italy national team to victory in the 1982 FIFA World Cup. ...

, where the team finished in fourth place after a semi-final defeat to the

. He also reached another fourth-place finish at the 1980 European Championship on home soil, wearing the number 10 jersey. His greatest achievement with the national team came when he won the

, however, after recovering from a skull–injury sustained the year prior in time for the tournament. Antognoni made six appearances throughout the competition, and played a crucial role in the team's title run with his ability to circulate possession and create chances with his passing as the team's main playmaker; he provided the second–highest number of assists throughout the tournament (three), behind only Brazil's Zico and West Germany's

Pierre Littbarski Pierre Michael Littbarski (; born 16 April 1960) is a German professional football manager and former player of 1. FC Köln and the West Germany national team. Known for his dribbling abilities, he was mainly used as an attacking midfielder ...

. He also had a goal in Italy's 3–2 second–round victory over

Brazil Brazil, officially the Federative Republic of Brazil, is the largest country in South America. It is the world's List of countries and dependencies by area, fifth-largest country by area and the List of countries and dependencies by population ...

incorrectly ruled out for offside; however, the result allowed Italy to advance to the semi-finals. He started in the latter match against

Poland Poland, officially the Republic of Poland, is a country in Central Europe. It extends from the Baltic Sea in the north to the Sudetes and Carpathian Mountains in the south, bordered by Lithuania and Russia to the northeast, Belarus and Ukrai ...

, which Italy won 2–0, but he was not able to participate in the

final Final, Finals or The Final may refer to: *Final examination or finals, a test given at the end of a course of study or training *Final (competition), the last or championship round of a sporting competition, match, game, or other contest which d ...

3–1 victory over

West Germany West Germany was the common English name for the Federal Republic of Germany (FRG) from its formation on 23 May 1949 until German reunification, its reunification with East Germany on 3 October 1990. It is sometimes known as the Bonn Republi ...

due to an injury he sustained in the semi-final. In total, he received 73

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for Italy, scoring seven goals. His last appearance came against

Czechoslovakia Czechoslovakia ( ; Czech language, Czech and , ''Česko-Slovensko'') was a landlocked country in Central Europe, created in 1918, when it declared its independence from Austria-Hungary. In 1938, after the Munich Agreement, the Sudetenland beca ...

, on 16 November 1983. He captained of the national team on four occasions. Antognoni is currently the Fiorentina player with the most appearances for the national side, and also holds the record for the most appearances wearing the number 10 shirt for Italy. With two red cards throughout his international career, he is also Italy's most red carded player ever, alongside Franco Causio and Daniele De Rossi.

Style of play

Giancarlo Antognoni - AC Fiorentina 1974-75

A skillful, quick, and creative offensive playmaker, Antognoni is considered to be one of Italy's greatest players ever, one of the most talented players of his generation, and one of the best attacking midfielders of all time, due to his vision, control, technical ability, intelligence, accurate distribution, passing range, and eye for goal from midfield. which enabled him to score goals or create chances for his teammates; he was also known for his ability to circulate possession, dictate play in midfield, and orchestrate his team's attacking moves with his quick short passing on the ground, as well as his ability to switch the play with long diagonal balls. Moreover, he was an excellent dribbler, who was known for his pace and elegance on the ball, as well as quick feet, and his ability to keep his head up when carrying the ball forward while advancing in possession from midfield, which saw him likened to compatriot

Gianni Rivera Giovanni "Gianni" Rivera (; born 18 August 1943) is an Italian politician and former association football, footballer who played as an attacking midfielder. Dubbed Italy's "Golden Boy" by the media, he played the majority of his club career wi ...

by pundits. Although he was usually deployed as a traditional number 10 behind the forwards, he was also capable of playing as a

central midfielder In the sport of association football, a midfielder takes an Glossary of association football terms#O, outfield position primarily in the middle of the pitch. Midfielders may play an exclusively defensive role, breaking up attacks, and are in t ...

, where he functioned as a

deep-lying playmaker 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. ...

. Antognoni was also highly regarded throughout his career for his accuracy from

bending In applied mechanics, bending (also known as flexure) characterizes the behavior of a slender structural element subjected to an external Structural load, load applied perpendicularly to a longitudinal axis of the element. The structural eleme ...

set pieces, and for his powerful shots from outside the area; although naturally right footed, he was capable of passing or striking the ball accurately with either foot. In addition to his footballing skills, he also stood out for his leadership throughout his career, as well as his work-rate. Despite his talent, his career was largely marked by injuries.

Career statistics

Club

International

Honours

Fiorentina *

: 1974–75 * Anglo-Italian League Cup: 1975 Italy *

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 ...

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 *''Sport Ideal European XI'': 1980 * Guerin Sportivo All-Star Team: 1980 * Golden Foot "Football Legends": 2010 *

ACF Fiorentina Hall of Fame This is a list of ACF Fiorentina players who have been inducted into the club's Hall of Fame. History and regulations ACF Fiorentina's Hall of Fame has been launched in 2012, resulting from a collaboration between ACF Fiorentina and Museo Fiorent ...

: 2012 *Fiorentina All-time XI * Premio internazionale Giacinto Facchetti: 2016 *

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 ...

: 2018

References

External links

Official Website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Antognoni, Giancarlo 1954 births Living people People from Marsciano Footballers from the Province of Perugia Italian men's footballers Men's association football midfielders Asti Calcio FC players ACF Fiorentina players FC Lausanne-Sport players Serie D players Serie A players Swiss Super League players Italy men's international footballers 1978 FIFA World Cup players UEFA Euro 1980 players 1982 FIFA World Cup players FIFA World Cup–winning players Italian expatriate men's footballers Italian expatriate sportspeople in Switzerland Expatriate men's footballers in Switzerland 20th-century Italian sportsmen