Giorgio Ghezzi (; 11 July 1930 – 12 December 1990), nicknamed "

Kamikaze , officially , were a part of the Japanese Special Attack Units of military aviators who flew suicide attacks for the Empire of Japan against Allied naval vessels in the closing stages of the Pacific campaign of World War II, intending to d ...

", was an

Italian Italian(s) may refer to: * Anything of, from, or related to the people of Italy over the centuries ** Italians, a Romance ethnic group related to or simply a citizen of the Italian Republic or Italian Kingdom ** Italian language, a Romance languag ...

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 ...

manager and player who played as a

goalkeeper In many team sports that involve scoring goal (sport), goals, the goalkeeper (sometimes termed goaltender, netminder, GK, goalie, or keeper) is a designated player charged with directly preventing the opposing team from scoring by blocking or i ...

Club career

Born in Cesenatico, Ghezzi started his career at

Rimini Rimini ( , ; or ; ) is a city in the Emilia-Romagna region of Northern Italy. Sprawling along the Adriatic Sea, Rimini is situated at a strategically-important north-south passage along the coast at the southern tip of the Po Valley. It is ...

in 1947 and later played for

Modena Modena (, ; ; ; ; ) is a city and ''comune'' (municipality) on the south side of the Po Valley, in the Province of Modena, in the Emilia-Romagna region of northern Italy. It has 184,739 inhabitants as of 2025. A town, and seat of an archbis ...

between 1949 and 1951. He subsequently joined

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 1951, making his Serie A debut that season in a 3–1 home win over

Legnano Legnano (; or ''Lignàn'') is a town and ''comune'' (municipality) in the Metropolitan City of Milan, province of Milan, about from central Milan. With 60,259, it is the thirteenth-most populous township in Lombardy. Legnano is located in the ...

on 21 October. He remained at the club for 7 years, playing a total of 191 matches with the team across all competitions (

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 ...

European Cup The UEFA Champions League (UCL) is an annual club association football competition organised by the Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) that is contested by top-division European clubs. The competition begins with a round robi ...

and

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 ...

). During his time with Inter, he won 2 Serie A titles in

1953 Events January * January 6 – The Asian Socialist Conference opens in Rangoon, Burma. * January 12 – Estonian émigrés found a Estonian government-in-exile, government-in-exile in Oslo. * January 14 ** Marshal Josip Broz Tito ...

and

1954 Events January * January 3 – The Italian broadcaster RAI officially begins transmitting. * January 7 – Georgetown–IBM experiment: The first public demonstration of a machine translation system is held in New York, at the head ...

. At the end of the 1957–58 season, he was sold 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 ...

, and then, in 1959, he returned to

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 ...

, but to join Inter's cross-city rivals

AC Milan (), commonly referred to as Milan or AC Milan () mainly outside of Italy, is an Italian professional Football club (association football), football club based in Milan, Lombardy. Founded in 1899, the club competes in the Serie A, the top tie ...

, as a replacement for his perceived career rival Lorenzo Buffon, who had instead joined Genoa that season, and who subsequently moved to Ghezzi's former club Inter the following season. With Milan, Ghezzi won another Serie A title in 1962 and the 1962–63 European Champions Cup in 1963; in the 1963 European Cup Final, he was one of the club's star performers as Milan defeated

Eusébio Eusébio da Silva Ferreira (; 25 January 1942 – 5 January 2014), nicknamed the "Black Panther", the "Black Pearl" or "O Rei" ("The King"), was a Portuguese Association football, footballer who played as a Forward (association football)#Stri ...

's Benfica 2–1 at

Wembley Wembley () is a large suburbIn British English, "suburb" often refers to the secondary urban centres of a city. Wembley is not a suburb in the American sense, i.e. a single-family residential area outside of the city itself. in the London Borou ...

, becoming the first Italian goalkeeper to win the European Cup. Ghezzi retired with Milan in 1965.

International career

At international level, Ghezzi made six appearances for the

Italy national football team The Italy national football team () has represented Italy in men's international Association football, football since its first match in 1910. The national team is controlled by the Italian Football Federation (FIGC), the governing body for fo ...

between 1954 and 1961. He made his debut on 11 April 1954, in a 3–1 away win over

France France, officially the French Republic, is a country located primarily in Western Europe. Overseas France, Its overseas regions and territories include French Guiana in South America, Saint Pierre and Miquelon in the Atlantic Ocean#North Atlan ...

, and was a starting member of the Italy team that took part at the

1954 FIFA World Cup The 1954 FIFA World Cup was the 5th edition of the FIFA World Cup, the quadrennial international Association football, football tournament for senior men's national teams of the nations affiliated to FIFA. It was held in Switzerland from 16 June ...

, despite competition from several other excellent Italian goalkeepers at the time, such as Leonardo Costagliola, Giovanni Viola, Giuliano Sarti, and William Negri. Later he found his opportunities in the national team more limited due to the presence of his perceived career rival Buffon.

Style of play

An aggressive, courageous and spectacular goalkeeper, Ghezzi was known in particular for his athleticism, agility, reflexes and acrobatic saves, as well as his speed when rushing off his line to anticipate or challenge opposing strikers; his playing style as a ''

sweeper keeper The goalkeeper (sometimes written as goal-keeper, abbreviated as GK, keeper, keeps, or goalie) is a position in association football. It is the most specialised position in the sport. The goalkeeper's main role is to stop the opposing team from ...

'' inspired his nickname ''kamikaze''. Despite his shot-stopping abilities and reputation as one of the greatest Italian goalkeepers of his generation, he was also at times criticised for his mentality and consistency, and was known for letting his emotions get the better of him on occasion.

Managerial career

Following his retirement as a player, Ghezzi served as manager of Genoa between 1966 and 1967.

Personal life

Ghezzi dated the Italian television personality and actress Edy Campagnoli, who later went on to marry Ghezzi's perceived career rival, Buffon. Ghezzi died in his hometown Forlì on 12 December 1990, at the age of 60, from a heart attack.

Honours

Club

;Inter *

: 1952–53, 1953–54 ;Milan *

: 1961–62 *

: 1962–63

Individual

*A.C. Milan Hall of Fame

References

External links

Profile
{{DEFAULTSORT:Ghezzi, Giorgio 1930 births 1990 deaths People from Cesenatico Italian men's footballers Italy men's international footballers 1954 FIFA World Cup players AC Milan players Inter Milan players Men's association football goalkeepers Genoa CFC managers Genoa CFC players Modena FC 2018 players Rimini FC 1912 players Serie A managers Serie A players Italian football managers UEFA Champions League–winning players Footballers from the Province of Forlì-Cesena 20th-century Italian sportsmen