Giuseppe Wilson (, born Joseph Wilson, 27 October 1945 – 6 March 2022), also known as Pino Wilson, was an 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

centre back In the sport of association football, a defender is an Glossary of association football terms#O, outfield player whose primary role is to stop attacks during the game and prevent the opposition from scoring. Defenders fall into four main categ ...

. Although born in

Northern England Northern England, or the North of England, refers to the northern part of England and mainly corresponds to the Historic counties of England, historic counties of Cheshire, Cumberland, County Durham, Durham, Lancashire, Northumberland, Westmo ...

, he played the majority of his football career in Italy. At club level Wilson played for Internapoli and

Lazio Lazio ( , ; ) or Latium ( , ; from Latium, the original Latin name, ) is one of the 20 Regions of Italy, administrative regions of Italy. Situated in the Central Italy, central peninsular section of the country, it has 5,714,882 inhabitants an ...

, as well as representing the Italy national team three times in 1974. Wilson was one of 15 named in the Italian football betting scandal in 1980 (along with

Bruno Giordano Bruno Giordano (; born 13 August 1956) is an Italian football manager and former player, who was deployed as a forward and is mostly remembered for winning the title of Serie A capocannoniere (top goalscorer) achieved with Lazio as well as f ...

, Massimo Cacciatori and

Lionello Manfredonia Lionello Manfredonia (; born 27 November 1956 in Rome) is an Italians, Italian former Association football, footballer who played as a Defender (association football), defender or midfielder. He is currently the leader of the youth sector at Bre ...

, in the first instance).

Early life

Wilson was born in

Darlington Darlington is a market town in the Borough of Darlington, County Durham, England. It lies on the River Skerne, west of Middlesbrough and south of Durham. Darlington had a population of 107,800 at the 2021 Census, making it a "large town" ...

to a

Neapolitan Neapolitan means of or pertaining to Naples, a city in Italy; or to: Geography and history * Province of Naples, a province in the Campania region of southern Italy that includes the city * Duchy of Naples, in existence during the Early and High ...

woman Lina Di Francesca and Dennis Wilson, an Englishman who worked as an iron and steel worker at the local factory. Wilson's parents had met while Dennis was serving with the

British Army The British Army is the principal Army, land warfare force of the United Kingdom. the British Army comprises 73,847 regular full-time personnel, 4,127 Brigade of Gurkhas, Gurkhas, 25,742 Army Reserve (United Kingdom), volunteer reserve perso ...

in Italy. When Joseph Wilson was just six months old, his family moved to

Naples Naples ( ; ; ) is the Regions of Italy, 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 Metropolitan City of N ...

, his mother's hometown as she found it hard to settle in the United Kingdom due to the cold winters. His father found a job as supervisor at a Nato base.

Club career

Internapoli and Lazio

Wilson started his career with Internapoli in 1964–65 and he played for the side more than 150 times. He joined

S.S. Lazio (; ; ''Lazio Sport Club'') is an Italian professional sports club based in Rome, most known for its football activity. The society, founded in 1900, plays in the Serie A and have spent most of their history in the top tier of Italian footba ...

in 1969. At Lazio he would enjoy his most notable spell as a footballer, staying with them for a decade playing over 300 games for them. This was a successful period for the club who won their first ever

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 ...

title in 1973–74 as well as the

Coppa delle Alpi ''Coppa delle Alpi'' (translated as Cup of the Alps) was an official football tournament, first organized by the Italian national league as it started in 1960 and then they were aided by the Swiss League from 1962, for the reason that the majorit ...

in 1971.

New York Cosmos

As his career wound down, Wilson spent a season in the United States, playing in the NASL league with the

New York Cosmos New York Cosmos may refer to * New York Cosmos (1970–1985), a team in the North American Soccer League (then the top-tier soccer league in the United States and Canada) * New York Cosmos (2010), a team playing since 2020 in the National Indepen ...

during

1978 Events January * January 1 – Air India Flight 855, a Boeing 747 passenger jet, crashes off the coast of Bombay, killing 213. * January 5 – Bülent Ecevit, of Republican People's Party, CHP, forms the new government of Turkey (42nd ...

, and winning the title.Wilson's NY Cosmos stats
/ref> Wilson was named the Defensive Player of the game for Soccer Bowl '78.

Inter Montreal

In 1983, he joined FC Inter-Montréal of the Canadian Professional Soccer League.

International career

Wilson's success with Lazio gained him a place in the Italy national team, and he was in the squad for the

1974 FIFA World Cup The 1974 FIFA World Cup was the 10th FIFA World Cup, a quadrennial Association football, football tournament for men's senior national teams, and was played in West Germany (and West Berlin) between 13 June and 7 July. The tournament marked the ...

. He made his debut in a friendly 0–0 draw against

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 ...

in 1974, and he made two appearances at the 1974 World Cup, making three appearances in total for Italy.

Retirement and death

Wilson was a pundit for

Rai (), commercially styled as since 2000 and known until 1954 as (RAI), is the national public broadcasting company of Italy, owned by the Ministry of Economy and Finance. RAI operates many terrestrial and subscription television channels a ...

. In 2013, sport journalist Vincenzo Di Michele wrote Wilson's biography, "Pino Wilson: a True Captain from Another Era". He was briefly involved with an Italian restaurant in his native Darlington named Casa di Chirico, after his grandmother's maiden name. Wilson died from a stroke in Rome on 6 March 2022, at the age of 76.Lazio, addio a Pino Wilson, il capitano dello scudetto nel 1974

Honours

Lazio *

: 1971 *

: 1973–74 New York Cosmos * NASL:

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Wilson, Giuseppe 1945 births 2022 deaths Footballers from Darlington Footballers from Naples Italian men's footballers Italian people of English descent People of Campanian descent Men's association football central defenders Italy men's international footballers 1974 FIFA World Cup players Serie A players Serie B players SS Lazio players North American Soccer League (1968–1984) players New York Cosmos (1970–1985) players Italian expatriate men's footballers Italian expatriate sportspeople in the United States Expatriate men's soccer players in the United States FC Inter-Montréal players Canadian Professional Soccer League (original) players Expatriate men's soccer players in Canada 20th-century Italian sportsmen