Roberto Boninsegna ( born 13 November 1943) is an Italian former professional footballer who mainly played as a forward. After retiring, he worked as a football manager. As a player, he played for the Italy national side at two World Cups, reaching the final in 1970.

Club career

Born at Mantua, Boninsegna started his career in Serie B (the second tier of Italian professional football) with Prato in 1963–64 season. He transferred to Potenza, who was Serie B team in 1964–65 season. He also played for Varese in 1965–66 and

Cagliari Cagliari (, , ; ; ; Latin: ''Caralis'') is an Comune, Italian municipality and the capital and largest city of the island of Sardinia, an Regions of Italy#Autonomous regions with special statute, autonomous region of Italy. It has about 146,62 ...

between 1966 and 1969, helping the club to a second-place finish during the 1968–69 Serie A season alongside Luigi Riva. During the summer of 1967,

came to the United States to play in the United Soccer Association as the Chicago Mustangs; Boninsegna led the club in scoring with 11 goals in nine matches. Boninsegna gained a status as an efficient striker with

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 ...

and the Italy national team in the 1970s, playing alongside Sandro Mazzola. In Serie A, he totaled 171 goals in 281 games, and was top goalscorer in Italy during the 1970–71 and 1971–72 Serie A seasons, with Inter. Roberto Boninsegna - 1960s - US Cagliari

Roberto Boninsegna - 1960s - US Cagliari

After moving to Inter in 1969, he also won the 1970–71 Serie A title with the club, and reached the 1972 European Cup Final, only to be defeated by

Ajax Ajax may refer to: Greek mythology and tragedy * Ajax the Great, a Greek mythological hero, son of King Telamon and Periboea * Ajax the Lesser, a Greek mythological hero, son of Oileus, the king of Locris * Ajax (play), ''Ajax'' (play), by the an ...

. He transferred to

Juventus FC 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 ...

in 1976 in exchange for

Pietro Anastasi Pietro Anastasi (; 7 April 1948 – 17 January 2020), nicknamed by fans, was an Italian footballer who played mainly in the role of a forward. He started his professional club career in Italy with Varese in 1966, helping the club to achieve p ...

, and he played three seasons for the club, winning two

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 ...

titles, a

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 an

UEFA Cup The asterisk ( ), from Late Latin , from Ancient Greek , , "little star", is a Typography, typographical symbol. It is so called because it resembles a conventional image of a star (heraldry), heraldic star. Computer scientists and Mathematici ...

. After leaving Juventus in 1979, he finished his career with

Verona Verona ( ; ; or ) is a city on the Adige, River Adige in Veneto, Italy, with 255,131 inhabitants. It is one of the seven provincial capitals of the region, and is the largest city Comune, municipality in the region and in Northeast Italy, nor ...

, retiring from professional football at the end of the 1979–80 Serie B season.

International career

Boninsegna made his debut for

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 ...

on 18 November 1967, in an away UEFA Euro 1968 qualifying match against Switzerland, which ended 2–2, although he was not called up for the final tournament, which Italy ended up winning on home soil under manager Ferruccio Valcareggi, with whom he would have several disagreements throughout his international career. With the national side, he took part in two World Cups, the first in 1970, and the second in 1974. In total, he managed 9 goals for Italy in 22 appearances. Boninsegna was a member of the Italian side that reached the final of the

1970 FIFA World Cup The 1970 FIFA World Cup was the 9th edition of the FIFA World Cup, the quadrennial international Association football, football championship for List of men's national association football teams, men's senior national teams. Held from 31 May to ...

in Mexico, scoring two goals throughout the tournament. In the epic semi-final match against West-Germany, he scored a goal, and later set up

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 ...

's match-winning goal in extra time, which allowed Italy to advance to the final after a 4–3 victory. He scored Italy's only goal (though at the time it was an important equaliser) 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 ...

against

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 ...

, which Italy ultimately lost 4–1; he came off for Rivera in the final minutes of the game.

Style of play

As a player, Boninsegna was a powerful, agile and acrobatic striker, who was known for his accurate finishing ability and intelligence in the penalty area. He was a prolific goalscorer, who excelled in the air, despite not being particularly tall or imposing physically. He was also gifted with pace, stamina, technical ability, opportunism and outstanding consistency, which enabled him to become one of the top Italian forwards of his generation. Because of his jumping ability and his power and accuracy with his head, the Italian sports journalist Gianni Brera gave him the nickname "Bonimba". Despite his talent, he was criticised on occasion for being a selfish player, although he was also capable of creating chances for teammates. He was also well known for his on the field rivalry 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 ...

defender

Francesco Morini Francesco Morini (; 12 August 1944 – 31 August 2021) was an Italian professional footballer who played as a defender. He competed for the Italy national team in the 1974 FIFA World Cup and earned a total of 11 caps. He played for clubs such ...

, who later became his teammate.

Career statistics

Club

International

Honours

Inter Milan *

: 1970–71 Juventus *Serie A: 1976–77, 1977–78 *

: 1978–79 *

: 1976–77 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 ...

runner-up:

1970 Events January * January 1 – Unix time epoch reached at 00:00:00 UTC. * January 5 – The 7.1 1970 Tonghai earthquake, Tonghai earthquake shakes Tonghai County, Yunnan province, China, with a maximum Mercalli intensity scale, Mercalli ...

Individual * Serie A top scorer: 1970–71, 1971–72 *Coppa Italia top scorer: 1971–72 * United Soccer Association top scorer: 1967 * Italian Football Hall of Fame: 2023

References

External links

Roberto Boninsegna
at Inter.it {{DEFAULTSORT:Boninsegna, Roberto 1943 births Living people Footballers from Mantua Inter Milan players Italian men's footballers Italy men's international footballers AC Prato players Juventus FC players Cagliari Calcio players Serie A players Serie B players 1970 FIFA World Cup players 1974 FIFA World Cup players United Soccer Association players SSD Varese Calcio players Mantova 1911 players Hellas Verona FC players Potenza SC players Chicago Mustangs (1967–68) players Men's association football forwards UEFA Europa League–winning players Expatriate men's soccer players in the United States 20th-century Italian sportsmen