Gaetano Scirea

Gaetano Scirea
Scirea with Juventus in 1975
Personal information
Date of birth (1953-05-25)25 May 1953
Place of birth Cernusco sul Naviglio, Lombardy, Italy
Date of death 3 September 1989(1989-09-03) (aged 36)
Place of death Babsk, Skierniewice, Poland
Height 1.78 m (5 ft 10 in)
Position(s) Defender
Youth career
1970–1972 Atalanta
Senior career*
Years Team Apps (Gls)
1972–1974 Atalanta 58 (1)
1974–1988 Juventus 377 (24)
Total 435 (25)
International career
1975–1986 Italy 78 (2)
Medal record
Men's football
Representing  Italy
FIFA World Cup
Winner 1982 Spain
*Club domestic league appearances and goals

Gaetano Scirea (Italian pronunciation: [ɡaeˈtaːno ʃʃiˈrɛːa]; 25 May 1953 – 3 September 1989) was an Italian professional footballer who is considered one of the greatest defenders of his generation and one of the greatest defenders of all time. He spent most of his career with Juventus.[1][2][3][4][5][6][7]

Scirea is one of only six players in European football history to have won all international trophies for football clubs recognized by UEFA and FIFA. Scirea is also one of only nine players in the history of European football that won all three major UEFA football competitions,[8] a feat he managed while playing with Juventus, the Italian club with which he spent the majority of his career, aside from two seasons with Atalanta. At international level, he played for the Italy national team for more than a decade, during which he was an undisputed member of Italy's defensive line-up, keeping Franco Baresi out of the national team for four years, until he retired in 1986. Scirea became a World Champion with the 1982 FIFA World Cup winning team, which defeated Brazil 3–2 in a decisive second round match and Germany 3–1 in the final;[9] he also represented Italy in two more World Cups, finishing in fourth-place in 1978, and UEFA Euro 1980, where Italy once again managed a fourth-place finish.

  1. ^ FIFA World Cup: Gaetano Scireafifaworldcup.yahoo.com
  2. ^ In memory of Scirea Archived 13 March 2007 at the Wayback Machinejuventus.com; 3 September 2006
  3. ^ "Planet World Cup: Gaetano Scirea (Italy)". planetworldcup.com. Retrieved 31 December 2014.
  4. ^ "Italy's greatest defenders". Sky Sports. 31 May 2010. Retrieved 26 January 2016.
  5. ^ Cite error: The named reference treccani1 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  6. ^ "La final que nunca se debió jugar". 26 May 2015.
  7. ^ "Veintiséis años sin Gaetano Scirea - Juventus".
  8. ^ Reyes’s fifth win: top UEFA club cup winners
  9. ^ "Remembering Scirea, Juve's sweeper supreme". fifa.com. FIFA. Archived from the original on 9 January 2015. Retrieved 22 April 2015.