Sandro Mazzola

"Alessandro Mazzola" redirects here. For the footballer born in 1969, see Alessandro Mazzola (footballer, born 1969). For the Italian painter, see Alessandro Mazzola (painter).

Sandro Mazzola
Mazzola with Inter Milan in 1971
Personal information
Full name Alessandro Mazzola
Date of birth (1942-11-08) 8 November 1942 (age 81)
Place of birth Turin, Italy
Height 1.79 m (5 ft 10 in)
Position(s) Forward
Attacking midfielder
Senior career*
Years Team Apps (Gls)
1960–1977 Internazionale 417 (116)
International career
1963–1974 Italy 70 (22)
Medal record
Representing  Italy
UEFA European Championship
Winner 1968 Italy
FIFA World Cup
Runner-up 1970 Mexico
*Club domestic league appearances and goals

Alessandro "Sandro" Mazzola (Italian pronunciation: [ˈsandro matˈtsɔːla]; born 8 November 1942) is an Italian former professional footballer, who played as a forward or attacking midfielder for Internazionale and the Italy national team. He currently works as a football analyst and commentator on the Italian national television station RAI.

He is widely regarded as one of the greatest Italian football players of all time, and as one of the best players of his generation, due to his speed, work-rate, creativity, technical skills and eye for goal;[1][2] he placed second in the 1971 Ballon d'Or.[3] Having spent his entire 17 season career with Inter, he holds the honour of being a one-club man. With the club, he won four Serie A titles (1963, 1965, 1966 and 1971), two European Cups (1964 and 1965) and two Intercontinental Cups (1964 and 1965), also winning the Serie A top scorer award during the 1964–65 season, in which he also reached the Coppa Italia final, narrowly missing out on a treble with the club. With the Italy national side, Mazzola won the UEFA European Championship in 1968, being named to the Team of the Tournament, and reached the final of the 1970 FIFA World Cup; he also took part in the 1966 and 1974 FIFA World Cups with Italy.

He is the son of Italian footballer Valentino Mazzola, player of the Grande Torino who died in the Superga air disaster. Sandro Mazzola's younger brother, Ferruccio Mazzola, was also a footballer, who died in 2013.[1]

  1. ^ a b "Nella casa di Valentino Mazzola, due camere e cucina per un mito" (in Italian). La Stampa. 4 September 2011. Retrieved 1 November 2014.
  2. ^ Cite error: The named reference Storie di Calcio: Sandro MAZZOLA was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  3. ^ Cite error: The named reference Ballon d'Or 1971 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).