Silvio Piola

Silvio Piola
Piola playing for Pro Vercelli
Personal information
Date of birth (1913-09-29)29 September 1913
Place of birth Robbio, Italy
Date of death 4 October 1996(1996-10-04) (aged 83)
Place of death Gattinara, Italy
Height 1.78 m (5 ft 10 in)[1]
Position(s) Striker
Youth career
1925–1928 Veloces 1925
1928–1929 Pro Vercelli
Senior career*
Years Team Apps (Gls)
1929–1934 Pro Vercelli 127 (51)
1934–1943 Lazio 227 (143)
1943–1944 Torino 23 (27)
1945–1947 Juventus 57 (26)
1947–1954 Novara 185 (86)
Total 619 (333)
International career
1933–1935 Italy B 6 (11)
1935–1952 Italy 34 (30)
Managerial career
1953–1954 Italy (assistant)
1954–1956 Cagliari
1957 Cagliari
Medal record
Men's Football
Representing  Italy
FIFA World Cup
Winner 1938 France
Central European International Cup
Winner 1933–1935
*Club domestic league appearances and goals

Silvio Piola (Italian pronunciation: [ˈsilvjo ˈpjɔːla]; 29 September 1913 – 4 October 1996) was an Italian footballer who played as a striker. He is known as a highly prominent figure in the history of Italian football due to several records he set, and he is regarded as one of the greatest strikers of his generation, as well as one of the best Italian players of all time. Piola was part of the squad that won the 1933–35 Central European International Cup & the squad that won the 1938 FIFA World Cup with Italy, scoring two goals in the final, ending the tournament as the second-best player and the second highest scorer.[2]

Piola is third in the all-time goalscoring records of the Italy national team.[3] He is also the highest goalscorer in Italian first league history, with 290 goals (274 in Serie A and 16 in Divisione Nazionale), and also in Serie A history.[4][5] He played 566 Serie A games, putting him fourth on the all-time list for appearances in Italy's top flight. Piola is the only player to have the honour of being the all-time Serie A top scorer of three different teams (Pro Vercelli, Lazio and Novara)[6][7][8] Piola is also the highest scoring Italian player in all competitions, with 364 goals (391 if his goals in the Divisione Nazionale and for the Italy B team are also included).[9] Throughout his career, including friendlies, Piola scored 682 goals.[10]

After his death, a pair of Italian stadiums were renamed after him: one in Novara in 1997 and another in Vercelli in 1998. In 2011, he was posthumously inducted into the Italian Football Hall of Fame.

  1. ^ Cite error: The named reference eurosport was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  2. ^ "Silvio Piola, il più bomber di tutti" (in Italian). Panorama.it. 26 September 2013. Archived from the original on 22 January 2015. Retrieved 21 January 2015.
  3. ^ "Nazionale in cifre". Archived from the original on 31 July 2013. Retrieved 22 January 2015.
  4. ^ "Italy – All-Time Topscorers". Archived from the original on 17 August 2022. Retrieved 22 January 2015.
  5. ^ Hafez Ahmed (28 September 2012). "Sports | Totti becomes Serie A's third top all-time scorer". Daily Sun. Archived from the original on 29 May 2023. Retrieved 7 May 2014.
  6. ^ "Serie A Top Scorers – Lazio". Free-elements.com. Archived from the original on 29 October 2019. Retrieved 7 May 2014.
  7. ^ "Serie A Top Scorers – Pro Vercelli". Free-elements.com. Archived from the original on 29 October 2019. Retrieved 7 May 2014.
  8. ^ "Serie A Top Scorers – Novara". Free-elements.com. Archived from the original on 29 October 2019. Retrieved 7 May 2014.
  9. ^ "Del Piero a quota 301 gol in carriera: nel mirino c'è Inzaghi" (in Italian). Tutto Sport. 15 March 2010. Archived from the original on 6 October 2014. Retrieved 22 January 2015.
  10. ^ "Silvio Piola". Archived from the original on 27 November 2021. Retrieved 27 November 2021.