SAN FRANCISCO, December 10, (THEWILL) – Italian football great Paolo Rossi, the star of their victorious 1982 World Cup campaign, has died at the age of 64. On Thursday morning, the Italian TV channel RAI Sport, where Rossi had been working as a pundit, announced his death.
“Such terribly sad news: Paolo Rossi has left us,” RAI Sport presenter Enrico Varriale tweeted.
“Unforgettable Pablito, who made all of us fall in love in that summer of 1982 and who was a precious and competent work colleague in RAI over recent years.”
Federica Cappelletti, wife of the celebrated footballer, posted a photo of herself and her husband on Instagram along with the words “per sempre” meaning “forever”.
Born in 1956 in Prato, Tuscany, Rossi played his entire club career in Italy winning two Serie A titles, a European Cup and a Coppa Italia. In 1980, he was banned for three years as part of the “Totonero” match-fixing scandal, but the legend always denied any wrongdoing.
He was later allowed to get back into the Italian squad ahead of the victorious 1982 World Cup campaign after the ban was reduced to two years and he will most fondly be remembered for his six goals at that World Cup in Spain.
In the first four games of the tournament, he drew blanks with no goals to his name. But a hattrick against Brazil in the second group stage sent Italy through to the semi-finals, where he netted a brace in a 2-0 win over Poland.
In the final, the former Juventus and AC Milan striker opened the scoring as Italy beat West Germany 3-1 to claim their third World Cup but their first since 1938.
That year, Rossi was awarded the Ballon d’Or as only the third Italian to win the award at the time.
He had three goals to his name at the 1978 World Cup in Argentina. His total of nine goals means Rossi remains Italy’s joint-highest scorer at the World Cup with Roberto Baggio and Christian Vieri.
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Jude Obafemi is a versatile senior Correspondent at THEWILL Newspapers, excelling in sourcing, researching, and delivering sports news stories for both print and digital publications.
