Gaetano Scirea

Gaetano Scirea was an Italian football player who is considered one of the greatest defenders of all-time. Scirea is one of only five 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 the European football that won all three major UEFA football competitions. He played for the Italian national team for more than a decade during which he was irreplaceable as the leading defender, 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, defeating Brazil 3-2 in a brilliantly played quarter-final match, and dominating Germany 3-1 in the final. Scirea was a graceful defender of great skill and tactical ability. In contrast to the ruthless tactics often employed by other defenders, most notably his paired partner, Claudio Gentile, Scirea was renowned for his class, fair play and sportsmanship. Scirea never earned a red card in his career. He played the sweeper, or libero, role for most of his career, and contributed to the development of this position initiated by Franz Beckenbauer in the 1970s. Thus, Scirea would detach himself from the defensive line and contribute to the attacking potential of his team, frequently being involved in the build-up of goals, and sometimes even scoring himself. In the latter part of his career, Scirea played a more defensive central-defender role, which he excelled at just the same. Scirea made his Serie A debut for Atalanta against Cagliari on 24 September 1972. He remained with Atalanta for two seasons, before transferring to Juventus, with whom he would stay until the end of his playing career. In all he made 397 appearances in Serie A, scoring 24 goals. Scirea saw great success with Juventus, playing alongside the hard-hitting Claudio Gentile, and winning every possible trophy to offer in the game. It has been said that because Scirea was so quietly effective in his position on the field and so quiet in general off the field he did not win as many personal honours throughout the years as other more outspoken and media-friendly players during that time. It was only after his retirement that the wider audience realized and appreciated his fantastic importance to the cause of Juventus and the Italy national football team. Scirea debuted with the Italian national team on 30 December 1974, against Greece. He immediately became an irreplaceable pillar of the team managed by Enzo Bearzot, and played in three World Cups and one European Championship in 1980. The team of the period 1978-1982 was one of the strongest Italian sides of the post-war period. Scirea impressed in the 1978 World Cup where Italy finished in fourth place. At the 1982 World Cup, after a quiet start, Italy burst to life, beating Argentina and then Brazil in a thrilling match. A 3-1 victory over West Germany in the final earned Scirea a lasting place in World Cup history. By 1986 World Cup, however, the team was in transition, and went out to France in the second round. This was to be Scirea's last match for Italy, having won 78 caps and scoring 2 goals. He retired from club football at the end of the 1987-1988 season. He took up the role of scout at Juventus, but was killed in a car crash at Babsk, Poland. Scirea was there as an observer since Juventus was to play a match in the UEFA Cup against Gornik Zabrze; due to the gasoline shortages, quite common in then-economically-backward Poland it was commonplace for cars to store rather large quantities of gas canisters in their trunks. Since then his name has become attached to various youth tournaments and fair-play awards, as a role model for sportsmanship and sporting excellence. In 2005 former Italian national team coach Enzo Bearzot proposed the retirement of the jersey number six of that national team and Juventus in recognition of his great career.