Gianluca Vialli

Gianluca Vialli Commendatore OMRI, 9 July 1964 – January 2023) was an Italian football player and manager who played as a striker.

He was widely regarded as one of the greatest strikers of his generation.

Vialli started his club career at Cremonese in 1980 in his native Italy where he made 105 league appearances scoring 23 goals. His performances impressed Sampdoria who signed him in 1984, during which time he scored 85 league goals, won three Italian cups, the Serie A and the European Cup Winners Cup. Vialli transferred to Juventus for a world record £12.5 million in 1992. During this time he won the Italian Cup, the Serie A, Italian Supercup, UEFA Champions League and the UEFA Cup. In 1996 Vialli joined Chelsea and became Chelsea player manager the following season. In England he won the FA Cup, League Cup, UEFA Cup Winners Cup and UEFA Super Cup. He is one of nine footballers to have won the three main European club competitions, and the only forward to have done so; he is also the only player in European footballing history to have both winners' and runners-up medals in all three main European club competitions, including two winners medals for the UEFA Cup Winners' Cup.

At international level, Vialli represented the Italy national team in two FIFA World Cups, in 1986 and (on home soil) in 1990. He also took part at UEFA Euro 1988, helping his nation to a semi-final finish, and was elected to the team of the tournament. During his twenty-year-long career as a professional footballer he scored 259 goals at club level, 16 goals with the national team, and 11 goals with the Italy national under-21 football team, for a total of 286 goals in more than 500 appearances, making him the tenth-highest scoring Italian player in all competitions.

On retirement from playing, he went into management, punditry and worked as a commentator for Sky Italia. He was part of the Italy national team non-playing staff as a delegation chief; however, he stepped down from this role due to his ongoing battle with cancer.

Style of play

Considered one of the best and most consistent Italian strikers of his generation, Vialli was a complete, dynamic, determined, and versatile forward, who was capable of playing anywhere along the front line; throughout his career, he was played on the wing, or in a deeper, supporting role, although his preferred position was in the centre as a main striker, where he could best take advantage of his offensive movement and opportunism inside the box, as well as his keen eye for goal. A prolific goalscorer, Vialli was known for his shooting power and accuracy with both feet as well as his head, which allowed him to finish off chances both inside and outside the penalty area.

In addition to his ability to score goals, Vialli was also capable of playing off of and creating chances for his teammates, courtesy of his good vision, tactical intelligence, and distribution, which also occasionally saw him play in deeper roles in midfield, as a playmaker or attacking midfielder; he was also endowed with good technical ability, dribbling skills, and ball control, which allowed him to play the ball first time, or beat opponents and retain possession under pressure. A quick, tenacious, hardworking, and energetic player, Vialli was gifted with pace, physicality, and stamina, and was known for his willingness to press opponents off the ball in order to win back possession. Vialli was seen as a new breed of striker in Italian football, who combined technique and goalscoring ability with speed, athleticism, and physical power.

Because of his outstanding athleticism, strength, and agility, he also excelled in the air, and had a penchant for scoring acrobatic goals from volleys and bicycle kicks, which led his Juventus manager Marcello Lippi, and president, Gianni Agnelli, at the time to praise him, and compare him to legendary Italian striker Gigi Riva. In addition to his footballing skills, he was also highly regarded for his dedication, leadership qualities, strong mentality, and his charismatic influence on the pitch. Marino Bortoletti of Treccani described Vialli as a "modern striker, gifted with power and style," and as "the most representative player of his generation," along with compatriots Roberto Baggio and Franco Baresi.

Other

In 2006, Vialli released The Italian Job: A Journey to the Heart of Two Great Footballing Cultures, co-written with his close friend and reputable football journalist, Gabriele Marcotti. Written over a period of two and a half years from November 2003 until early 2006, the book discusses the differences between English and Italian football. He also attributes his tendency to play as a wide attacker to playing on a field that was short and wide as a young boy. Vialli is donating the proceeds of the book to the "Fondazione Vialli e Mauro per la ricerca e lo sport", which is a charitable foundation he founded together with former player Massimo Mauro in order to raise funds for research into cancer and amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS).

Since the late 2000s Vialli worked as a TV football commentator for Sky Italia. In 2007, he was linked with a move to the managers position at Queens Park Rangers, following the club takeover by Flavio Briatore and Bernie Ecclestone and the dismissal of John Gregory as manager, but ultimately declined any interest in the job. During Euro 2012, he appeared as pundit for the BBC's coverage of the tournament.

Vialli co-founded a sports investment platform Tifosy, alongside ex-Morgan Stanley and Goldman Sachs investment banker Fausto Zanetton, with the aim of allowing anybody to invest in professional sports. Co-founder and CEO Fausto Zanetton, explained that, “whilst there is an incredible passion and willingness to invest in sports, there is currently no way to do so for the average fan or investor...You no longer need to be a billionaire to invest in professional sports clubs.". At Web Summit 2016 Vialli discussed his latest venture with Tifosy.

In October 2019, Vialli was appointed as new delegation chief of the Italy national football team under head coach and personal friend Roberto Mancini (a former teammate and striking partner of his at Sampdoria), a position unfilled since Gigi Riva's retirement in 2013. On 11 July 2021, Italy won the UEFA Euro 2020 after a 3–2 victory on penalty shoot-out after a 1–1 draw on extra-time against England in the final.

Personal life

Son to a self-made millionaire, Vialli was brought up with his 4 siblings in the 60-room Castello di Belgioioso in Cremona. Vialli married Cathryn White-Cooper on 26 August 2003 and fathered two daughters, Olivia and Sofia. He was a keen golfer and played at the Dunhill links championship pro-am event.

Vialli continued to live in SW6 in London, 20 years after leaving Chelsea F.C.

In November 2018, Vialli revealed that he had successfully overcome a year-long battle with pancreatic cancer. He was treated at the Royal Marsden Hospital.

On 13 April 2020, it was revealed that he had been given the all-clear from the pancreatic cancer that he had been suffering from for 17 months.

On 21 December 2021, he revealed that he had been battling pancreatic cancer for a second time. He died in 6 January 2023 at the age of 58.