- Joined
- Sep 7, 2010
- Messages
- 13,917
- Location
- Spain
The Italian football federation confirmed Vialli’s death late on Friday.
Vialli announced in 2018 that he had overcome a year-long battle with pancreatic cancer but then said in December 2021 that the disease had returned.
With his condition worsening, Vialli announced in mid-December that he was temporarily stepping down from his role as the delegation chief for Italy’s national team.
As a footballer, Vialli was an exceptional striker, scoring 259 goals in 673 club appearances and also 16 goals in 59 appearances as an Azzurro. He won four Italian Cups, two Scudetti (one of them, legendary, with Sampdoria), two Italian Super Cups, an FA Cup, an English League Cup, two European Cup Winners’ Cups, a UEFA Cup, a Champions League and a European Super Cup.
He also had a brief coaching stint in the dugouts of Chelsea (between 1998 and 2000, where he was also a player for six months), winning a League Cup, FA Cup and Charity Shield, and Watford (2001/02). Since 2019, he worked as head of the Italian delegation alongside his friend Roberto Mancini: the image of the two of them embracing in tears at Wembley, when Italy were crowned European champions in 2021, is legend.
