Paolo Rossi
Centre-Forward / Second Striker · Juventus · Italy
About Paolo Rossi
Paolo Rossi is the hero of Italy's 1982 World Cup triumph — the tournament's Golden Boot winner (6 goals) and Golden Ball winner (best player), whose hat-trick against Brazil in the second group stage is considered one of the greatest individual performances in World Cup history. He returned from a two-year match-fixing ban just months before the tournament and became one of sport's great redemption stories. He died in December 2020.
Paolo Rossi's story
The Comeback
Rossi was involved in a match-fixing scandal in 1980 and received a two-year ban. He returned to competitive football just two months before the 1982 World Cup — rusty, out of match practice, doubted by many including Italian fans who called for his exclusion. He played the first two group games without scoring. Then came Brazil.
The Brazil Hat-Trick
Italy vs Brazil, Second Group Stage, 1982. Brazil needed only a draw to advance and were the tournament's most admired team. Rossi scored three goals — in the 5th, 25th, and 74th minutes — as Italy won 3-2. It was the greatest tactical performance in World Cup history against the greatest team at that tournament. Rossi's positioning and finishing were perfect. Brazil went home.
Six Goals and a Trophy
Rossi scored 6 goals in the final four games of the 1982 World Cup — hat-trick vs Brazil, brace vs Poland in the semi-final, opener vs West Germany in the final. Italy won 3-1. He won the Golden Boot (top scorer), Golden Ball (best player), and the World Cup. He won the Ballon d'Or later that year. He died on December 9, 2020.
Did you know?
- ⚽ His hat-trick against Brazil at the 1982 World Cup — from a goalless opening two group games, after two years away from football for a ban — is one of the greatest individual performances in the tournament's history.
- 🏆 He won the 1982 World Cup Golden Boot, Golden Ball, and Ballon d'Or — the only player to win all three major tournament honours in the same year since Garrincha in 1962.
- 👨👩👧👦 Married journalist Federica Cappelletti; they have two daughters. He died in December 2020, with his wife later writing a celebrated memoir about their life together.
- 🌟 Enzo Bearzot — Italy's 1982 manager — kept faith with Rossi despite public pressure to drop him. After the World Cup he said: "Paolo Rossi proved that loyalty in selection is a manager's highest form of courage."
- 📊 He scored 20 goals in 48 international appearances — a rate of 0.42 per game — extraordinary for an Italian forward of his era, when scoring targets were expected to play within defensive systems.
- 🇧🇷 His three goals against Brazil's team — which many regard as the finest in 1982 — included a clinical third goal that required the positioning and composure of a player entirely in control of the moment.
- 😢 He died on December 9, 2020, aged 64, of lung cancer. Italy captain Giorgio Chiellini wore a black armband in Italy's next international. The Italian football federation observed a minute's silence across all divisions.
- 🏟️ A section of Juventus's Allianz Stadium is named after him — recognising his contribution to the club's Serie A titles of 1984 and 1985, won after the World Cup triumph.
- 💔 He maintained until his death that he was innocent of the match-fixing charges — a position complicated by his initial admission but supported by many who knew him. The moral complexity of his story is inseparable from its sporting glory.
Honours
- FIFA World Cup: Italy (1982) — Golden Boot + Golden Ball
- Ballon d'Or: 1982 — awarded after World Cup triumph
- Serie A x2: Juventus (1984, 1985)
- UEFA Cup: Juventus (1977)
- World Cup Golden Boot: 1982 — 6 goals, including hat-trick vs Brazil
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