Alessandro Del Piero

Lore & Background

Del Piero began his career at Padova in Serie B before being signed by Juventus in 1993. He helped Juventus reach three consecutive UEFA Champions League finals from 1996 to 1998, winning the 1996 edition. He later helped Juventus win back-to-back Serie A titles in 2001–02 and 2002–03, and reached his fourth Champions League final in 2003. After Juventus were relegated to Serie B in 2006 due to the Calciopoli scandal, he remained with the club and captained them back to Serie A. He played at Juventus for 19 seasons (11 as captain) and holds club records for most goals (290) and appearances (705). He won 16 trophies at the club, including six Serie A titles. At international level, he represented Italy at three FIFA World Cups and four UEFA European Football Championships, winning the 2006 World Cup and reaching the final of UEFA Euro 2000. He is the joint fourth highest scorer for Italy, with 27 goals.

In Their Own Story

The air in the Olympiastadion tasted of rain and anticipation. Del Piero stood at the edge of the centre circle, the captain's armband slightly loose, his white kit still crisp. Around him, the noise of sixty thousand voices pressed in like a physical force. He could feel the weight of it—not the weight of expectation, which he had learned to set down before the tunnel, but the weight of memory. 1998. The Petit goal. The long, silent bus ride back to the hotel in France. Eight years of waiting for this exact night to make it mean something different.

He took the first touch of the match with his left foot, rolling it back to Buffon, and the stadium exhaled. For ninety minutes, and then into the extra time, and then into the penalties, he moved like a man conducting an orchestra no one else could hear. A diagonal pass to the left wing. A flick that turned a dead ball into a chance. A run into the box that drew two defenders and opened a lane for someone else. He was not the hero the headlines would want. He was the reason the heroes could exist.

When the final kick of the shootout flew past the keeper and the net rippled, Del Piero did not celebrate. He simply removed the armband, folded it carefully, and held it against his chest while the players around him erupted. The world saw champions. He saw a debt, finally paid.

Reader's Guide

Del Piero was a technically gifted and creative supporting forward and a free-kick specialist. He is the second highest all-time Italian top-scorer in all competitions, with 346 goals, behind Silvio Piola (390 goals). In his career he scored 462 goals. He won the Serie A Italian Footballer of the Year award in 1998 and 2008. He was named in the FIFA 100 in 2004 and voted into the UEFA Golden Jubilee Poll. He has also won the Golden Foot award.

Did You Know?

• Del Piero scored 20 goals in 27 Champions League appearances during the period from 1996 to 1998, finishing as the competition's top scorer in 1997–98.
• He earned the nickname Pinturicchio after former president Gianni Agnelli compared him to the renaissance artist Pinturicchio.
• Del Piero began his professional career at Padova, making his debut in Serie B against Messina on 15 March 1992.
• He spent two seasons with Australian side Sydney FC after leaving Juventus in 2012, and retired in 2014 after a season with Delhi Dynamos FC in the Indian Super League.