Franco Baresi

Franco Baresi was born Franchino Baresi on 8 May 1960 in Travagliato, near Brescia, and died on 31 July 2026. He grew up on a farm and did not watch football on television until age 10. In 1999, he legally changed his name to Franco. A central defender, he spent his entire 20-year playing career at AC Milan, captaining the club for 15 seasons. Many consider him one of the finest defenders ever; *World Soccer* ranked him 19th among the 20th century’s 100 greatest players.

Baresi joined Milan’s youth system after Inter Milan rejected him—they chose his older brother, Giuseppe, instead. The brothers later captained their respective clubs, and their pre-match pennant exchange became an iconic image of the Milan derby in the 1980s. Baresi made his Serie A debut at age 17 on 23 April 1978. The following season, he became a starter as a sweeper or centre-back, helping Milan win the 1978–79 Serie A title—the club’s tenth—alongside Fabio Capello and Gianni Rivera.

Milan then entered a difficult period. The club was relegated to Serie B in 1980 due to a match-fixing scandal, and again in 1982 after finishing third-last in their first season back. Despite being part of Italy’s Euro 1980 squad and the 1982 World Cup-winning team, Baresi stayed with Milan. He won the Serie B title in 1980–81 and again in 1982–83, leading the team back to the top flight. After Aldo Maldera and Fulvio Collovati left in 1982, Baresi was named captain at age 22, a role he held for a record 15 seasons. During this lean spell, he won the Mitropa Cup in 1982 and reached the Coppa Italia final in 1984–85.

From the late 1980s through the mid-1990s, Baresi anchored a legendary all-Italian defence alongside Paolo Maldini, Alessandro Costacurta, Mauro Tassotti, and later Christian Panucci, under managers Arrigo Sacchi and Fabio Capello. With the arrival of Dutch stars Marco van Basten, Ruud Gullit, and Frank Rijkaard, Milan dominated domestically and in Europe. The squad also included Roberto Donadoni, Carlo Ancelotti, Demetrio Albertini, Dejan Savićević, Zvonimir Boban, Marcel Desailly, George Weah, Jean-Pierre Papin, Brian Laudrup, and Roberto Baggio. Under Sacchi, Milan won the 1987–88 Serie A title, conceding just 14 goals in 30 games. They followed with the 1988 Supercoppa Italiana and back-to-back European Cups in 1988–89 and 1989–90. In the 1990 final, Baresi captained the side to a 1–0 clean-sheet win over Benfica. He finished runner-up to Van Basten for the 1989 Ballon d’Or and was named Serie A Footballer of the Year in 1989–90. Milan also reached the 1989–90 Coppa Italia final, with Baresi finishing as tournament top scorer, including a hat-trick of penalties against Messina.

Under Capello, Baresi won four more Serie A titles: 1991–92, 1992–93, 1993–94, and later. The 1991–92 campaign was unbeaten, part of a record 58-match unbeaten run, with Milan scoring a record 74 goals. In the 1993–94 season, Baresi’s defence remained formidable.

With Italy, Baresi was part of the 1982 World Cup-winning squad—the nation’s first title in 44 years. He played in the 1990 World Cup on home soil, earning a place in the FIFA All-Star Team as Italy finished third. At the 1994 World Cup, he captained Italy to the final but missed a penalty in the shoot-out as Brazil won. He also represented Italy at Euro 1980, Euro 1988, and the 1984 Olympics, reaching the semi-finals each time.

Early in his career, Baresi was nicknamed “Piscinin” (Milanese for “little one”). Later, his skill earned him the moniker “Kaiser Franz,” a nod to Franz Beckenbauer. In 1999, Milan fans voted him the club’s Player of the Century. After his final season in 1997, Milan retired his number 6 shirt. Pelé named him one of the 125 Greatest Living Footballers at the 2004 FIFA centenary awards, and he was inducted into the Italian Football Hall of Fame in 2013.