Silvio Piola
Italy's all-time Serie A top scorer and 1938 World Cup hero.
Silvio Piola (29 September 1913 – 4 October 1996) was an Italian striker whose goal-scoring records have made him a towering figure in Italian football history. He is widely considered one of the finest forwards of his era and among the best Italian players ever. Piola won the 1933–35 Central European International Cup and the 1938 FIFA World Cup with Italy, netting twice in the final and finishing the tournament as both the second-best player and second-highest scorer.
He ranks third on Italy’s all-time national team goal list, behind Giuseppe Meazza and Luigi Riva. Piola is the top scorer in Italian top-flight history, with 290 goals (274 in Serie A and 16 in Divisione Nazionale), and also holds the Serie A scoring record. His 566 Serie A appearances place him fourth all-time in Italy’s top division. He is the only player to be the all-time Serie A top scorer for three different clubs: Pro Vercelli, Lazio, and Novara.
Quick Facts
- Born
- 29 September 1913
- Birthplace
- Robbio, Italy
- Died
- 4 October 1996
- Place of death
- Gattinara, Italy
- Position
- Striker
- Total caps
- 620+
- Total goals
- 353
Facts from the source article.
Background
Piola began his career with Pro Vercelli, making his Serie A debut at age 16 against Bologna on 16 February 1930. He scored 13 goals in his first season. On 8 February 1931, he scored a hat-trick against Napoli; at 17 years and 132 days old, Piola set the record as the youngest player to score a hat trick in Europe's top five leagues, a record that still stands as of the 2025 season. On 29 October 1933, he scored six goals in a 7–2 win over Fiorentina, the joint-most goals in a single Serie A match.
He moved to Lazio in 1934, spending nine seasons there, and was Serie A top scorer twice (1937 and 1943). He later played for Torino (1944), Novara, Juventus (1945–1947), and returned to Novara for seven more seasons. During his final years with Novara, he became the oldest player in Serie A history to score two goals in a single league match on 1 February 1953 at age 39 years, 4 months and 2 days. In his last season (1953–54), he became the first player to score a Serie A goal after his 40th birthday, and at age 40 years and 129 days he became the oldest Serie A goalscorer in history (since broken).
He is the joint-second highest 40-year-old goalscorer in Europe's top five leagues, with five goals. Piola is still the highest all-time goalscorer in Serie A.
Did You Know?
- He scored a goal with his hand in 1939 against England, 47 years before Diego Maradona's similar goal.
- After his death, two Italian stadiums were renamed after him: one in Novara (1997) and one in Vercelli (1998).
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