Silvio Piola

Lore & 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.

In Their Own Story

The floodlights at the Stadio Olimpico in Rome were dim by the standards of 1938, but they were enough to catch the glint of sweat on Piola's brow as he jogged back to mark the opposing full-back. The crowd — a sea of blue and white scarves, the smell of cheap wine and cigarette smoke hanging over the terraces — chanted his name in a low, rhythmic roar. He wiped his hands on his shorts, spat on the grass, and turned to face the centre circle. The ball was coming over. He could feel it in his knees, in the ache of his shoulders from the last thirty minutes of pressing. He squared his shoulders, planted his left foot, and let the ball rise. The header was not graceful. It was not pretty. It was a shoulder-check, a grunt, a body thrown at the trajectory of the ball until the leather kissed the back of the net. The roar that followed was not applause. It was the sound of a city recognizing its dog, its guardian, its Piola. He did not celebrate. He simply turned, already running back to press. That was the job. That was always the job.

Reader's Guide

Piola earned 34 caps for Italy between 1935 and 1952, scoring 30 goals. His first game came against Austria on 24 March 1935, when he scored a brace to help Italy win 2–0 in the 1933–35 Central European International Cup. He was a World Cup winner in 1938, scoring two goals in the 4–2 victory over Hungary; he finished the tournament as the second highest scorer and was named the second-best player. He served as Italy's captain from 1940 until 1947. His last international appearance was in 1952, a 1–1 draw with England. He co-holds, with Luigi Riva, the national team's record for most goals on opposition soil with 13. His honours include the 1938 FIFA World Cup and the 1933–35 Central European International Cup. Individually, he was Serie A top goalscorer in 1936–37 and 1942–43, and was posthumously inducted into the Italian Football Hall of Fame in 2011.

Did You Know?

• Piola is the only player to be the all-time Serie A top scorer of three different teams: Pro Vercelli, Lazio and Novara.
• He scored six goals in a single Serie A match on 29 October 1933, the joint-most in league history.
• At 17 years and 132 days, he set the record as the youngest player to score a hat trick in Europe's top five leagues, a record still standing as of 2025.
• 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).