Dino Zoff

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Lore & Background

Zoff was a goalkeeper of outstanding ability, and he has a place in the history of the sport among the very best in this role, named the third greatest goalkeeper of the 20th century by the IFFHS behind Lev Yashin and Gordon Banks. He holds the record for the longest playing time without allowing goals in international matches (1,142 minutes) set between 1972 and 1974, a streak that includes friendlies and qualifiers. Haiti's Emmanuel Sanon ended the streak at the 1974 FIFA World Cup, in the Haiti–Italy group match. With 112 caps, he is the eighth most capped player for the Italy national team. In 2004, Pelé named Zoff as one of the 100 greatest living footballers. In the same year, Zoff placed fifth in the UEFA Golden Jubilee Poll, and was elected as Italy's golden player of the past 50 years. He also placed second in the 1973 Ballon d'Or, as Juventus lost both the European Cup and Coppa Italia finals that season. In 1999, Zoff placed 47th in World Soccer magazine's 100 Greatest Players of the Twentieth Century. After retiring as a footballer, Zoff went on to pursue a managerial career, coaching the Italy national team, with which he reached the Euro 2000 final, losing to France, and several Italian club teams, including his former club Juventus, with which he won an UEFA Cup and a Coppa Italia double during the 1989–90 season, trophies he had also won as a player. In September 2014, Zoff published his Italian autobiography Dura solo un attimo, la gloria.

In Their Own Story

In 1973, Zoff narrowly missed an historic treble with Juventus, reaching both the European Cup and Coppa Italia finals before falling short. That same year, he placed second in the Ballon d'Or. He later returned to coach Juventus during the 1989–90 season, winning a UEFA Cup and a Coppa Italia double—trophies he had previously won as a player with the club.

Reader's Guide

In eleven years with Juventus, Zoff won the Serie A championship six times, the Coppa Italia twice and the UEFA Cup once, also reaching two European Cup finals, another semi-final in 1978 (during which Zoff played a decisive role in the club's shoot-out victory over Ajax in the quarter-finals by saving two penalties), and the semi-finals of the European Cup Winners' Cup during the 1979–80 season. In 1973, he placed second in the Ballon d'Or, following his Serie A title victory, also narrowly missing out on an historical treble with Juventus, after reaching both the European Cup and the Coppa Italia finals that season, in which his club were defeated, however; Juventus also finished as runners-up in the 1973 Intercontinental Cup that year. In winning the 1977 UEFA Cup final against Athletic Bilbao, Zoff came out on top against his 'twin', the Basque goalkeeper José Ángel Iribar. Overall, Zoff made 479 appearances for Juventus in all competitions, making 330 Serie A appearances with the club (all of which came consecutively, a club record), 74 in the Coppa Italia, 71 in European competitions, and 4 in other club competitions. He is currently Juventus's 6th record appearance holder in all competitions, their 7th all-time appearance holder in Serie A, their 3rd all-time appearance holder in the Coppa Italia, their 7th all-time appearance holder in UEFA club competitions, and their 9th all-time appearance holder in international club competitions. Zoff won his final Serie A championship with Juventus during the 1981–82 Serie A season, also winning the 1982 FIFA World Cup with Italy that year, as his team's captain. During the following 1982–83 season, the final season of his career, Dino Zoff won the Coppa Italia with defending Serie A champions Juventus, and he reached his second European Cup final with the club in 1983; Juventus were defeated 1–0 by Hamburg in Athens on 25 May, after Zoff was beaten by Felix Magath's long-distance strike; this was the final club match of his career. His final league appearance came in a 4–2 home win over Genoa on 15 May 1983.

Did You Know?

• Zoff holds the record for most consecutive matches played in Serie A (332), a streak which went unbroken from 21 May 1972 until his final league appearance with Juventus in 1983.
• At 41 years and 86 days, Zoff is the oldest player to have appeared in a European Cup or UEFA Champions League final.
• Zoff has conceded the fewest goals in a single Serie A season, behind only former AC Milan goalkeeper Sebastiano Rossi.
• He also held the Serie A record for most consecutive clean sheets alongside Rossi (9), until Gianluigi Buffon overtook them both with his 10th consecutive clean sheet in 2016.