Giampiero Boniperti | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 Boniperti with Juventus between 1940s and 1950s | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Born | (1928-07-04)4 July 1928 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Died | 17 June 2021(2021-06-17) (aged 92) Turin, Italy | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Occupations |
| ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Years active |
| ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Employer | Juventus | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Known for |
| ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Height | 1.75 m (5 ft 9 in) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Title | Juventus chairman | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Term | 1971–1990 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Predecessor | Vittore Catella | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Successor | Vittorio Caissotti di Chiusano | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Relatives | Filippo Boniperti (grandson) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Member of theEuropean Parliament | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| In office 1994–1999 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Personal details | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Political party | Forza Italia | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Other political affiliations |
| ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Giampiero Boniperti (Italian pronunciation:[dʒamˈpjɛːroboniˈpɛrti]; 4 July 1928 – 17 June 2021) was an Italianfootballer who played hisentire 15-season career atJuventus between 1946 and 1961,[2] winning fiveSerie A titles and twoCoppa Italia titles. He also played for theItaly national team at international level and took part in the1950 and1954 FIFA World Cup finals, as well as the1952 Summer Olympics with Italy. After retirement from professional football, Boniperti was the CEO and chairman of Juventus and, later, a deputy to theEuropean Parliament.[3]
Aforward, Boniperti is regarded by several pundits, including Mario Sconcerti, as one of Italy's and Juventus's greatest ever players, and is considered by some in the sport, such asBruno Nicolè, to be Italy's greatest player of all time;[4][5][6][7] with 182 goals in all competitions, Boniperti was the highest goalscorer in Juventus history for more than 40 years, until his record was bested byAlessandro Del Piero on 10 January 2006.[8] Del Piero also broke his club record of 443 Serie A appearances on 14 February 2010, when he played his 444th Serie A game in a 3–2 win againstGenoa;[9] with 443 Serie A appearances for Juventus, Boniperti is currently third in the club's rankings, behind only Del Piero andGianluigi Buffon.[10] Boniperti also held the record for most minutes played in Serie A by a Juventus player (39,680), until his record was surpassed by Buffon on 19 March 2017, in the 66th minute of a 1–0 away win over Sampdoria.[11] Boniperti is the eleventh-highest goalscorer of all-time inSerie A. In March 2004, he was named byPelé as one of theworld's top 125 greatest living footballers.
Born inBarengo,Piedmont, Boniperti signed for Juventus at age 16; he had already built himself a reputation prior to this at youth level, as he scored 11 goals in one match.[5][12] He could score successfully with both feet and was known for his power and tactical awareness.[2] He played his first match forthe Old Lady inSerie A on 2 March 1947 againstA.C. Milan, which ended in a 2–1 defeat.[13] His first goal for them in the league was three months later, againstSampdoria. Juventus ended the1946–47 Serie A season as runners-up to local rivals Torino. Giampiero ended the season with five goals in six games to his name.[4][5][12]
Although he began as a centre forward, he could also play as an inside forward or on the right wing. In his second season with Juventus, he was 20 years old and scored 27 goals during that season, finishing aboveValentino Mazzola as the league's top scorer.[5][12] Boniperti's first league championship with Juventus was during the 1949–50 season. By his 24th birthday, he had scored 100 goals for the club, adding a secondscudetto title to his name in 1951–52. Although he was named the club'scaptain in 1954, for much of the 1950s, Juve and Boniperti struggled to put the club back to the top of the Italian championship.[5][12]
.jpg)
In 1957, Juventus signed two forwards:John Charles andOmar Sívori. With them, Boniperti would be a part of what was referred to as theMagical Trio. During Boniperti's last four seasons at the club before his retirement, Juventus was successful in the Italian league, winning the Serie A three times (1957–58, 1959–60 and 1960–61), and theCoppa Italia twice (1958–59 and 1959–60).[5][12] At the time of his retirement, Boniperti was Juventus' all-time top goalscorer with 182 in all competitions. This record stood for over 40 years beforeAlessandro Del Piero beat it on 10 January 2006.[5] As of 2010, Boniperti was the second top goalscorer of all-time at Juventus and was seventh on the list of all-time top appearances for the club. With 443 appearances inSerie A for Juventus, he held the club record for most appearances in the competition until long-serving player and former Juventus captainAlessandro Del Piero beat it on 14 February 2010.[14]
After playing 14 games in theSerie A league, Boniperti was called up to play for theItaly national football team, making his international debut on 9 November 1947, in a game againstAustria; the match ended in a 5–1 loss to the Austrian side.[15][16] He got even with Austria a couple of years later, when in May 1949 he scored his first international goal for Italy, with a 3–1 victory. Boniperti managed to achieve 38 caps (24 of which he played ascaptain) and scored 8 goals for Italy. Boniperti played for Italy in the1950 and1954 FIFA World Cup finals (captaining the team in the latter edition of the tournament), as well as in the1952 Summer Olympics.[15][17]
A talented, creative, and prolificforward, with good technique, Boniperti is regarded by several pundits as one of the greatest and most successful Italian players of all time and is considered by some in the sport, including Alessandro Del Piero, as one of Juventus's greatest players ever. Aforward, he began his career as astriker, making a name for himself due to his eye for goal, and later emerging to prominence as a goalscorer for much of his career; in this role, he was usually supported by teammates such asJohn andKarl Aage Hansen, andKarl Aage Præst. As acentre-forward, he was known for his ability in the air and for having the capacity to score with both feet, as well as his head. A team player, in the later part of his career, he moved into a deeper position, functioning as asecond striker orinside forward, as anattacking midfielder, as awinger, or even as acentral midfielder, as adefensive midfielder, or as amidfieldplaymaker. Due to his ball control, technical ability, vision, tactical intelligence, and passing range, he excelled as anassist provider during the final few years of his career, creatively supporting his more offensive teammatesJohn Charles andOmar Sívori. In addition to his footballing ability, he was also known for his leadership.[4][5][6][7][12][13][18][19][20][21]
"Winning is not important, it's the only concern."
A short while after his retirement, theAgnelli family offered Boniperti an executive position as a director in the club's management team; in 1971, he was appointed the chairman of the board of directors (Italian:presidente del consiglio di amministrazione), a position he held for many years, and still had a role at the club as one of the honorary chairmen (Italian:Presidenti Onorari, served along withFranzo Grande Stevens).[13][23][24][25][26]
He often found the pressure of watching rather than playing quite unbearable, and was known to drive around Turin at halftime and just listen to the match on the radio. When players asked for pay rises, Boniperti would point to photographs of recent defeats on the wall and turn them away in shame. The pressure of remaining Italy's top team was intense for him, even behind the scenes.[2]
From 1994 until 1999, Boniperti was elected as a deputy in theEuropean Parliament with the centre-right wing partyForza Italia.[27]
Boniperti's grandsonFilippo has followed in his grandfather's footsteps in pursuing a career in football and played forJuventus and theItaly U19 team as a midfielder.[28][29] He is currently a free agent.
Boniperti died in Turin on 17 June 2021 due to heart failure, aged 92.[30] The Italy national team wore black armbands in tribute to him in their match on 20 June againstWales in theUEFA Euro 2020.[31]
| Club | Season | League | National Cup | Continental | Total | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Division | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | ||
| Juventus | 1946–47 | Serie A | 6 | 5 | — | — | 6 | 5 | ||
| 1947–48 | 40 | 27 | — | — | 41 | 28 | ||||
| 1948–49 | 32 | 15 | — | — | 34 | 15 | ||||
| 1949–50 | 35 | 21 | — | — | 35 | 21 | ||||
| 1950–51 | 37 | 22 | — | — | 40 | 23 | ||||
| 1951–52 | 33 | 19 | — | — | 35 | 22 | ||||
| 1952–53 | 29 | 7 | — | — | 31 | 7 | ||||
| 1953–54 | 30 | 14 | — | — | 30 | 14 | ||||
| 1954–55 | 27 | 9 | — | — | 28 | 9 | ||||
| 1955–56 | 31 | 6 | — | — | 31 | 6 | ||||
| 1956–57 | 24 | 4 | — | — | 26 | 5 | ||||
| 1957–58 | 34 | 8 | 6 | 1 | — | 34 | 8 | |||
| 1958–59 | 26 | 8 | 3 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 33 | 8 | ||
| 1959–60 | 31 | 7 | 3 | 0 | — | 36 | 7 | |||
| 1960–61 | 28 | 6 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 30 | 6 | ||
| Career total | 443 | 178 | 13 | 1 | 3[nb 1] | 0 | 459 | 179 | ||
| National team | Year | Apps | Goals |
|---|---|---|---|
| Italy | 1947 | 1 | 0 |
| 1948 | 0 | 0 | |
| 1949 | 3 | 1 | |
| 1950 | 3 | 0 | |
| 1951 | 5 | 1 | |
| 1952 | 4 | 0 | |
| 1953 | 4 | 0 | |
| 1954 | 4 | 3 | |
| 1955 | 3 | 2 | |
| 1956 | 3 | 0 | |
| 1957 | 2 | 0 | |
| 1958 | 3 | 0 | |
| 1959 | 1 | 0 | |
| 1960 | 2 | 1 | |
| Total | 38 | 8 | |
| No. | Date | Venue | Opponent | Score | Result | Competition |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 22 May 1949 | Stadio Comunale,Florence, Italy |  Austria | 3–0 | 3–1 | 1948–53 Central European International Cup |
| 2 | 25 November 1951 | Cornaredo Stadium,Lugano, Switzerland |  Switzerland | 1–1 | 1–1 | |
| 3 | 24 January 1954 | San Siro,Milan, Italy |  Egypt | 3–1 | 5–1 | 1954 FIFA World Cup qualification |
| 4 | 5–1 | |||||
| 5 | 17 June 1954 | Stade Olympique,Lausanne, Switzerland | Switzerland | 1–1 | 1–2 | 1954 FIFA World Cup |
| 6 | 16 January 1955 | Stadio della Vittoria,Bari, Italy |  Belgium | 1–0 | 1–0 | Friendly |
| 7 | 18 December 1955 | Stadio Olimpico, Rome, Italy |  West Germany | 2–1 | 2–1 | Friendly |
| 8 | 10 December 1960 | Stadio San Paolo,Naples, Italy | Austria | 1–1 | 1–2 | Friendly |
Juventus[5]
Individual
Italy squads | |||||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| |||||||||||||||||||
| International | |
|---|---|
| National | |
| People | |
