Gianni Rivera

Giovanni ("Gianni") Rivera (born August 18, 1943 in Alessandria) is a former Italian football player who was awarded the European Footballer of the Year prize in 1969. He is currently a politician.

Nicknamed il golden boy of Italian football, Rivera was the product of Alessandria's youth soccer academy and made his debut in Serie A for Alessandria against Internazionale on June 2, 1959 at the age of only fifteen years. He played twenty six matches for his first club, in which he scored six goals. After one year, he was bought by AC Milan to replace Juan Schiaffino with a record transfer fee for that time, $200,000, and he was only sixteen years old. In 1962 he won the first scudetto with AC Milan and on May 13, 1962, at eighteen years, he played his first match for the Italian national team against West Germany at the World Cup in Chile, a game that finished with a goalless draw, 0-0.
Due to their win of the 1962 scudetto, AC Milan qualified for the European Cup in 1962, a European Cup which they have finally won, beating Benfica 2-1 in the final with a Rivera in great form as he was awarded the second place in the famous Ballon d'or award, won by the Russian goalkeeper Lev Yashin.

In the 1967/1968 season, Rivera won with AC Milan both the title and the Cup Winners' Cup. In 1968, he played for Italy as they won at the European Championship. Sadly, he missed the Final match against Yugoslavia through injury he received at the semi-final against Soviet Union. Next season, Rivera takes AC Milan to win the Champions Cup as he finally gets the Ballon d'or award.

He played with the Squadra Azzurra (Italian national team) in the 1970 FIFA World Cup hosted by Mexico, where they reached the final, losing against Brazil, 4-1. The Italian coach at the 1970 World Cup Final, Ferruccio Valcareggi, believed that Gianni Rivera and his teammate Sandro Mazzola could not co-existed on the same field. Althrough Gianni Rivera was the most famous of the two, Valcareggi elected to start Mazzola. However, by 2nd round, the Italian offense failed to sparke. Valcareggi devised a solution he called "staffetta" (relay) to play both players. Mazzola would start in the first half while Rivera would come in at half time. With this strategy, Rivera helped to beat the host Mexico in the quaterfinal and West Germany in the semi-final in which Rivera played a major role in one of the best matches in World Cup history. However, in the Final against Brazil, Valcareggi did not use Rivera until there were only 8 minutes left in the game, despite Rivera being the hero of the past two matches.

He also played in the 1974 FIFA World Cup when the Italians were knocked out by Poland, 2-1. That was the end of Rivera's career at the national team for which he played in sixty games scoring fourteen goals.

Rivera took AC Milan in two Cup Winners' Cup finals, one in 1973 and another in 1974; the first one was won and the second one lost. He also won with the red-and-black team two consecutive Italian titles, in 1972 and 1973. AC Milan also won several Italian Cups in the 70's but without Rivera in most of them who was banned because of his statements against the Italian referees.

Rivera won his last scudetto of his career as a player in 1979 with AC Milan, this also being the tenth title for The Devils. Totally, he played for AC Milan in Serie A 501 matches and scored 160 goals.

After retirement, Rivera became a vice-president at the club. When Silvio Berlusconi bought the club in 1986, he left and entered the Italian political life, being one of the members of the Italian Parliament. He served as an under-secretary for defense under Romano Prodi's government. He was named by Pelé as one of the top 125 greatest living footballers in March 2004.

He currently is a Member of the European Parliament for the Uniti nell'Ulivo party.

Trophies won

* 4 × Italian cup (1967, 1972, 1973, 1977)
* 3 × Italian title (1962, 1968, 1979)
* 2 × Cup Winners Cup (1968, 1973)
* 2 × European Cup (1963, 1969)
* 1 × European Player of The Year (1969)
* 1 × European Player of The Year runner-up (1968)
* 1 × World Cup runner-up (1970)
* 1 × Italian League Top Scorer (1973)
* 1 × Intercontinental Cup (1969)
* 1 × European Championship (1968)