Giacinto Facchetti

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Giacinto Facchetti
Ajman 1968-08-25 stamp - Giacinto Facchetti.jpg
Giacinto Facchetti 1968
Personalia
birthday July 18, 1942
place of birth Treviglio ,  Italy
date of death September 4, 2006
Place of death Milan ,  Italy
size 191 cm
position left defender / libero
Juniors
Years station
1956-1960 US Trevigliese
Men's
Years station Games (goals) 1
1960-1988 Inter Milan 476 (59)
National team
Years selection Games (goals)
1963-1977 Italy 94 0(3)
1 Only league games are given.

Giacinto Facchetti (born July 18, 1942 in Treviglio , Bergamo province , † September 4, 2006 in Milan ) was an Italian football player and official.

The defender played for Inter Milan for 18 years and won numerous titles with the team during Grande Inter's time. Later he even rose to the position of president of the association.

For a long time Facchetti was the captain of the national team , with which he became vice world champion in 1970 . In 2004 he was put on the list of the 125 best footballers still alive by Pelé . ( FIFA 100 )

Career

youth

The son of a railroad worker was a keen footballer and athlete as a boy . The outstanding sprinter dreamed of becoming an Olympic champion over 100 meters, but the appeal of football was stronger. In the spring of 1960, when the 18-year-old was active as a striker for his hometown club US Trevigliese , his life took a decisive turn: he was discovered and signed by Inter Milan's head coach Helenio Herrera .

Club career

"The magician" Herrera immediately recognized the role Facchetti could play in his system of catenaccio and retrained him as a left defender. The Catenaccio was a bulwark of three defenders and the Libero, supported by a defensive midfielder. The other midfielders and the two tips mostly lurked in their own half for counter-chances. Facchetti was a defender and a winger at the same time: his athletic prerequisites, extraordinary speed and technique made him predestined for this role. He was one of the first defenders to move the range of this position from his own half of the game to that of the opponent.

On May 21, 1961 Facchetti made his Serie A debut in a 2-0 victory over AS Roma and it was quickly impossible to imagine the team without it. Facchetti's trademark was to elegantly assert oneself on the defensive in order to start his assaults immediately afterwards. He was a good cross giver for strikers Sandro Mazzola and Jair da Costa . However, if his opponents concentrated on shielding the attackers, he would seek a deal himself. Inter's system was anything but beautiful, but it was extremely effective and successful: in 1963, 1965 and 1966 they won the championship . Because of the destructive way of playing his team, Herrera was repeatedly insulted as the " grave digger of football ". But the Milanese were also successful with the Catenaccio on an international level. In 1964 the team won the European Cup when they beat Real Madrid 3-1 in the final in Vienna . In 1965 Benfica Lisbon ran 0-1 against the Italian bulwark in vain. After winning the World Cup twice (1964 and 1965), Facchetti came second behind Eusébio in the European Footballer of the Year election . In 1967 Inter lost the final in Lisbon against Celtic Glasgow 2-1.

In 1971 he won the fourth Scudetto with the " Nerazzurri ", but the champions of the team in the finals of the European Cup Ajax Amsterdam to Johan Cruyff had to admit defeat. From the mid-seventies, Facchetti's athleticism had to pay tribute to age and he decided to reinvent himself as a libero . In the next few years he acted behind the defense and limited himself to purely defensive tasks. At the age of 36, Giacinto Facchetti announced his retirement from active sports. On May 7, 1978, he played his last game for Inter in Serie A and left the lawn of the Stadio San Siro after 18 years .

National team

After his international debut on March 27, 1963 against Turkey , Facchetti was also a left-back regular in the "Squadra Azzurra". At the 1966 World Cup in England , however, like all his teammates, he seemed to be affected by the same apathy that led to the sensational defeat against North Korea (0-1) and which should be remembered as the " game of shame ". After this embarrassing defeat, Italy was eliminated after the preliminary round. Two years later, the national team rehabilitated at the Tifosi and Facchetti led the selection as the new captain in their own country to the European championship . On the way to winning the title under coach Ferruccio Valcareggi he had played all six qualifying games against Romania, Switzerland and Cyprus, was active in the two quarter-finals in April 1968 against Bulgaria, in the semi-finals against the USSR and in the two finals on the 8th and 10th. June in Rome against Yugoslavia.

In 1970 Facchetti led Italy's World Cup squad in Mexico as captain. After moderate preliminary round Italy met in the semifinals to Germany and defeated them in the legendary " Game of the Century " with. 4: 3 aet and entered the final. In the semifinals, Facchetti had acted calmly and seriously. In the final Italy had no chance against favorites Brazil and Facchetti also found his champion in striker Jairzinho . After the 1: 4 defeat, the national players returned home as heroes.

When he took part in the World Cup for the third time in Germany in 1974 , it was already clear that Facchetti had his best days as a full-back behind him. Italy played a weak tournament and dropped out again in the preliminary round.

On November 16, 1977 Facchetti played his last international match against England at the famous Wembley Stadium . With 94 internationals - 70 of them as captain - he was a record international player in his country for a long time before he was replaced by Dino Zoff .

official

After 18 years as a player, Facchetti Internazionale remained loyal to the end of his career and switched to management. In this new role, too, he received the highest orders. On November 13, 2001, he was elected Vice President, before becoming the association's 19th President on January 19, 2004.

End of life

Giacinto Facchetti died on September 4, 2006 after a long illness of pancreatic cancer , leaving behind his wife and four children. He was unable to personally experience Inter's last title in the stadium: the 2006 Italian Supercup. The team's players dedicated this title to their president. After his death, the whole country mourned him. The Requiem took place on September 6, 2006 in the Sant'Ambrogio Basilica in Milan . Giuseppe Merisi , Bishop of Lodi , who like Facchetti comes from Treviglio, celebrated the funeral mass. Many people accompanied Facchetti's coffin and his good friend Massimo Moratti published a very personal letter on the Inter Milan website. Out of respect for Facchetti, the club's management decided not to give his shirt number "3" any more.

Facchetti was buried in the family grave in his birthplace Treviglio.

successes

With the national team

With his club

Web links

Commons : Giacinto Facchetti  - Collection of images, videos and audio files
personal data
SURNAME Facchetti, Giacinto
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Cipe
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Italian soccer player
DATE OF BIRTH July 18, 1942
PLACE OF BIRTH Treviglio , Italy
DATE OF DEATH September 4, 2006
Place of death Milan , Italy