Luigi Riva

Luigi Riva
Personnel
birthday	November 7, 1944
place of birth	Leggiuno ,  Italy
size	180 cm
position	striker
Juniors
Years	station
1960–1962	Laveno-Mombello
Men's
Years	station	Games (goals) 1
1962-1963	AC Legnano	23 00(6)
1963-1976	Cagliari Calcio	315 (164)
National team
Years	selection	Games (goals)
1965-1974	Italy	42 0(35)
1 Only league games are given.

Luigi "Gigi" Riva (born November 7, 1944 in Leggiuno , Province of Varese ) is a former Italian football player .

Riva spent almost his entire career at the Sardinian club US Cagliari with which he was Italian champion in 1970 . The three-time Italian top scorer was one of the best strikers in the world in the 1960s and is the record scorer of the Italian national team with 35 goals, with whom he became European champion in 1968 and vice world champion in 1970.

youth

The son of a railroad worker was born on November 7, 1944 in Leggiuno , a small town on Lake Maggiore . Already at a young age, Riva experienced the harsh reality of the post-war period, as he lost his father early in a fatal work accident. Because the mother could not look after the family of five on her own, she gave little "Gigi" a church home, and later he lived in the household of his older sister Fausta. At the age of 14, he left elementary school to help make a living as an assembly line worker in an automobile factory. But his life belonged to football. At that time he played a game for that, shortly afterwards for the next club. It was not until 1960 that Riva played regularly for the amateur club Laveno Mombello .

Club career

In 1962, the 17-year-old Riva signed with third-rate AC Legnano from the series C his first contract, but continued to work on the assembly line. He made his debut in a 3-0 win over Montalto Ivrea on October 21, 1962. Since the heavily indebted club urgently needed money, the storm talent was already up for sale at the end of its first season. Riva's dream club, Inter Milan , showed interest and even wanted to pay the required transfer fee, but the player failed at Inter coach Helenio Herrera . He was of the opinion that Riva did not have what it takes to be a full professional. Andrea Arrica , Vice President of the US Cagliari , saw it completely differently and brought him to the Sardinian capital in the summer of 1963 for 37 million lire (around 19,000 euros ). The transfer to the structurally underdeveloped south was an unconventional step, as the majority of Italians migrated to the industrial and economic centers in the north, where the football heart of the country beat between Turin and Milan . Sardinia was a great unknown to Riva. Without knowing what to expect, he set foot on the island for the first time in 1963. "It was the place where the Carabinieri were sent for criminal service, it felt like in Africa," he said later.

In his first season the Rosso-Blu managed to get promoted to Serie A , while Riva had not yet managed to break through with eight goals. This was to change in the following years, and the attacker's shape curve rose sharply. Riva always looked for the direct route to the goal and was a constant source of unrest for the opposing defensive ranks, benefiting from his breathtaking athleticism and strength, which made it difficult for any defender to play against him. His incredible left foot was also notorious, with which he could fire shots on goal at a speed of 120 km / h and which earned the Riva the nickname "Rombo di Tuono" (English: clap of thunder). In the 1966/67 season he was the top scorer in Serie A with 18 goals in just 23 games.

After Cagliari had established itself in the first division, it developed into a serious competitor for the championship for the major clubs from northern Italy ( Juventus Turin , AC Milan , Inter Milan ). Coach Manlio Scopigno was able to form a strong unit despite modest financial resources, with seven Italian national players: Enrico Albertosi , Pierluigi Cera , Comunardo Niccolai , Angelo Domenghini , Sergio Gori and "Gigi" Riva. The team narrowly missed the championship in 1968/69 , while Riva became arguably the best striker in the league and was again top scorer with 20 goals. In 1969, France Football's annual election to European Footballer of the Year took second place behind compatriot Gianni Rivera . The absolute sensation came in the following year, when Cagliari won the championship (Scudetto) for the first and so far only time . With 21 goals, superstar Riva had a significant share in the title win, which was celebrated frenetically all over Sardinia. For the poor part of the country, this title meant more than just winning a football championship, but was satisfaction for the rich north. Riva was received like a messiah on the "forgotten island" and won the hearts of the Sardinians through his open love for the country and its people. When the financially strong clubs Juventus Turin and Inter Milan submitted offers, Riva declined with thanks. Loyalty to the club and solidarity with the island were stronger than the appeal of money, and when he extended his contract by five years in October 1970, the admiration of the supporters increased immeasurably.

But the success could not be repeated: Some top performers left the club and after a complicated fibula fracture on October 31, 1970 in Italy's 2-1 victory in the European Championship qualifying match against Austria in Vienna's Prater Stadium, Riva had to pause for months. It took him a long time to get back to his top performance, even though he was hardly able to play without any symptoms. When Riva was seriously injured again in January 1975 ( tendon rupture in the right thigh), he did not recover completely and ended his career after the game on February 1, 1976 against AC Milan (1: 3). The "Sardinian from Lombardy" left the pitch of the Stadio Sant'Elia to thunderous applause .

For Cagliari he scored 207 goals in 374 competitive games ( Serie A : 289/156; Serie B : 26/8; Coppa Italia : 42/33; European Cup : 6/4; other 11/6) and is the club's record scorer.

National team

Luigi Riva completed his first international game for the Squadra Azzurra on June 27, 1965 in the game against Hungary (1: 2 defeat). Despite a broken leg a few months before the start of the World Cup in 1966 , he was nominated by national coach Edmondo Fabbri in the squad for the tournament in England , but not used. After disastrous performances and an early elimination in the preliminary round, a rebuilding began under Fabbri's successor Ferruccio Valcareggi . This put on Riva and made him a regular player in the storm center. Success came back and Italy won the European Championship in 1968 . In the final against Yugoslavia , Riva managed the important opening goal to make it 1-0 (final score 2-0).

In the following World Cup qualifiers , he paved the way for his team to the 1970 finals in Mexico with seven goals . The Italians were among the favorites and the Tifosi's hopes rested on Riva, who himself was aiming for the top scorer's crown. However, he had to wait until the quarter-finals (4-1 against Mexico ) before he could score his first two goals there. In the semi-final against Germany , the legendary match of the century , he contributed the important goal to the 3-2 in the meantime. This game had cost the Italians a lot of strength, which is why they could not oppose the superior Brazilians in the final and had no chance at 1: 4. Riva also had to leave the top scorer's crown to the outstanding Gerd Müller , who had scored ten times.

In 1974 Riva played his last major tournament with the World Cup in Germany . But the highly traded Italians did not know how to convince and were eliminated in the preliminary round . Here it became clear that Riva had passed its zenith. Shattered by injuries, he was only used twice and remained without a goal. His last appearance for the national team he completed on June 19, 1974 in the World Cup preliminary round match against Argentina (1: 1).

With 35 goals scored in only 42 international matches, he is still the record scorer for the Italian national team. His hit rate of 0.83 goals per game is unmatched to this day.

Achievements & Awards

• European champion : 1968
• Vice world champion : 1970
• Italian champion : 1969/70
• Serie A top scorer (3): 1966/67 (18 goals), 1968/69 (20 goals), 1969/70 (21 goals)
• Top scorer of the Coppa Italia (3): 1964/65 (3 goals), 1968/69 (9 goals), 1972/73 (8 goals)
• Europe's footballer of the year : second in 1969, third in 1970
• In 2011 he was inducted into the Hall of Fame of Italian Football

Season statistics

society	league	season	league		Coppa Italia		European Cup		Other		total
			Games	Gates	Games	Gates	Games	Gates	Games	Gates	Games	Gates
AC Legnano	Series C	1962/63	23	6th	-	-	-	-	-	-	23	6th
total			23	6th	-	-	-	-	-	-	23	6th
Cagliari Calcio	Series B	1963/64	26th	8th	2	0	-	-	-	-	28	8th
	Series A	1964/65	32	9	4th	3	-	-	-	-	36	12
		1965/66	34	11	3	0	-	-	-	-	37	11
		1966/67	23	18th	3	0	-	-	1	1	27	19th
		1967/68	26th	13	1	0	-	-	4th	3	31	16
		1968/69	29	20th	6th	8th	-	-	2	0	37	28
		1969/70	28	21st	6th	5	2	1	-	-	36	27
		1970/71	13	8th	5	5	3	3	4th	2	25th	18th
		1971/72	30th	21st	4th	3	-	-	-	-	34	24
		1972/73	26th	12	6th	8th	1	0	-	-	33	20th
		1973/74	25th	15th	1	0	-	-	-	-	26th	15th
		1974/75	8th	2	1	1	-	-	-	-	9	3
		1975/76	15th	6th	-	-	-	-	-	-	15th	6th
total			315	164	42	33	6th	4th	11	6th	374	207
Career total			338	170	42	33	6th	4th	11	6th	397	213

National team
year	Games	Gates
1965	1	-
1966	1	-
1967	4th	5
1968	2	2
1969	6th	8th
1970	10	6th
1971	3	2
1972	6th	4th
1973	7th	7th
1974	2	-
total	42	35

After football

After finishing his professional career, Riva stayed in Sardinia and worked in the management of Cagliari Calcio . In 1986/87 he briefly took over the office of club president. In addition, he also worked for the national team and looked after it as a kind of manager during the World Cup tournaments in 1994 and 2006 .

In 2005 he received the symbolic Sardinian citizenship and the jersey with the number 11 on the back, the number worn by Riva, is no longer given to any player by Cagliari Calcio.

Others

• Inter Milan had already agreed on a transfer with US Cagliari, but soon distanced themselves from the deal, as club boss and oil billionaire Angelo Moratti feared a mutiny among workers in his refineries in Sardinia.
• When Juventus Turin offered seven players for swap in addition to a high transfer fee, Riva said: "What are they actually allowing themselves, I'm not an object."

Web links

Commons : Luigi Riva  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

• Luigi Riva in the database of weltfussball.de

Individual evidence

1. ^ «1: 2 accident for Austria. Does Riva's career end? " In: Arbeiter-Zeitung . Vienna November 1st 1970, p. 1 ( berufer-zeitung.at - the open online archive - digitized).
2. ↑ http://www.archiviorossoblu.it/index.php?contenuti=giocatori&id_g=luigi-riva-310