Silvio Piola

Silvio Piola
Personal information
Full name	Silvio Piola
Date of birth	29 September 1913(1913-09-29)
Place of birth	Robbio, Italy
Date of death	4 October 1996(1996-10-04) (aged 83)
Place of death	Gattinara, Italy
Playing position	Striker
Senior career1
Years	Club	App (Gls)*
1929–1934 1934–1943 1943–1944 1945–1947 1947–1954	Pro Vercelli Lazio Torino Juventus Novara	127 0(51) 227 (148) 023 0(27) 057 0(26) 185 0(86)
National team
1935–1952	Italy	034 0(30)
1 Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only. * Appearances (Goals)

Silvio Piola (29 September 1913 – 4 October 1996) was an Italian footballer from Robbio Lomellina, province of Pavia. He is known as a highly prominent figure in the history of Italian football due to several records he set. Piola won the 1938 FIFA World Cup with Italy, scoring two goals in the final.

Piola is third in the all-time goalscoring records of the Italian national team. He is also the highest goalscorer in Serie A history, with 274 goals, 49 ahead of anyone else. He played 537 Serie A games, putting him 4th on the all-time list for appearances in Italy's top flight. Along with Carlo Parola, he is also considered as the "inventor" of the bicycle kick.

Club career

Piola began his career with Italian club side Pro Vercelli, making his Serie A debut against Bologna on 16 February 1930, scoring 13 goals in his first year, at the age of 17. He went on to score 51 goals in 127 appearances in Serie A for Pro Vercelli.

In 1934, he moved to Lazio, who had been on the receiving end of his first Serie A goal on 11 November 1930. He was to spend the next nine seasons there. Piola was the Serie A top scorer twice while at Lazio, in 1937 and 1943.

After leaving Lazio, he spent war-torn 1944 at Torino, where he scored an amazing 27 goals in just 23 games. Toward the end of the war, he joined Novara. Then, from 1945 to 1947, Piola played for Juventus, before moving back to Novara, where he stayed for seven more seasons.

International career

His first game for Italy came against Austria on 24 March 1935, when he also scored his first goal for the team. He was a World Cup winner in 1938, when he scored two of Italy's goals in the 4–2 victory over Hungary.

Piola went on to play 34 games for Italy and score 30 goals, a tally that would surely have been greater if not for the interruption caused by World War II. His last international appearance was in 1952, when Italy drew 1–1 with England. He died in Gattinara in 1996, aged 83.

Career statistics

Club Playing Honours

S.S. Lazio

• Serie A: runner-up 1936–37

Juventus F.C.

• Serie A: runner-up 1945–46, 1946–47

References

• Silvio Piola at National-Football-Teams.com

Italy squad – 1938 FIFA World Cup Winners (2nd Title) MF Andreolo • FW Bertoni • FW Biavati • GK Ceresoli • MF Chizzo • FW Colaussi • MF Donati • FW Ferrari • FW Ferraris • DF Foni • MF Genta • MF Locatelli • GK Masetti • FW Meazza (c) • DF Monzeglio • GK Olivieri • MF Olmi • FW Pasinati • MF Perazzolo • FW Piola • DF Rava • MF Serantoni • Coach: Pozzo