Silvio Piola

Silvio Piola
Personal information
Date of birth29 September 1913
Place of birthRobbio, Italy
Date of death4 October 1996 (aged 83)
Place of deathGattinara, Italy
Playing positionStriker
Senior career*
YearsTeamApps†(Gls)†
1929–1934Pro Vercelli127(51)
1934–1943Lazio227(143)
1943–1944Torino23(27)
1945–1947Juventus57(26)
1947–1954Novara185(86)
Total619(333)
National team
1935–1952Italy34(30)
* Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only.
† Appearances (Goals).

Silvio Piola (Italian pronunciation: [ˈsilvjo ˈpjɔla]; 29 September 1913 – 4 October 1996) was an Italian footballer from Robbio Lomellina, province of Pavia who played as a forward. He is known as a highly prominent figure in the history of Italian football due to several records he set, and he is regarded as one of the greatest strikers of his generation, as well as one of the best Italian players of all time. Piola won the 1938 FIFA World Cup with Italy, scoring two goals in the final, ending the tournament as the second best player and the second highest scorer.[1]

Piola is third in the all-time goalscoring records of the Italian national team.[2] He is also the highest goalscorer in Italian first league history, with 290 goals (274 in Serie A and 16 in Divisione Nazionale), and also in Serie A history.[3][4] He played 566 Serie A games, putting him 4th on the all-time list for appearances in Italy's top flight. Piola is the only player to have the honour of being the all-time Serie A top scorer of three different teams (Pro Vercelli, Lazio and Novara)[5][6][7] Piola is also the highest scoring Italian player in all competitions, with 364 goals (390 if his goals in the Divisione Nazionale are also included).[8]

After his death a pair of Italian stadiums were renamed after him: one in Novara in 1997 and another in Vercelli in 1998.

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. To this day, Piola is still currently the highest all-time goalscorer in Serie A.[9]

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; he finished the tournament as the second highest scorer and was named the second best player, also earning a place in the Team of the Tournament.

Piola went on to play 34 games for Italy and score 30 goals between 1935-1952, a tally that would surely have been greater if not for the interruption caused by World War II. In 1939 he scored a goal with his hand to England 47 years before Diego Armando Maradona.[10] His last international appearance was in 1952, when Italy drew 1–1 with England. Piola is currently Italy's third highest goalscorer of all-time, behind only Giuseppe Meazza, and Luigi Riva.

Piola died in Gattinara in 1996, aged 83.

Style of play

Regarded as one of the greatest strikers of all time, Piola was widely renowned for his goalscoring ability throughout his career, and his eye for goal.[11] He was considered to be a modern and well-rounded player during his time, as he used his physical attributes, intelligence, and control to play with his back to goal, and lay off the ball for team mates in order to provide them with assists.[12][11] Piola's vision, work-rate, and technical ability, as well as his passing ability, made him a tactically versatile player[13] who was capable of playing in several positions, and he was deployed on the wing, in midfield, or as a creative advanced playmaker on occasion.[12][11] Piola particularly excelled as a centre-forward, however; his speed, positional sense, and opportunism enabled him to lose his markers and receive his team-mates' deliveries or pounce on loose balls in the area. Piola was also known for his powerful and accurate finishing ability with his head and both feet, from any position on the pitch, which made him a prolific goalscorer throughout his career.[12][14][11] Due to his agility and athletic ability, Piola also excelled in the air, and he was capable of scoring spectacular acrobatic goals from volleys and bicycle kicks.[15][11] Despite his talent and his reputation, he was occasionally accused of diving throughout his career. Unlike his legendary international team-mate, club rival, and friend Giuseppe Meazza,[16] however, with whom he was often compared,[17] Piola was much more reserved both on and off the pitch, and he preferred to score through efficiency and pragmatism rather than flamboyance.[18][19]

Career statistics

Club performance League Cup Total
Season Club League Apps Goals Apps Goals Apps Goals
Italy League Coppa Italia Total
1929–30Pro VercelliSerie A40
1930–313213
1931–323112
1932–333211
1933–342815
1934–35LazioSerie A2921
1935–362720
1936–372821
1937–382815
1938–39218
1939–40239
1940–412510
1941–422418
1942–432221
1944TorinoCAI2327
1945–46JuventusSerie A-B2916
1946–47Serie A2810
1947–48NovaraSerie B3016
1948–49Serie A3615
1949–50174
1950–513719
1951–523118
1952–53259
1953–5495
Total Italy 619333
Career total 619333

Honours

Club

S.S. Lazio
Juventus F.C.
Novara

International

Italy

Individual

References

  1. ↑ "Silvio Piola, il più bomber di tutti". Retrieved 21 January 2015.
  2. ↑ "Nazionale in cifre". Retrieved 22 January 2015.
  3. ↑ "Italy - All-Time Topscorers". Retrieved 22 January 2015.
  4. ↑ Hafez Ahmed @ http://www.daily-sun.com (2012-09-28). "Sports | Totti becomes Serie A's third top all-time scorer". daily sun. Retrieved 2014-05-07.
  5. ↑ "Serie A Top Scorers - Lazio". Free-elements.com. Retrieved 2014-05-07.
  6. ↑ "Serie A Top Scorers - Pro Vercelli". Free-elements.com. Retrieved 2014-05-07.
  7. ↑ "Serie A Top Scorers - Novara". Free-elements.com. Retrieved 2014-05-07.
  8. ↑ "Del Piero a quota 301 gol in carriera: nel mirino c'è Inzaghi". Retrieved 22 January 2015.
  9. ↑ "Italy - All-Time Topscorers". Retrieved 22 January 2015.
  10. ↑ "Silvio Piola: Maradona's mano de dios 47 years earlier". SerieAddicted.com. 16 May 2004.
  11. ↑ 11.0 11.1 11.2 11.3 11.4 "Silvio Piola: Il Senso del gol". Retrieved 21 January 2015.
  12. ↑ 12.0 12.1 12.2 "Silvio Piola, l’uomo dei Record!". Retrieved 21 January 2015.
  13. ↑ "Piola, Italy's small town hero". Retrieved 21 January 2015.
  14. ↑ "Il Pallone Racconta: Silvio PIOLA". Retrieved 21 January 2015.
  15. ↑ "Piola, Italy's small town hero". Retrieved 21 January 2015.
  16. ↑ "E' morto Piola, la leggenda del gol". Retrieved 21 January 2015.
  17. ↑ "http://bocca.blogautore.repubblica.it/piola-brasile-2014-nazionale-perfetta/". Retrieved 21 January 2015.
  18. ↑ "Il pallone racconta: MEAZZA E PIOLA ALLA JUVENTUS (parte seconda)". Retrieved 21 January 2015.
  19. ↑ "Piola, Italy's small town hero". Retrieved 21 January 2015.
Sporting positions
Preceded by
Aldo Boffi		 Serie A Top Scorer
1942–43 		Succeeded by
Eusebio Castigliano