Giuseppe Savoldi (; born 21 January 1947) is an Italian former professional

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kicking a ball to score a goal. Unqualified, the word ''football'' normally means the form of football that is the most popular where the word is used. Sports commonly c ...

player and coach, who played during the sixties, seventies and eighties, as a

forward Forward is a relative direction, the opposite of backward. Forward may also refer to: People * Forward (surname) Sports * Forward (association football) * Forward (basketball), including: ** Point forward ** Power forward (basketball) ** Sm ...

. A versatile attacker, he played club football in Italy for

Atalanta Atalanta (; grc-gre, Ἀταλάντη, Atalantē) meaning "equal in weight", is a heroine in Greek mythology. There are two versions of the huntress Atalanta: one from Arcadia, whose parents were Iasus and Clymene and who is primarily known ...

Bologna Bologna (, , ; egl, label= Emilian, Bulåggna ; lat, Bononia) is the capital and largest city of the Emilia-Romagna region in Northern Italy. It is the seventh most populous city in Italy with about 400,000 inhabitants and 150 different nat ...

and

S.S.C. Napoli Società Sportiva Calcio Napoli, commonly referred to as Napoli (), is an Football in Italy, Italian professional Association football, football List of football clubs in Italy, club based in the city of Naples ( it, Napoli, nap, Napule), Camp ...

, and represented the Italy national side at international level.

Club career

Born in

Gorlago Gorlago (Bergamasque: ) is a ''comune'' (municipality) in the Province of Bergamo in the Italian region of Lombardy, located about northeast of Milan and about southeast of Bergamo. Gorlago borders the following municipalities: Bolgare, Caro ...

Bergamo Bergamo (; lmo, Bèrghem ; from the proto- Germanic elements *''berg +*heim'', the "mountain home") is a city in the alpine Lombardy region of northern Italy, approximately northeast of Milan, and about from Switzerland, the alpine lakes Como ...

, Savoldi made his debut in

Serie A The Serie A (), also called Serie A TIM for national sponsorship with TIM, is a professional league competition for football clubs located at the top of the Italian football league system and the winner is awarded the Scudetto and the Coppa ...

in 1965 with

. From 1968 to 1975 he played in the red and blue kit of

, making 201 appearances, scoring 85 goals. He gained popularity and notoriety as a goalscoring

strike Strike may refer to: People *Strike (surname) Physical confrontation or removal *Strike (attack), attack with an inanimate object or a part of the human body intended to cause harm *Airstrike, military strike by air forces on either a suspected ...

r with the Emilian club, achieving notable success, winning two

Coppa Italia The ("Italy Cup") is an annual knockout cup competition in Italian football organized by the FIGC until the 2009–10 season and the Lega Serie A ever since. History The beginning of the tournament was turbulent, due to the complexity of ...

titles in 1970 and 1974, finishing both editions as top scorer with ten goals. He also win the

Anglo-Italian League Cup The Anglo-Italian League Cup ( it, Coppa di Lega Italo-Inglese, also known as the Anglo-Italian League Cup Winners' Cup) was a short-lived football competition between teams from England and Italy – an English cup-winning team (League Cup or FA C ...

in 1970, as well as winning the Serie A top scorer award during the

1972–73 Serie A The 1972–73 Serie A season was won by Juventus. Teams Ternana, Lazio and Palermo had been promoted from Serie B while Mantova, Catanzaro and Varese was relegated to Serie B. That was the last season for Mantova in Serie A. Final classificati ...

season, with 17 goals. In 1975, he was signed by

for a then

world record A world record is usually the best global and most important performance that is ever recorded and officially verified in a specific skill, sport, or other kind of activity. The book ''Guinness World Records'' and other world records organization ...

two billion

Lira Lira is the name of several currency units. It is the current currency of Turkey and also the local name of the currencies of Lebanon and of Syria. It is also the name of several former currencies, including those of Italy, Malta and Israe ...

(£1.2 million), becoming football's first million pound player. With the club, he continued his success, becoming a popular figure with the fans, as he won his third Coppa Italia title during the 1975–76 season, also finishing as the Coppa Italia top scorer, with 12 goals, during the 1977–78 season. He also helped the club to win the Anglo-Italian League Cup in 1976, the second time he had won this title. Savoldi ended his career playing with Bologna once again, before finally returning to the club with which he had started his career, Atalanta, for one season ( 1982–83), in

Serie B The Serie B (), currently named Serie Balkrishna Industries, BKT for sponsorship reasons, is the second-highest division in the Italian football league system after the Serie A. It has been operating for over ninety years since the 1929–30 ...

. During his career in Serie A he made 405 appearances scoring 168 goals. During his career in Serie B he made 73 appearances scoring 18 goals.

International career

In 1975, Savoldi made four appearances for the Italy national side, making his debut on 8 June in a 1–0 away defeat to the

Soviet Union The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, it was nominally a federal union of fifteen national ...

, in Moscow, also making two appearances in 1976 European Qualifying matches. He scored his only international goal from a penalty in a 3–2 friendly home win over

Greece Greece,, or , romanized: ', officially the Hellenic Republic, is a country in Southeast Europe. It is situated on the southern tip of the Balkans, and is located at the crossroads of Europe, Asia, and Africa. Greece shares land borders with ...

, on 30 December, which was his final international appearance.

Style of play

A versatile and prolific

, Savoldi was capable of playing anywhere along the front line; throughout his career he was deployed as a

centre-forward Forwards (also known as attackers) are outfield positions in an association football team who play the furthest up the pitch and are therefore most responsible for scoring goals as well as assisting them. As with any attacking player, the role ...

, as a striker, as a

left winger A midfielder is an outfield position in association football. Midfielders may play an exclusively defensive role, breaking up attacks, and are in that case known as defensive midfielders. As central midfielders often go across boundarie ...

, or as an

attacking midfielder A midfielder is an Glossary of association football terms#O, outfield position in association football. Midfielders may play an exclusively defensive role, breaking up attacks, and are in that case known as defensive midfielders. As #Cent ...

. He was primarily known for his pace, strength, and in particular, his ability in the air as a goalscoring centre-forward, as well as his accuracy from

penalties Penalty or The Penalty may refer to: Sports * Penalty (golf) * Penalty (gridiron football) * Penalty (ice hockey) * Penalty (rugby) * Penalty (rugby union) * Penalty kick (association football) * Penalty shoot-out (association football) * Penalty ...

; with 45 goals from the spot, he is the fourth-most prolific penalty kick taker in Serie A history.

Personal life

He is the father of former footballer

Gianluca Savoldi Gianluca Savoldi (born 20 September 1975 in Bologna, Italy), is a retired Italian footballer who played as a striker. Career The son of once World record transferred player Giuseppe Savoldi, the young Gianluca decided to walk in his father's fo ...

, who also briefly played in the Serie A with

Reggina Reggina 1914 S.r.l., commonly referred to as Reggina, is an Italian football club based in Reggio Calabria. Founded in 1914, they currently play in Serie B, and play their home matches at the 27,763 seater Stadio Oreste Granillo. They are n ...

and represented

Napoli Naples (; it, Napoli ; nap, Napule ), from grc, Νεάπολις, Neápolis, lit=new city. is the regional capital of Campania and the third-largest city of Italy, after Rome and Milan, with a population of 909,048 within the city's adminis ...

among other clubs in the

Honours

Bologna *

: 1969–70, 1973–74 *

1970 Events January * January 1 – Unix time epoch reached at 00:00:00 UTC. * January 5 – The 7.1 Tonghai earthquake shakes Tonghai County, Yunnan province, China, with a maximum Mercalli intensity scale, Mercalli intensity of X (''Extrem ...

Napoli * Coppa Italia: 1975–76 * Anglo-Italian League Cup:

1976 Events January * January 3 – The International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights enters into force. * January 5 – The Pol Pot regime proclaims a new constitution for Democratic Kampuchea. * January 11 – The 1976 Phila ...

Individual * Coppa Italia top scorer: 1969–70, 1973–74, 1977–78 * Serie A top scorer: 1972–73

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Savoldi, Giuseppe 1947 births Living people Clergy from the Province of Bergamo Association football forwards Italian footballers Italy international footballers Italy under-21 international footballers S.S.C. Napoli players Bologna F.C. 1909 players Atalanta B.C. players Serie A players Serie B players Italian football managers A.C.N. Siena 1904 managers