Roberto Boninsegna ( born 13 November 1943) is an Italian former

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, who mainly played 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 ...

. After retiring, he worked as a football manager. As a player, he represented the Italian national side at two

World Cups A world cup is a global sporting competition in which the participant entities – usually international teams or individuals representing their countries – compete for the title of world champion. The event most associated with the concept i ...

, reaching the final in

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 ...

Club career

Born at

Mantua Mantua ( ; it, Mantova ; Lombard language, Lombard and la, Mantua) is a city and ''comune'' in Lombardy, Italy, and capital of the Province of Mantua, province of the same name. In 2016, Mantua was designated as the Italian Capital of Culture ...

, Boninsegna started his career 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 ...

(the second tier of Italian professional football) with

Prato Prato ( , ) is a city and ''comune'' in Tuscany, Italy, the capital of the Province of Prato. The city lies in the north east of Tuscany, at the foot of Monte Retaia, elevation , the last peak in the Calvana chain. With more than 200,000 i ...

in 1963–64 season. He transferred to

Potenza Potenza (, also , ; , Potentino dialect: ''Putenz'') is a ''comune'' in the Southern Italian region of Basilicata (former Lucania). Capital of the Province of Potenza and the Basilicata region, the city is the highest regional capital and one ...

, who was

team in 1964–65 season. He also played for

Varese Varese ( , , or ; lmo, label= Varesino, Varés ; la, Baretium; archaic german: Väris) is a city and ''comune'' in north-western Lombardy, northern Italy, north-west of Milan. The population of Varese in 2018 has reached 80,559. It is the c ...

in 1965–66 and

Cagliari Cagliari (, also , , ; sc, Casteddu ; lat, Caralis) is an Italian municipality and the capital of the island of Sardinia, an autonomous region of Italy. Cagliari's Sardinian name ''Casteddu'' means ''castle''. It has about 155,000 inhabitant ...

between 1966 and 1969, helping the club to a second-place finish during the 1968–69 Serie A season alongside

Luigi Riva Luigi "Gigi" Riva (; born 7 November 1944) is an Italian former professional footballer who played as a centre-forward. Considered to be one of the best players of his generation, as well as one of the greatest strikers of all time, Riva enjoyed ...

. During the summer of 1967,

came to the United States to play in the North American Soccer League as the Chicago Mustangs; Boninsegna led the club in scoring with 11 goals in nine matches. Boninsegna gained a status as an efficient striker with Internazionale Milano F.C. and the

Italian national football team The Italy national football team ( it, Nazionale di calcio dell'Italia) has represented Italy in international football since its first match in 1910. The national team is controlled by the Italian Football Federation (FIGC), the governing body ...

in the 1970s, playing alongside

Sandro Mazzola Alessandro "Sandro" Mazzola (; born 8 November 1942) is an Italian former professional footballer, who played as a forward or attacking midfielder for Internazionale and the Italy national team. He currently works as a football analyst and co ...

. In Serie A, he totaled 171 goals in 281 games, and was top goalscorer in Italy during the 1970–71 and 1971–72 Serie A seasons, with Inter. Roberto Boninsegna - 1960s - US Cagliari

Roberto Boninsegna - 1960s - US Cagliari

After moving to Inter in 1969, he also won the 1970–71 Serie A title with the club, and reached the 1972 European Cup Final, only to be defeated by

Ajax Ajax may refer to: Greek mythology and tragedy * Ajax the Great, a Greek mythological hero, son of King Telamon and Periboea * Ajax the Lesser, a Greek mythological hero, son of Oileus, the king of Locris * ''Ajax'' (play), by the ancient Greek ...

. He transferred to

Juventus F.C. )''I Bianconeri'' (The White and Blacks)''Le Zebre'' (The Zebras)''La Signora Omicidi'' (The Killer Lady)''La Gheuba'' (: The Hunchback) , founded = as Sport-Club Juventus , ground = Juventus Stadium , capacity = 41,507 , owner = Agnelli ...

in 1976 in exchange for

Pietro Anastasi Pietro Anastasi (; 7 April 1948 – 17 January 2020), nicknamed ''Petruzzu 'u turcu'' () by fans, was an Italian footballer who played mainly in the role of a forward. He started his professional club career in Italy with Varese in 1966, helpi ...

, and he played 3 seasons for the club, winning two

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 ...

titles, a

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 ...

, and an

UEFA Cup A cup is an open-top used to hold hot or cold liquids for pouring or drinking; while mainly used for drinking, it also can be used to store Solid, solids for pouring (e.g., sugar, flour, grains, salt). Cups may be made of glass, metal, porcela ...

. After leaving Juventus in 1979, he finished his career with

Verona Verona ( , ; vec, Verona or ) is a city on the Adige River in Veneto, Northern Italy, Italy, with 258,031 inhabitants. It is one of the seven provincial capitals of the region. It is the largest city Comune, municipality in the region and the ...

, retiring from professional football at the end of the 1979–80 Serie B season.

International career

Boninsegna made his debut for

Italy Italy ( it, Italia ), officially the Italian Republic, ) or the Republic of Italy, is a country in Southern Europe. It is located in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea, and its territory largely coincides with the homonymous geographical re ...

on 18 November 1967, in an away

UEFA Euro 1968 qualifying The qualifying round for the 1968 UEFA European Championship consisted of 31 teams divided into eight groups; seven of four teams and one of three teams. Each group winner progressed to the quarter-finals. The quarter-finals were played in two l ...

match against Switzerland, which ended 2–2, although he was not called up for the

final tournament Final, Finals or The Final may refer to: *Final (competition), the last or championship round of a sporting competition, match, game, or other contest which decides a winner for an event ** Another term for playoffs, describing a sequence of cont ...

, which Italy ended up winning on home soil under manager

Ferruccio Valcareggi Ferruccio Valcareggi (; 12 February 1919 – 2 November 2005) was an Italian football player and coach, who played as a midfielder. Playing career Valcareggi was born in Trieste, on 12 February 1919. A right–sided, offensive–minded, centra ...

, with whom he would have several disagreements throughout his international career. With the national side, he took part in two World Cups, the first in

, and the second in

1974 Major events in 1974 include the aftermath of the 1973 oil crisis and the resignation of United States President Richard Nixon following the Watergate scandal. In the Middle East, the aftermath of the 1973 Yom Kippur War determined politics; f ...

. In total, he managed 9 goals for Italy in 22 appearances. Boninsegna was a member of the Italian side that reached the final of the

1970 FIFA World Cup The 1970 FIFA World Cup was the ninth edition of the FIFA World Cup, the quadrennial international Association football, football championship for List of men's national association football teams, men's senior national teams. Held from 31 May t ...

in Mexico, scoring two goals throughout the tournament. In the epic semi-final match against

West-Germany West Germany is the colloquial term used to indicate the Federal Republic of Germany (FRG; german: Bundesrepublik Deutschland , BRD) between its formation on 23 May 1949 and the German reunification through the accession of East Germany on 3 ...

, he scored a goal, and later set up Gianni Rivera's match-winning goal in extra time, which allowed Italy to advance to the final after a 4–3 victory. He scored Italy's only goal (though at the time it was an important equaliser) in the

final Final, Finals or The Final may refer to: *Final (competition), the last or championship round of a sporting competition, match, game, or other contest which decides a winner for an event ** Another term for playoffs, describing a sequence of cont ...

against

Brazil Brazil ( pt, Brasil; ), officially the Federative Republic of Brazil (Portuguese: ), is the largest country in both South America and Latin America. At and with over 217 million people, Brazil is the world's fifth-largest country by area ...

, which Italy ultimately lost 4–1; he came off for Rivera in the final minutes of the game.

Style of play

As a player, Boninsegna was a powerful, agile and acrobatic striker, who was known for his accurate finishing ability and intelligence in the penalty area. He was a prolific goalscorer, who excelled in the air, despite not being particularly tall or imposing physically. He was also gifted with pace, stamina, technical ability, opportunism and outstanding consistency, which enabled him to become one of the top Italian forwards of his generation. Because of his jumping ability and his power and accuracy with his head, the Italian sports journalist

Gianni Brera Giovanni Luigi "Gianni" Brera (8 September 1919 – 19 December 1992) was an Italian sports journalist and novelist. This is a description by himself: "My real name is Giovanni Luigi Brera. I was born on 8 September 1919 in San Zenone Po in the ...

gave him the nickname "Bonimba". Despite his talent, he was criticised on occasion for being a selfish player, although he was also capable of creating chances for teammates. He was also well known for his on the field rivalry with

Juventus Juventus Football Club (from la, iuventūs, 'youth'; ), colloquially known as Juve (), is a professional Association football, football club based in Turin, Piedmont, Italy, that competes in the Serie A, the top tier of the Italian football leagu ...

defender

Francesco Morini Francesco Morini (; 12 August 1944 – 31 August 2021) was an Italian professional footballer who played as a defender. He competed for the Italy national team in the 1974 FIFA World Cup and earned a total of 11 caps. He played for clubs such ...

, who later became his teammate.

Career statistics

Club

International

Source

Honours

Club

Inter Milan *

: 1970–71 Juventus *Serie A: 1976–77, 1977–78 *

: 1978–79 *

: 1976–77

International

Italy *

FIFA World Cup The FIFA World Cup, often simply called the World Cup, is an international association football competition contested by the senior men's national teams of the members of the ' ( FIFA), the sport's global governing body. The tournament ha ...

runner-up:

Individual

* Serie A Top scorer: 1970–71, 1971–72 *Coppa Italia Top scorer: 1971–72 *

United Soccer Association The United Soccer Association was a professional soccer league featuring teams based in the United States and Canada. The league survived only one season before merging with the National Professional Soccer League to form the North American S ...

Top Scorer: 1967

References

External links

Roberto Boninsegna
at Inter.it {{DEFAULTSORT:Boninsegna, Roberto 1943 births Living people Sportspeople from Mantua Inter Milan players Italian footballers Italy international footballers A.C. Prato players Juventus F.C. players Cagliari Calcio players Serie A players Serie B players 1970 FIFA World Cup players 1974 FIFA World Cup players United Soccer Association players S.S.D. Varese Calcio players Mantova 1911 players Hellas Verona F.C. players Potenza S.C. players Chicago Mustangs (1967–68) players Association football forwards UEFA Cup winning players Footballers from Lombardy