Juan Alberto "Pepe" Schiaffino Villano (; 28 July 1925 – 13 November 2002) was an Italian-Uruguayan football player who played as an

attacking midfielder 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 forward. A highly skilful and creative playmaker, at club level, he played for CA Peñarol in Uruguay, and for

A.C. Milan Associazione Calcio Milan (), commonly referred to as AC Milan or simply Milan, is a professional Association football, football club in Milan, Italy, founded in 1899. The club has spent its entire history, with the exception of the 1980–81 ...

, and Roma in Italy. At international level, he won the

1950 FIFA World Cup The 1950 FIFA World Cup was the fourth edition of the FIFA World Cup, the quadrennial international football championship for senior men's national teams and held in Brazil from 24 June to 16 July 1950. The planned 1942 and 1946 World Cups were ...

with the Uruguay national team, and also took part at the

1954 FIFA World Cup The 1954 FIFA World Cup was the fifth edition of the FIFA World Cup, the quadrennial international football tournament for senior men's national teams of the nations affiliated to FIFA. It was held in Switzerland from 16 June to 4 July. Switzer ...

; he later also represented the

Italy 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 bo ...

. He was ranked as the best Uruguayan footballer of all time by an

IFFHS The International Federation of Football History & Statistics (IFFHS) is an organisation that chronicles the history and records of association football. It was founded in 1984 by Alfredo Pöge in Leipzig. The IFFHS was based in Abu Dhabi for so ...

poll, and the 17th greatest player of the twentieth century.

Club career

Following his eight successful years in

Peñarol Club Atlético Peñarol (; English: ''Peñarol Athletic Club'') —also known as ''Carboneros'', ''Aurinegros,'' and (familiarly) ''Manyas''— is a Uruguayan sports club from Montevideo. The name "Peñarol" comes from the Peñarol neigh ...

in his native Uruguayan league, Schiaffino was purchased by

Italian 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 ...

club

, for an at the time world record fee of 52 million Lire, in September 1954. He played 171 games with

and scored 60 goals, and participated in the

1958 European Cup Final The 1958 European Cup Final was a football match which took place at Heysel Stadium in Brussels, Belgium on 28 May 1958. It was contested by Real Madrid of Spain and Milan of Italy. Real Madrid won 3–2 after extra time to claim their third Eur ...

, which Milan lost to Real Madrid 2–3 (aet). He was among the crucial offensive players in a Milan team that was dominated by foreign stars such as

Nils Liedholm Nils Erik Liedholm (; 8 October 1922 – 5 November 2007) was a Swedish football midfielder and coach. ''Il Barone'' (The Baron), as he is affectionately known in Italy, was renowned for being part of the Swedish "Gre-No-Li" trio of strikers al ...

and

Gunnar Nordahl Nils Gunnar Nordahl (; 19 October 1921 – 15 September 1995) was a Swedish professional footballer. A highly prolific, powerful, and physically strong striker, with an eye for goal, he is best known for his spell at AC Milan from 1949 to 1956, ...

. Schiaffino won three national championships with Milan, the victories being in 1955,

1957 1957 ( MCMLVII) was a common year starting on Tuesday of the Gregorian calendar, the 1957th year of the Common Era (CE) and ''Anno Domini'' (AD) designations, the 957th year of the 2nd millennium, the 57th year of the 20th century, and the 8th year ...

and

1959 Events January * January 1 - Cuba: Fulgencio Batista flees Havana when the forces of Fidel Castro advance. * January 2 - Lunar probe Luna 1 was the first man-made object to attain escape velocity from Earth. It reached the vicinity of E ...

. Schiaffino left in 1960 to join Roma, where he played out his career during two moderately successful seasons, in which Roma finished fifth in the standings.

International career

Schiaffino played for two national teams; first with the Uruguyan national team from 1946 to 1954, and later with the Italian national team from 1954 to 1958, courtesy of his paternal grandfather who was a Ligurian from the province of Genoa. He obtained 21 caps with the Uruguyan national team, scoring nine goals, and four caps with the Italian national team. Schiaffino participated actively in

Uruguay Uruguay (; ), officially the Oriental Republic of Uruguay ( es, República Oriental del Uruguay), is a country in South America. It shares borders with Argentina to its west and southwest and Brazil to its north and northeast; while bordering ...

's victory in the 1950 World Cup, scoring one goal in the final and beating

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 ...

in its own stadium, in what was called the '' Maracanazo''. He also played in the 1954 World Cup, helping his nation to a fourth-place finish in the tournament.

Style of play

A tactically versatile player, with a slender physique, Schiaffino was usually deployed as a left-sided

inside 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 ...

second striker 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 ...

in the early part of his career, in particular with CA Peñarol and A.C. Milan, or as an attacking midfielder, although he was also capable of playing as a

deep-lying playmaker 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 ...

midfield Midfield is the part of a sports field that lies approximately in the center. In American football, association football (soccer) and field hockey, it is the area in and around the center circle, as well as the players who occupy that region. In ...

, a role which he occupied more frequently as his career progressed. Schiaffino was renowned for his creative ability and for having a unique capacity to read the game, organise his teammates, orchestrate goalscoring opportunities, and dictate the tempo of his team's play in midfield, which made him a highly proficient playmaker and

assist Assist or ASSIST may refer to: Sports Several sports have a statistic known as an "assist", generally relating to action by a player leading to a score by another player on their team: *Assist (basketball), a pass by a player that facilitates a ba ...

provider; as a footballer, he was best known for his excellent technical ability, passing range, intelligence, positional sense, leadership, and vision. A well-rounded and hard-working player, who is regarded by pundits as one of the greatest footballers of all time, in addition to his skill, elegance, and creativity on the ball, Schiaffino was also known for his defensive contribution and willingness to track back, put pressure on opponents, and challenge them for the ball, often with sliding tackles; his wide range of skills also enabled him to play as a sweeper with Roma in his later career.

Death

Schiaffino died on 13 November 2002. His remains are buried at the Cementerio del Buceo, Montevideo.

Honours

Club

;

* Primera División Uruguaya (Uruguayan championship): 1949, 1951, 1953, 1954 ;

Milan Milan ( , , Lombard: ; it, Milano ) is a city in northern Italy, capital of Lombardy, and the second-most populous city proper in Italy after Rome. The city proper has a population of about 1.4 million, while its metropolitan city h ...

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 Cop ...

: 1954–55, 1956–57, 1958–59 *

Latin Cup The Latin Cup was an international football tournament for club sides from the Southwest European nations of France, Italy, Spain, and Portugal. In 1949 the football federations came together and requested FIFA to launch the competition. Europ ...

: 1956 ; Roma * Inter-Cities Fairs Cup:

1961 Events January * January 3 ** United States President Dwight D. Eisenhower announces that the United States has severed diplomatic and consular relations with Cuba (Cuba–United States relations are restored in 2015). ** Aero Flight 311 (K ...

International

;

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 ...

1950 Events January * January 1 – The International Police Association (IPA) – the largest police organization in the world – is formed. * January 5 – Sverdlovsk plane crash: ''Aeroflot'' Lisunov Li-2 crashes in a snowstorm. All 19 ...

Individual

FIFA World Cup All-Star Team At the end of each FIFA World Cup final tournament, several awards are presented to the players and teams who have distinguished themselves in various aspects of the game. Awards *There are currently five post-tournament awards from the FIFA ...

: 1950 * IFFHS Uruguayan Player of the 20th Century * IFFHS South American Player of the 20th Century (6th place) * IFFHS Player of the 20th Century (17th place) * World Soccer: The 100 Greatest Footballers of All Time *A.C. Milan Hall of Fame *

Legends *

FIFA World Cup Silver Ball At the end of each FIFA World Cup final tournament, several awards are presented to the players and teams who have distinguished themselves in various aspects of the game. Awards *There are currently five post-tournament awards from the FIFA ...

(2nd Best Player): 1950 *

Top Goalscorer: 1956

References

External links

*
Juan Alberto Schiaffino on RSSSF

{{DEFAULTSORT:Schiaffino, Juan Alberto 1925 births 2002 deaths Italian footballers Italy international footballers Dual internationalists (football) Uruguayan footballers Peñarol players A.C. Milan players A.S. Roma players Footballers from Montevideo Uruguay international footballers FIFA World Cup-winning players 1950 FIFA World Cup players 1954 FIFA World Cup players Uruguayan expatriate footballers Uruguayan Primera División players Serie A players Uruguayan football managers Uruguay national football team managers Uruguayan people of Italian descent Peñarol managers Burials at Cementerio del Buceo, Montevideo People of Ligurian descent 1975 Copa América managers Association football forwards