Giacinto Facchetti

Giacinto Facchetti was born in Treviglio (Bergamo) on July 18, 1942.

At 14 he joined local club Zanconti GSD Treviglio and at 15 the main club Trevigliese. The Lombards were in amateur leagues and Facchetti played 81 games. He played mainly as a forward and attracted the interest of Atalanta but his parents were not keen and it fell through.

He also caught Helenio Herrera's eye and towards the end of the 1960-61 season he made the big move to Inter. At Inter he became an attacking full-back and one of the best defenders in Italian history.

He made his debut on May 21 1961 against Roma and stayed on until May 7 1978 when he played his last game for inter.

In these 17 years he played 639 games (475 in A, 85 in Coppa Italia, 68 in Europe and 10 in other competitions). To be a defender he scored an impressive 76 goals (59 in A).

He won the Scudetto 4 times with Inter (1963, 1965, 1966 and 1971), the Coppa Italia (1978), the European Cup twice (1964, 1965) and the Intercontinental Cup twice (1964, 1965). At Inter he is a true great, possibly the greatest. His number 3 shirt will never be worn again by any Inter player.

For Italy he won 94 caps and scored 3 goals (Finland, Scotland and Cyprus). He won a European Championship in 1968 as captain and was runner-up at the 1970 World Cup. He took part in three World Cups and the triumphal European Championship. He was captain from 1966 to his last game in 1978 against England at Wembley.

In Italy Facchetti is a legend. He was a left full-back but an innovator in the position as he also took part in the attacking moves. He was strong physically with superb athleticism but also good technique. His athleticism won him the student games 100 metre title with a time of 11.00 seconds.

He scored 76 goals without penalties or freekicks. For such a big and strong player (1.88 and 85 kilos) he was agile too and able to cut in from the wing to shooting positions. For all his attacking abilities he was above all an excellent defender, solid marker and good in the air.

These strengths also allowed him to adapt to central defender and sweeper in his later years. The famous journalist Gianni Brera nicknamed him "Giacinto Magno". To his teammates he was "Cipe", possibly due to Herrera initially pronouncing his name wrong as Cipelletti.

He was also an extremely clean and correct player. In his long career he only got sent off once and that was for applauding the referee.

When talking of the greatest Italian defenders of all time, Facchetti's name always comes up.

After retiring he stayed at Inter. He became a director and was even president between January 2004 and September 2006. He continued to be respected off the field for his gentleman-like behaviour and sporting values.

Facchetti died on September 4, 2006 in Milan. A sad day for the passing of a symbol of Italian sport.

Sources

Wikipedia