Alessandro Altobelli facts for kids

Quick facts for kids
Alessandro Altobelli

Personal information
Date of birth	(1955-11-28) 28 November 1955 (age 69)
Place of birth	Sonnino, Italy
Height	1.81 m (5 ft 11 in)
Position(s)	Forward
Senior career*
Years	Team	Apps	(Gls)
1973–1974	Latina	28	(7)
1974–1977	Brescia	76	(26)
1977–1988	Inter Milan	317	(128)
1988–1989	Juventus	20	(4)
1989–1990	Brescia	32	(7)
Total		473	(172)
International career
1980–1988	Italy	61	(25)
Medal record Men's football Representing  Italy FIFA World Cup Winner 1982 Spain
*Club domestic league appearances and goals

Alessandro Altobelli, born on November 28, 1955, is a famous Italian former football player. He was a forward, which means he played at the front of the team to score goals. Alessandro was a very important player for the Italian national team. He helped them win the World Cup in 1982! People called him Spillo, which means "Needle," because he was tall and thin. He was known as one of the best Italian strikers in the late 1970s and 1980s. Altobelli is still the top scorer in the Coppa Italia cup, with 56 goals. He scored almost 300 goals in his whole career.

Club Career Highlights

Alessandro Altobelli was born in Sonnino, Italy. He started his football journey with smaller clubs like Latina and Brescia. In 1977, he joined Inter Milan, a big club in Italy's top league, Serie A. He played for Inter Milan for a long time, appearing in 466 games and scoring 209 goals.

He helped Inter Milan win the Serie A league title in 1980. He also helped them win the Coppa Italia cup twice, in 1978 and 1982. In 1982, he was the top scorer in the Coppa Italia with nine goals. Altobelli also scored seven goals in the 1978–79 European Cup Winners' Cup, leading Inter to the quarter-finals. After his time at Inter, he played one season for Juventus in 1988-1989. He then finished his career back at Brescia in 1990.

Playing for Italy

Altobelli played for the Italian national team 61 times between 1980 and 1988. He scored 25 goals for his country. This makes him one of Italy's top goal scorers ever.

His most famous goal for Italy was in the 1982 FIFA World Cup final. Italy won that game 3-1 against West Germany. Altobelli came into the game early as a substitute. He scored Italy's third goal, helping them secure the World Cup trophy. He was only the second substitute ever to score in a World Cup final.

Altobelli also played in the Euro 80 tournament. Italy finished fourth in that competition. He also played in the 1986 FIFA World Cup, where he scored four goals. In Euro 88, he was the team's captain. He helped Italy reach the semi-finals again.

How He Played

Alessandro Altobelli was known as a fantastic and complete striker. He was great at scoring goals. He was especially good at heading the ball because he could jump high and aim well. He was also fast and worked hard on the field. Altobelli had excellent technique and could shoot accurately with both feet, even though he was naturally left-footed. He was also good at holding the ball and passing it to his teammates.

After His Football Career

After he stopped playing professional football, Altobelli continued to play. He played for the Italy national beach soccer team. He was even the top scorer in the Beach Soccer World Championships in 1995 and 1996.

In the 1990s, he became involved in politics. He also worked as a sports director for a club called Padova. Later, he became a football scout for Inter Milan, looking for new talented players. In the 2000s, he started working as a football expert on TV for Al Jazeera. Since September 2020, he has been a pundit for the RAI TV show A tutto campo. He also appeared on 90º minuto.

Career Statistics

Club

International

Scores and results list Italy's goal tally first, score column indicates score after each Altobelli goal.

List of international goals scored by Alessandro Altobelli

No.	Date	Venue	Opponent	Score	Result	Ref.
1	22 June 1980	Stadio Luigi Ferraris, Genoa, Italy	Portugal	1–0	3–1	Friendly
2				2–1
3	11 July 1982	Santiago Bernabéu Stadium, Madrid, Spain	West Germany	3–0	3–1	1982 FIFA World Cup
4	13 November 1982	San Siro, Milan, Italy	Czechoslovakia	1–0	2–2	UEFA Euro 1984 qualifying
5	22 December 1983	Stadio Renato Curi, Perugia, Italy	Cyprus	1–0	3–1	UEFA Euro 1984 qualifying
6	3 March 1984	BJK İnönü Stadium, Istanbul, Turkey	Turkey	2–1	2–3	Friendly
7	26 May 1984	Varsity Stadium, Toronto, Canada	Canada	1–0	2–0	Friendly
8	9 December 1984	Stadio Adriatico – Giovanni Cornacchia, Pescara, Italy	Poland	1–0	2–0	Friendly
9	5 February 1985	Dalymount Park, Dublin, Republic of Ireland	Republic of Ireland	2–0	2–0	Friendly
10	6 June 1985	Estadio Azteca, Mexico City, Mexico	England	2–1	2–1	Friendly
11	25 September 1985	Stadio Via del Mare, Lecce, Italy	Norway	1–0	1–2	Friendly
12	26 March 1986	Stadio Friuli, Udine, Italy	Austria	1–1	2–1	Friendly
13	11 May 1986	Stadio San Paolo, Naples, Italy	China	2–0	2–0	Friendly
14	31 May 1986	Estadio Azteca, Mexico City, Mexico	Bulgaria	1–0	1–1	1986 FIFA World Cup
15	5 June 1986	Estadio Cuauhtémoc, Puebla, Mexico	Argentina	1–0	1–1	1986 FIFA World Cup
16	10 June 1986	Estadio Cuauhtémoc, Puebla, Mexico	South Korea	1–0	3–2	1986 FIFA World Cup
17				2–1
18	15 November 1986	San Siro, Milan, Italy	Switzerland	2–1	3–2	UEFA Euro 1988 qualifying
19				3–1
20	6 December 1986	National Stadium, Ta' Qali, Malta	Malta	2–0	2–0	UEFA Euro 1988 qualifying
21	24 January 1987	Stadio Comunale, Bergamo, Italy	Malta	3–0	5–0	UEFA Euro 1988 qualifying
22				4–0
23	14 February 1987	Estádio Nacional, Lisbon, Portugal	Portugal	1–0	1–0	UEFA Euro 1988 qualifying
24	23 September 1987	Arena Garibaldi – Stadio Romeo Anconetani, Pisa, Italy	Yugoslavia	1–0	1–0	Friendly
25	17 June 1988	Müngersdorfer Stadion, Cologne, Germany	Denmark	1–0	2–0	UEFA Euro 1988

Honours

Inter Milan

• Serie A: 1979–80
• Coppa Italia: 1977–78, 1981–82

Italy

• FIFA World Cup: 1982

Individual

• European Cup Winners' Cup top goalscorer: 1978–79
• Coppa Italia top goalscorer: 1981–82
• Beach Soccer World Championships top goalscorer: 1995, 1996
• Italian Football Hall of Fame: 2022

See also

In Spanish: Alessandro Altobelli para niños