Antonio Cabrini facts for kids
| Personal information | ||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Date of birth | 8 October 1957 | |||||||||||||||
| Place of birth | Cremona, Italy | |||||||||||||||
| Height | 1.77 m | |||||||||||||||
| Playing position | Left-back | |||||||||||||||
| Youth career | ||||||||||||||||
| Cremonese | ||||||||||||||||
| Senior career* | ||||||||||||||||
| Years | Team | Apps† | (Gls)† | |||||||||||||
| 1973–1975 | Cremonese | 29 | (2) | |||||||||||||
| 1975–1976 | Atalanta | 35 | (1) | |||||||||||||
| 1976–1989 | Juventus | 297 | (33) | |||||||||||||
| 1989–1991 | Bologna | 55 | (2) | |||||||||||||
| Total | 416 | (38) | ||||||||||||||
| National team | ||||||||||||||||
| 1978–1987 | Italy | 73 | (9) | |||||||||||||
| Teams managed | ||||||||||||||||
| 2000–2001 | Arezzo | |||||||||||||||
| 2001 | Crotone | |||||||||||||||
| 2004–2005 | Pisa | |||||||||||||||
| 2005–2006 | Novara | |||||||||||||||
| 2012–2017 | Italy women | |||||||||||||||
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Honours
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Antonio Cabrini (born 8 October 1957) is a famous Italian football player and manager. He was known as a fantastic left-back, which is a defender who plays on the left side of the field. He spent most of his playing career with the club Juventus.
Cabrini was a key player for the Italian national team. He helped them win the 1982 FIFA World Cup, one of the biggest football tournaments in the world. People called him Bell'Antonio, meaning "beautiful Antonio," because he was popular and good-looking. On the field, he was known as one of Italy's best ever defenders. He was part of a very strong defensive group with goalkeeper Dino Zoff and other defenders like Claudio Gentile and Gaetano Scirea.
He won the Best Young Player Award at the 1978 FIFA World Cup. Italy finished fourth in that tournament. He also played for Italy in UEFA Euro 1980, where they also finished fourth. Antonio Cabrini is one of the few players who have won all the major UEFA Club competitions with Juventus. In 2021, he was added to the Italian Football Hall of Fame, which is a great honour.
Contents
Playing for Clubs
Antonio Cabrini was born in Cremona, Italy. He started his professional football journey with his local team, U.S. Cremonese, in the 1973–74 season. This was in Serie C, which is a lower division in Italian football. He quickly became a regular player.
In the 1975–76 season, he moved up to play in Serie B for Atalanta. Then, in the summer of 1976, he joined Juventus. This is where he would spend most of his amazing career.
With Juventus, Cabrini won many important trophies. He won the Serie A (the top Italian league) six times. He also won the Coppa Italia twice. On the international stage, he helped Juventus win the European Cup once, the UEFA Cup once, and the UEFA Super Cup once. He even won the Intercontinental European/South American Cup. In his last season with Juventus, he was the team's captain.
After 13 successful years with Juventus, he moved to Bologna in 1989. He played there for two more years before he stopped playing professional football. He played a total of 352 matches in Serie A.
Playing for Italy
Cabrini was chosen for Italy's team for the 1978 FIFA World Cup. This was special because he hadn't played for the senior national team before. He made his first appearance for Italy on June 2, 1978, against France. Italy won that game 2–1. Italy finished fourth in the tournament, and Cabrini was named the Best Young Player.
He became a regular player for Italy for the next nine years. He played in all of Italy's games in three World Cups: 1978, 1982, and 1986. He played 18 World Cup games in total. In the 1982 World Cup final against West Germany, he even missed a penalty kick, but Italy still won the World Cup! He also played for Italy in Euro 1980, where they reached the semi-finals and finished fourth.
Cabrini was a big part of the 1982 World Cup-winning team. This team included famous players like goalkeeper Dino Zoff, defenders Gaetano Scirea, Giuseppe Bergomi, and Claudio Gentile, and attackers like Paolo Rossi. Cabrini played very well throughout the tournament. He helped his country win the title by keeping opponents from scoring. He also scored a very important goal in Italy's 2–1 win against Argentina.
In total, he played 73 games for Italy and scored nine goals. This is a record for a defender playing for Italy. He finished his international career in October 1987. He also captained the national team ten times.
How He Played
Antonio Cabrini was known as a fast and strong left-back. Many people think he is one of the best full-backs of all time. He was originally a winger, which is an attacking player. His coach later moved him to left-back.
Cabrini was great at attacking. He could score goals and make good passes. He was also good at crossing the ball into the box for his teammates. He helped change how the full-back position was played in Italy. He was known for scoring many goals, even though he was a defender. This was because he could shoot powerfully from far away and make strong runs up the field. He was also good at heading the ball and taking free kicks and penalty kicks.
All these skills, along with his strong defense and athletic ability, made him one of the best full-backs in the world. Even though he was famous, he was known for being a quiet and disciplined player. He didn't smoke or drink.
Coaching Career
After his playing career, Cabrini became a coach. He started coaching in 2000 with a club called Arezzo. He also coached Crotone, Pisa, and Novara.
He was supposed to coach the Syria national team in 2007. However, due to some problems with the Syrian Football Association, the agreement ended before he could start.
On May 14, 2012, Cabrini became the coach of the Italy women's national team. He coached them for five years until August 2017.
Personal Life
In 2008, Antonio Cabrini was on an Italian TV reality show called L'Isola dei Famosi. In 2009, he got involved in politics. He joined a political party and worked on sports issues in the Lazio region of Italy.
Honours
Juventus
- Serie A: 1976–77, 1977–78, 1980–81, 1981–82, 1983–84, 1985–86
- Coppa Italia: 1978–79, 1982–83
- Intercontinental Cup: 1985
- European Cup: 1984–85
- European Cup: Runner-up: 1982–83
- UEFA Cup Winners' Cup: 1983–84
- UEFA Cup: 1976–77
- UEFA Super Cup: 1984
Italy
- FIFA World Cup: 1982
- FIFA World Cup: Semi-finals: 1978
- UEFA European Football Championship: Semi-finals: 1980
Individual
- FIFA World Cup Best Young Player Award: 1978
- Sport Ideal European XI: 1978, 1979, 1980
- Onze Mondial: 1978, 1982, 1983, 1985
- Serie A Team of The Year: 1982, 1984, 1986
- Italian Football Hall of Fame: 2021
See Also
In Spanish: Antonio Cabrini para niños
- List of players to have won all international club competitions
- List of players to have won the three main European club competitions
