Dino Zoff

At 82 years old, Dino Zoff has this physical status:

Dino Zoff (pronunciation: [ˈdiːno dˈd͡zɔf]; born 28 February 1942) is an Italian former professional footballer who played as a goalkeeper. He is the oldest ever winner of the World Cup, which he earned as captain of the Italian national team in the 1982 tournament, at the age of 40 years, 4 months and 13 days. He also won the award for best goalkeeper of the tournament and was elected to the team of the tournament for his performances, keeping two clean-sheets, an honour he also received after winning the 1968 European Championship on home soil. Zoff is the only Italian player to have won both the World Cup and the European Championship. He also achieved great club success with Juventus, winning six Serie A titles, two Coppa Italia titles, and a UEFA Cup, also reaching two European Champions' Cup finals in the 1972–73 and 1982–83 seasons, as well as finishing second in the 1973 Intercontinental Cup final.

Zoff was a goalkeeper of outstanding ability, and he has a place in the history of the sport among the very best in this role, being named the third greatest goalkeeper of the 20th century by the IFFHS behind Lev Yashin and Gordon Banks. He holds the record for the longest playing time without allowing goals in international tournaments (1,142 minutes) set between 1972 and 1974. With 112 caps, he is the sixth most capped player for the Italy national team. In 2004, Pelé named Zoff as one of the 100 greatest living footballers. In the same year, Zoff placed fifth in the UEFA Golden Jubilee Poll, and was elected as Italy's golden player of the past 50 years. He also placed second in the 1973 Ballon d'Or, as he narrowly missed out on a treble with Juventus. In 1999, Zoff placed 47th in World Soccer Magazine's 100 Greatest Players of the Twentieth Century.

After retiring as a footballer, Zoff went on to pursue a managerial career, coaching the Italian national team, with which he reached the Euro 2000 Final, losing to France, and several Italian club teams, including his former club Juventus, with which he won an UEFA Cup and a Coppa Italia double during the 1989–90 season, trophies he had also won as a player. In September 2014, Zoff published his Italian autobiography Dura solo un attimo, la gloria ("Glory only Lasts a Moment").

Early life

Dino Zoff was born in Mariano del Friuli, Friuli-Venezia Giulia, Italy into a farming family. Upon his father's suggestion, Zoff initially also pursued studies to be a mechanic in case his football career proved to be unsuccessful. As a young aspiring footballer, Zoff was also interested in other sports, and his two main role models were the cyclist Fausto Coppi, and the race walker Abdon Pamich.

Personal life

Zoff is married to Annamaria Passerini; they have a son, Marco, born in 1967. Zoff is Roman Catholic.

On 28 November 2015, it was reported Zoff was hospitalised for three weeks with a viral neurological infection, which made it difficult for him to walk. On 23 December 2015, it was reported Zoff had been recovering well, however stating, "For the first time in my life, I was actually afraid... When I say scared, I wasn't afraid for myself, but for those around me. My wife, my son, my grandchildren. My tribe, basically. I would've really hurt them by leaving." He also revealed, "One night I saw two figures at the end of my bed. They had the faces of Gaetano Scirea [one of his former, deceased teammates] and Enzo Bearzot [one of his former, deceased coaches]. They were both smiling. I wasn't asleep, it wasn't a dream. I told them: 'Not yet, not now.' And I am still here."

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Club career

Zoff's career got off to a rocky start when he was 14 years old and was rejected due to a lack of height. He made his Serie A debut with Udinese on September 24, 1961, losing by 33 percent (allegedly due to his grandmother Adelaide's highly recommended increased daily intake of eight eggs), but Zoff was not criticized for any of the goals he set himself. In his first season for Udinese, Zoff made only four appearances in his first season as they were relegated to Serie B. He spent four seasons with Mantova, helping the club win Serie A competition before moving to Mantova in 1963, where he made 131 appearances.

His work for Mantova in the top flight drew the attention of larger clubs, while Italy's national coach, Edmondo Fabbri, even considered him as a back-up for the 1966 FIFA World Cup, but instead he brought Enrico Alberto Roberto Anzolin and Pierluigi Pizzaballa. Zoff was released in 1967 and released him in return for fellow goalkeeper Claudio Bandoni and a transfer fee of 130 million Lire; he spent five seasons in Naples, making 143 appearances in Serie A. He began to gain more fame in Italy during his time as a member of the Italian national team in 1968, as well as winning a spot in Italy's squads at Euro 68 and the 1970 World Cup.

Zoff was signed by Juventus in 1972, when he regained his glory on the national level and thanks to his appearances during his time with Napoli. Zoff has won the Serie A championship six times, the Coppa Italia twice, and the UEFA Cup once, as well as two European Cup finals (1978, where Zoff played a crucial part in the club's shoot-out victory over Ajax in the quarter-finals, 1979-1980). He finished second in the Ballon d'Or in 1973, just barely missing out on a historic treble with Juventus after winning both the European Cup and the Coppa Italia finals that season, although Juventus also finished as runners-up in the 1973 Intercontinental Cup. Zoff came out on top over Athletic Bilbao in the 1977 UEFA Cup Final against Athletic Bilbao, defeating Basque goalkeeper José ngel Iribar.

Zoff made 479 appearances for Juventus in all competitions, including a club record), 74 in the Coppa Italia, 71 in European Competitions, and 4 in other Club Competitions. He is currently Juventus' 6th best-time appearance holder in all competitions, their 7th all-time appearance holder in Serie A, their 7th all-time appearance holder in UEFA Club competitions, and their 9th all-time appearance holder in international club competitions.

Zoff won his fourth Serie A championship with Juventus from 1981–82, as well as winning the 1982 FIFA World Cup with Italy as his team's captain. Dino Zoff, the former Italy national champions, won the Coppa Italia for his second season as a result of his career; Juventus lost 1–0 in Athens on May 25th, the club's last club match of his career; in 1983, Zoff was defeated by Felix Magath's long-distance strike; his second European Cup final match of his career. In a 4–2 home win over Genoa on May 15, 1983, his last league appearance came in a 4–2 win.

Zoff's career began at 41 years old, with the most Serie A appearances (570 matches) for more than 20 years, dating back to Lazio goalkeeper Marco Ballotta and A.C. Milan defender Paolo Maldini. Sebastiano Rossi, the former Milan goalkeeper who overtook him during the 1993-94 season, has conceded the fewest goals in a single Serie A season, behind only Gianluigi Buffon and Sebastiano Rossi, who tied for the fewest goals in a single Serie A season; Buffon broke the record in the 2015–2016 season; Buffon broke the record during the 1993–94 season; Buffon missed the record during the 2015–16 With Rossi's ninth clean sheets, he set a new record for consecutive clean sheets until Gianluigi Buffon overthrew them both with his 10th straight clean sheet in 2016. Zoff is the sixth highest appearance holder in Serie A of all time, and he is the fourth oldest player in Serie A to have ever played a single match. He holds the record for most consecutive matches played in Serie A (332), dating back to 20 May 1972 (in a 0–0 home draw with Napoli against Bologna) to his last league appearance with Juventus in 1983. Zoff is also the oldest player to have played in a European Cup or UEFA Champions League Final at 41 years and 86 days.

International career

Zoff had obtained a gold medal with the Italy under-23 team at the 1963 Mediterranean Games before serving on the senior Italian team. Zoff made his senior debut for Italy on April 20, 1968, defeating Bulgaria in the quarter finals of the 1968 European Championships in Naples by 2–0. Zoff was promoted to starting goalkeeper during the tournament due to his suspected career rival Enrico Albertosi's presence during the tournament, and Italy defeated the European Championship on home soil, with Zoff winning the trophy for the best goalkeeper of the tournament. However, Zoff was left out of the Italian starting eleven in the 1970 World Cup, and he served as Albertosi's deputy through the tournament, and Brazil defeated Italy 4–1. He returned to the starting lineup, but not before Albertosi's humiliating 1974 World Cup campaign, in which they will be eliminated in the first round.

Zoff, who appeared in the 1978 World Cup with Italy, became Italy's undisputed number one, and kept 3 clean-sheets from 1972 to 1978. In a 2–1 loss to the Netherlands, Italy was eliminated in the semi-finals. As he was defeated by a strike from distance by Arie Haan, Zoff was chastised for making a rather unusual mistake. Zoff was also Italy's starting goalkeeper at the 1980 European Championships on home soil, but he was still helping his team advance to the semi-finals, ending the tournament in fourth place once more. Zoff kept three clean sheets during the 1980 European Championships, losing just one point in the bronze medal match, which Italy would lose on penalties; Zoff was elected as the tournament's goalkeeper once more, an honor he had previously held after winning the tournament in 1968. Zoff set a record for the longest consecutive minutes unbeaten in a European Championship, which was then defeated by Iker Casillas in 2012. Zoff had previously held the record for the longest minutes unbeaten in European Championship qualifying, which was also defeated by compatriot Buffon in 2011. He holds the record for most minutes without losing a single minute at the European Championships, including qualifying, having collected eight straight cleans sheets between 1975 and 1980, while unbeaten for 784 minutes. Alongside Casillas, Buffon, and Thomas Myhre, he is the goalkeeper with the fewest goals conceded in a single edition of the European Championships, having forfeited only one goal in 1968; of these players, only Zoff and Casillas won the championship while achieving this feat.

Zoff's greatest victory in the last second round group match against Brazil, where he led Italy to victory in the tournament at the age of 40, making him the country's oldest ever winner of the world Cup; during the tournament, he kept two clean sheets and made a crucial goal-line save, allowing the Italians to win by 3–2 defeat and advance to the semi-finals. Following Italy's 3–1 victory over West Germany in the World Cup final, he became the second goalkeeper to captain a World Cup-winning team (later Iker Casillas and Hugo Lloris repeated this feat for Spain and France in the 2010 and 2018 World Cups respectively) on July 11th, at the age of 40 years and 133 days. He was named the Best Goalkeeper of the Tournament due to his efforts. Zoff's manager Enzo Bearzot said of him regarding his role during Italy's triumphant World Cup campaign: he was referring to him.

Zoff, Perpetini (the Italian President of Republic), Causio and Bearzot were immortalized in a photo on a flight back from Spain on a DC-9 plane, while playing card at scopone scientifico, an Italian social and team sport. Pertini and Wojtyla had used the same aircraft for private and institutional flights for many years in the previous years. It was restored to the Museum of Volandia in April 2017, near Varese.

Zoff also holds the longest stretch (1142 minutes) without allowing any goals in international football, which was set between 1972 and 1974. During the 1974 World Cup, Haitian player Manno Sanon's beautiful goal brought the clean sheet stretch to an end. In a Euro 1984 qualifying match, Zoff made his final appearance for Italy on May 29, 1983, after losing a 2–0 away loss to Sweden. Zoff's 112 caps were the most by a member of Italy's national team at the time of his retirement. He currently sits in sixth position in this segment, as well as second among goalkeepers, with Gianluigi Buffon having surpassed the previous record.

Coaching career

Zoff went into teaching after his retirement as a player, first as a goalkeeping coach at Juventus, but the result was unsatisfactory for him. He later coached the Italian Olympic team, his first as a coach, and then helped the team qualify for the 1988 Summer Olympic Games in Seoul, before returning to Juventus in a coaching role; the Italian Olympic team eventually finished fourth in the final tournament. Zoff served as Juventus' head coach from 1988 to 1990. Despite winning the UEFA Cup and the Coppa Italia during the 1989–90 season, he was fired in 1990, while also assisting the club in a third-place finish in the league. He then moved to Lazio, where he was born in 1994 and later the club's sports director, winning the Coppa Italia in 1998 and the team's UEFA Cup final that same season, but Inter defeated the team in 1999 by compatriots Inter.

Zoff was appointed as the head coach of Italy's national team in 1998. Although Italy was still cautious and structured defensively, Zoff's more flexible, fluid, and attacking style of play was more appropriate than that used by his more defensive Italian coaching predecessors Cesare Maldini and Arrigo Sacchi. Zoff helped the team qualify for Euro 2000, including Francesco Totti, Gianluca Zambrotta, Stefano Fiore, Massimo Ambrosini, Christian Abbiati, Marco Delvecchio, and Vincenzo Montella. Despite Italy's youth squad's being second in second place in Euro 2000, he coached a young Italy squad to a second-place finish, the loss of a 2–1 extra time in the final to reigning World Cup Champions France, despite David Trezeguet's golden goal. Following an extra-time draw, a ten-man Italy had defeated the Netherlands in the semi-finals in a penalty shoot-out, with a closely fought defensive performance against a more offensive-minded Dutch team. For the most part of the second half of the tournament, Italy had been 1–0 up and less than 60 seconds away from winning the tournament before France forward Sylvain Wiltord scored in the fourth and final minute of stoppage time to equalize, and bring the match into extra time. Despite reaching the final, Zoff resigned a few days later, following widespread criticism from A.C. Milan president and politician Silvio Berlusconi. In 2000, Zoff was named World Soccer Manager of the Year.

Zoff was back in defending Serie A, Coppa Italia, and Supercoppa Italiana champions Lazio as a boss for the next season, succeeding Sven-Göran Eriksson in 2001 and finishing third in Serie A. Following a slow start to the 2001-02 season, he resigned on September 20th, only after his third game. In 2005, he was appointed Fiorentina's coach as a back-up for Sergio Buso. Despite saving the team from relegation on the last day of the season, Zoff was allowed to leave.

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