81 Facts About Del Piero

Alessandro Del Piero is an Italian former professional footballer who mainly played as a deep-lying forward, although he was capable of playing in several offensive positions.

Del Piero won the Serie A Italian Footballer of the Year award in 1998 and 2008 and received multiple nominations for the Ballon d'Or and FIFA World Player of the Year.

Del Piero has scored in every competition in which he has participated.

At international level, Del Piero has represented the Italian national team at three FIFA World Cups and four UEFA European Football Championships, most notably winning the 2006 FIFA World Cup, and reaching the final of UEFA Euro 2000 with Italy.

Del Piero is the joint fourth highest scorer for the Italian national team, with 27 goals, alongside Roberto Baggio, and behind only Silvio Piola with 30 goals, Giuseppe Meazza with 33 goals, and Luigi Riva with 35 goals; with 91 appearances for Italy between 1995 and 2008, he is his nation's eleventh-most capped player of all-time.

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Del Piero was born in Conegliano, Veneto, the son of Gino, an electrician, and Bruna, a housekeeper.

Del Piero regularly played football in the backyard with two friends, Nelso and Pierpaolo, as a child.

Del Piero's mother thought it would be better for him to play in this role, as he would not sweat, and the possibility of him getting injured was less likely.

Del Piero began his rise to professional football in 1981, in the ranks of San Vendemiano.

In 1988, Del Piero was first spotted by scouts, and he left home at the young age of 13 to play with the youth side of Padova.

In 1993, Del Piero transferred to Juventus and played for the Torinese club for 19 seasons until being released in the summer of 2012.

Del Piero made his Serie A debut against Foggia on 12 September 1993 under Trapattoni, as a substitute, and he scored his first goal in his next game against Reggiana on 19 September, after coming off the bench .

Del Piero temporarily took his place in the first team alongside Gianluca Vialli and Fabrizio Ravanelli, flourishing at the opportunity given to him, and Juventus went on to claim their first scudetto in nine years.

Del Piero scored 8 goals in Serie A that season, including a match-winning chipped volley against Fiorentina.

Del Piero placed fourth in the 1995 Ballon d'Or for his performances throughout the season.

Del Piero scored 6 goals and provided 10 assists in Serie A, although Juventus finished the season in second place behind Milan.

Del Piero did manage to capture the Supercoppa Italiana in 1995, over Parma, setting up Vialli's only goal of the match.

Del Piero captured his second Serie A title with Juventus that season, and helped lead Juventus to their second consecutive Champions League final, although he was unable to start the match due to injury.

Del Piero began the following campaign strongly by winning the 1997 Supercoppa Italiana, forming a strong offensive unit with Juventus teammates Zinedine Zidane in midfield, and newcomer Filippo Inzaghi upfront.

Del Piero was awarded the Serie A Italian Footballer of the Year award for his performances, and he was nominated for the 1998 Ballon d'Or.

Del Piero faced criticism for his inability to score in open play following his injury the previous season, as only one of his 9 Serie A goals that season was in open play, with the rest coming from penalties.

Del Piero helped Juventus to capture the 1999 UEFA Intertoto Cup that season, which allowed Juventus to qualify for the UEFA Cup; overall, he scored 12 goals in all competitions, as Juventus narrowly missed out on the Serie A title.

In 2000, Del Piero was the world's best-paid football player from salaries, bonuses, and advertising revenue.

On 18 February 2001, Del Piero broke his goal drought, scoring in an away win over Bari.

Del Piero celebrated the goal by dedicating it to his father, who had recently died.

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Del Piero was named Juventus captain upon Lippi's return to Juventus, and he formed a formidable offensive partnership with French striker David Trezeguet, who joined in 2000, and Czech playmaker Pavel Nedved, who arrived in 2001.

Del Piero managed 21 goals in all competitions, scoring his 100th and 101st goals for Juventus that season, against Venezia, on 26 August 2001.

Del Piero helped Juventus reach the Coppa Italia final that season, although Juventus were defeated by Parma.

On 10 January 2006, Del Piero became the all-time leading goalscorer for Juventus when he scored three times in a Coppa Italia match against Fiorentina, taking his total goal tally for the club to 185.

Del Piero finished the season as the top scorer of the Coppa Italia, with 5 goals.

On 15 December 2007, Del Piero scored two goals away at Lazio and was named to two consecutive Serie A teams of the week.

Del Piero became only the second Italian ever to win consecutive Capocannoniere titles in two different leagues – former Juventus and 1982 World Cup hero Paolo Rossi being the other.

Del Piero marked Juventus's return to the competition with a match-winning free kick to seal a home win against Zenit.

On 17 July 2009, Del Piero extended his contract with Juventus by one more year until 30 June 2011 in Pinzolo while training for pre-season, thus practically ensuring that he would retire at the club with which he started his professional career.

Del Piero finished the season as the all-time top scorer for Juventus, having scored over 250 goals in all competitions with the club, and having made over 600 appearances in official matches for Juventus, breaking Scirea's appearance record.

On 5 February 2011, with his substitution against Cagliari, Alessandro Del Piero became the most capped Juventus player, edging out former Juventus legend Giampiero Boniperti.

Del Piero was the third most capped active player in the Serie A at the time, behind Javier Zanetti and Francesco Totti, respectively.

Del Piero was substituted after 65 minutes to a standing ovation from the United supporters.

Later in the season, Del Piero stated that he was surprised at Juventus president Andrea Agnelli's announcement regarding the club's decision not to offer him a new contract.

Del Piero was substituted off after 59 minutes to an emotional response from both sets of players and supporters, as he made a lap of honour around the pitch.

Del Piero was substituted in the 67th minute for Vucinic as his Juventus career came to an end; he received a standing ovation from both the Juventus and Napoli fans.

In total, Del Piero made a club record of 705 appearances for Juventus across all competitions, scoring a record 290 goals, and providing 134 assists in all competitions throughout his career with the club; he scored 188 goals and provided 105 assists in 478 Serie A appearances with the Turin club.

Del Piero is the club's top-scorer in Serie B, with 21 goals, and the club's second highest scorer in the Coppa Italia, with 25 goals, behind Pietro Anastasi.

Alongside Giuseppe Signori and Alberto Gilardino, Del Piero is the ninth highest all-time goalscorer in Serie A, and he is currently the joint all-time top scorer in the Supercoppa Italiana, alongside Samuel Eto'o, Andriy Shevchenko, and Carlos Tevez.

Del Piero had been linked to Liverpool prior to signing for Sydney, but later revealed due to his memories of Heysel he would not have been able to move to the club.

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On Sunday 10 August 2014, Del Piero captained the Hyundai A-League All Stars against his club of almost 20 years, Juventus, in Sydney, in front of over 55,000 people at ANZ Stadium.

Del Piero was substituted off at the 63rd minute of the match for David Williams, to a standing ovation.

Del Piero reportedly is the highest paid player in the history of Indian football.

Del Piero made 10 appearances throughout the season as Delhi finished in fifth place, failing to reach the play-offs by a single point.

In October 2015, after almost a year without a club, Del Piero officially communicated his retirement from professional football, stating his intention to pursue a coaching career.

Del Piero is currently Italy's joint fourth all-time leading scorer, along with Roberto Baggio, with 27 goals in 91 appearances, with 2 goals for Italy coming in 12 World Cup matches and 1 goal in 13 European Championship matches; alongside Enrico Chiesa, he holds the unique record for the most goals scored by an Italian international as a substitute.

Del Piero initially played for the Italian U-21 side on 12 occasions, scoring 3 goals, and was a member of the team that qualified for and later won the 1996 European Under-21 Championship, appearing in the quarter-finals.

Del Piero was part of Dino Zoff's Italy's squad that reached the final of UEFA Euro 2000.

Del Piero returned to the international scene in the 2002 FIFA World Cup under Giovanni Trapattoni after winning the scudetto with Juventus.

Del Piero scored the decisive goal against Hungary, which sealed Italy's qualification for the finals.

Del Piero appeared as a substitute in Italy's opening win against Ecuador, wearing the captain's armband for part of the match.

Del Piero instantly scored with a header against Mexico, after coming on as a substitute, an equalising goal which saved Italy from the ignominy of a first round exit in their final group match.

Del Piero took part in 6 of Italy's 2004 European Qualifying matches, scoring 5 goals, and was called up for the Italy squad that would participate in UEFA Euro 2004 in Portugal.

Del Piero started all three matches, wearing the captain's armband in Italy's final win over Bulgaria, and was involved in Cassano's injury time match-winning goal, although Italy were eliminated in the first round on direct encounters, following a three-way five point tie with Sweden and Denmark.

Del Piero admitted afterwards that winning the World Cup was his childhood dream.

On 20 August 2008, Del Piero won his 90th cap for Italy in friendly against Austria under Lippi, becoming only the fifth Italy player to reach this landmark at the time.

Del Piero's hard-working playing style was regarded by critics as creative in attacking, assisting many goals as well as scoring himself, as opposed to just "goal poaching".

Del Piero was occasionally deployed between the midfield and the strikers as a playmaking attacking midfielder, known in Italy as the trequartista position, due to his vision, passing range, ball control, dribbling ability and creativity, although he often stated that this was not his preferred position.

Del Piero is widely regarded by players, pundits, and managers as one of the greatest players of his generation and as one of the best Italian players of all time; He is considered to be Juventus's greatest player ever by some pundits.

Del Piero was a free kick and penalty kick specialist.

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Del Piero is the third highest scorer of penalties in Serie A history, scoring 50 times out of 61 attempts, behind only Francesco Totti and Roberto Baggio.

Del Piero is currently the Italian all-time top scorer from free kicks in all competitions.

Del Piero is the third all-time highest goalscorer of free kicks in Serie A, with 22 goals, behind only Andrea Pirlo and Sinisa Mihajlovic.

Del Piero is married to Sonia Amoruso and the two have been together since 1999 and married in 2005.

Del Piero has an interest in sports outside of football, particularly basketball, and in turn has gained fans outside of football; sport icons such as NBA star Steve Nash and cyclist Eddy Merckx have stated that they are fans of Del Piero.

Del Piero is a good friend of musician and singer Noel Gallagher and a fan of his former band Oasis; Del Piero appears in the Oasis video "Lord Don't Slow Me Down".

In 2012, Del Piero participated in the Save the Dream project against corruption in the sport and spoke about this at Sorbonne during the Sport Integrity Symposium.

Since March 2018, Del Piero has been running an Italian restaurant in Los Angeles called No 10, representing his jersey No 10.

In 2010, Del Piero auctioned off his Juventus shirt number 10 for the foundation Un Campo per L'Aquila.

Del Piero was testimonial of ADISCO, for the donation of umbilical cord blood, and testimonial of 1GOAL for the education of poor children.

In 2015, in honour of Formula One World Champion Ayrton Senna, Del Piero facilitated and inaugurated the AYRTON exhibition in Turin, open between February and May 2015.

Del Piero has featured in various advertisements and is under contract with German sports equipment manufacturer Adidas, Uliveto water, Fiat, Japanese motorbike company Suzuki, Pepsi, Bliss, Cepu, Walt Disney, and Upper Deck.

In 2006, Del Piero appeared in a television commercial for the Japanese motor scooter Suzuki Burgman together with the sports agent Andreas Goller.

Del Piero is known for his sense of humour and is a popular guest at Italian comedy shows such as Paperissima and Striscia la notizia.

Del Piero was featured on the cover of EA Sports FIFA Football 2004 video game, alongside Thierry Henry and Ronaldinho, and on the cover of the Italian edition of the FIFA World Cup 2006 video game.

Del Piero was one of the two stars featured on the cover of the Italian version of PES 2010 video game, the other being Barcelona's Lionel Messi.