34 Facts About Giuseppe Meazza

Giuseppe Meazza was an Italian football manager and player.

Giuseppe Meazza has been ranked fourth-best player in the history of the World Cup.

Giuseppe Meazza is the youngest player ever to score 100 goals in Serie A, a feat which he achieved at the age of 23 years and 32 days.

Giuseppe Meazza began playing football at six years old, and started out playing barefoot with a ball made of rags on the streets for a team named the "Maestri Campionesi".

At the age of 14, Giuseppe Meazza admired Milan, but was rejected by the team for his small physique.

However, Giuseppe Meazza later scored two goals on his official debut, leaving Conti speechless.

Giuseppe Meazza still holds the record for the most goals scored in a debut season in Serie A, with 31 goals in his first season.

Giuseppe Meazza was top-scorer of Serie A three times, top-scorer in the pre-Serie A year of 1929 and top scorer of the Mitropa Cup three times: 1930,1933 and 1936 ; he finished with a runners-up medal in the competition in 1933.

Giuseppe Meazza played 17 games, scoring the last two goals of his career to help an Inter team that was in danger of relegation.

Giuseppe Meazza played for Italy national team in the 1934 and 1938 World Cups, both of which Italy won.

Giuseppe Meazza helped Italy win the Central European International Cup that year; the cup was a three-year international tournament between the strongest national teams of central and eastern Europe.

Giuseppe Meazza scored from a corner sent in by Raimundo Orsi in the 11th minute.

Italy, though, was in far more trouble as the game went into extra-time, until Giuseppe Meazza became the inspirer again.

Giuseppe Meazza's injury became a mixed blessing as the Czechs did not bother to mark him and he made them rue that decision.

Giuseppe Meazza was elected into the All-Star Team of the tournament and won the Golden Ball, the award presented to the best player at each FIFA World Cup finals.

Giuseppe Meazza holds the all-time record for appearances and goals, sixteen and eight respectively, at Central European International Cup tournaments for the Italian national side.

Giuseppe Meazza set up goals for Silvio Piola and Gino Colaussi before halftime.

Giuseppe Meazza did not achieve Meazza's elegant style of playing.

Giuseppe Meazza further demonstrated his skill and creative ability by becoming an accomplished attacking midfielder, and even played as a central midfielder or as a deep-lying playmaker in his later career.

Giuseppe Meazza was known for his excellent shooting ability and intoxicating dribbling skills, with an eye for the final pass.

Giuseppe Meazza was the first Italian football player who became famous worldwide, and was the first player with personal sponsors.

Unlike his more reserved friend, international teammate, and club-rival Silvio Piola, a player with whom Giuseppe Meazza was often compared, he was known for having a much more flamboyant character both on and off the pitch.

Giuseppe Meazza loved his cabriolet, champagne and women and was the only player on the national team that was allowed to smoke.

Giuseppe Meazza was famous for humiliating the best defenders of the era and for sleeping at a brothel the night before a match.

Giuseppe Meazza loved the Tango and used this proficiency to make him unpredictable on the field and could score goals at fox-trot tempo.

Giuseppe Meazza was a superb dribbler who despite his speed, never had a single brylcreemed hair out of place, and although he was not tall, was remarkably good in the air.

Giuseppe Meazza created many chances for his teammates and scored goals as well.

Giuseppe Meazza is widely considered one of the best players of his generation, and among the greatest of all time, as well as being regarded by many in the sport as Italy's greatest ever player.

Giuseppe Meazza saw the game, understood the situation, distributed the ball carefully and made the team offense operate.

Sports journalist Gianni Brera, who considered Giuseppe Meazza to be the greatest footballer in the history of the game, called him "Il Folber", and dubbed his style of play the "fasso-tuto-mi", because he considered him to be the complete central midfielder and a nimble acrobat.

When describing Giuseppe Meazza, Brera said: "He was only Italian that stood out amongst the sensational Brazilians and Argentines".

Giuseppe Meazza was a simple person who became a king when he entered the goal box, with a technical ability that was comparable to Pele.

Giuseppe Meazza died on 21 August 1979 of pancreas failure in Lissone, Italy, two days before his 69th birthday.

Giuseppe Meazza is buried at the Monumental Cemetery of Milan.