José Altafini

Football player infobox|playername= José Altafini
fullname = José João Altafini


dateofbirth = birth date and age|1938|8|24
cityofbirth = Piracicaba
countryofbirth = Brazil
height = height|m=1.76
position = Forward
years = 1958-1965
1965-1972
1972-1976
clubs = AC Milan
Napoli
Juventus
caps(goals) = 205 (120)
180 0(71)
074 0(25)
nationalyears = 1957-1958
1961-1962
nationalteam = Brazil
Italy
nationalcaps(goals) = 008 00(4)
006 00(5)

José João Altafini, ("Mazola" in the Brazilian national team) (born August 24, 1938) is an Italian-Brazilian former footballer. He is the joint-third highest scorer in Serie A history (along with Giuseppe Meazza) with 216 goals.

Club career

Altafini played for a number of Brazilian teams, including Palmeiras, before he began his career in Italy with AC Milan in 1958. He made his debut on September 21, 1958, and, in his first season, played 32 games and scored 28 goals, winning the title along the way. His first league goal came on October 5 in a win against Bari. Milan won the title again in 1962, when Altafini was the league's joint top scorer with 22 goals in 33 games.

In 1963 European Cup Final, Altafini scored two goals against SL Benfica to secure Milan's first European triumph. The game ended 2-1.

In 1965, Altafini joined Napoli, where he stayed until 1972. In 1972, Napoli ironically lost 2-0 in the final of the Coppa Italia to Altafini's previous club, Milan.

After his time at Napoli, he joined Juventus and lost another cup final in 1973. He did, however, win two more league titles: in 1973 and 1975. By the time he left Juventus in 1976, Altafini had played 459 games in Serie A and had scored 216 goals, although he had scored most of these in the early part of his career. In fact, he only scored 53 goals in his last 8 seasons in Italy, whereas he had scored 134 in his first 8.

He joined FC Chiasso and then Mendrisiostar (both in Switzerland) after leaving Italy and played for four more seasons before retiring at the age of 42. He is currently a well-known football pundit on Italian TV SKY Italia and a speaker on Italian radio RTL 102.5.

International career

Born in Brazil, Altafini played international football for both Brazil and Italy. In Brazil he was nicknamed 'Mazola' (spelled with only one 'z') for his resemblance to the Torino FC forward Valentino Mazzola. He played in the 1958 World Cup for winners Brazil, but didn't play in the later stages, having been replaced by Vavá. His Italy debut came against Israel on October 15, 1961, a game in which he also scored. He played in the 1962 World Cup for Italy, where they were knocked out in the first round.

External links

*it icon [http://www.josealtafini.com/ Official website]