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Gianni Rivera
Personal information
Full name	Giovanni Rivera
Date of birth	August 18, 1943 (age 63)
Place of birth	Alessandria, Italy
Height	175 cm
Nickname	il golden boy, Abatino
Playing position	Midfielder
Club information
Current club	retired
Senior clubs1
Years	Club	App (Gls)*
1959-1960 1960-1979	Alessandria AC Milan	26 (6) 501 (124)
National team2
1962-1974	Italy	60 (14)
1 Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only and correct as of June 9, 2006. 2 National team caps and goals correct as of May 30, 2006. * Appearances (Goals)

Giovanni (Gianni) Rivera (born August 18, 1943 in Alessandria) is a former Italian football player, the European Footballer of the Year in 1969. He is widely considered to be one of the best players in the history of the game. He is currently a politician.

He was nicknamed il golden boy of Italian football. He is the product of Alessandria's youth soccer academy. He debuted in Serie A for Alessandria against Internazionale. That was on June 2, 1959; he was only fifteen years old. He played twenty six matches for his first club, in which he scored six goals. After one year, he was bought by AC Milan with a record transfer fee for that time, $200,000, and he was only sixteen years old. In 1962 he won the first scudetto with AC Milan and on May 13, 1962, at eighteen years, he played his first match for the Italian national team against West Germany at the World Cup in Chile, a game that finished with a goalless draw, 0-0.

Due to their win of the 1962 scudetto, AC Milan qualified for the European Cup in 1962, a European Cup which they have finally won, beating Benfica 2-1 in the final with a Rivera in great form as he was awarded the second place in the famous Ballon d'or award, won by the Russian goalkeeper Lev Yashin.

In the 1967/1968 season, Rivera won with AC Milan both the title and the Cup Winners' Cup. In 1968, he played for Italy as they won at the European Championship. Next season, Rivera takes AC Milan to win the Champions Cup as he finally gets the Ballon d'or award.

He played with the Squadra Azzurra (Italian national team) in the 1970 FIFA World Cup hosted by Mexico, where they reached the final, losing against Brazil, 4-1. He also played in the 1974 FIFA World Cup when the Italians were knocked out by Poland, 2-1. That was the end of Rivera's career at the national team for which he played in sixty games scoring fourteen goals.

Rivera took AC Milan in two Cup Winners' Cup finals, one in 1973 and another in 1974; the first one was won and the second one lost. He also won with the red-and-black team two consecutive Italian titles, in 1972 and 1973. AC Milan also won several Italian Cups in the 70's but without Rivera in most of them who was banned because of his statements against the Italian referees.

Rivera won his last scudetto of his career as a player in 1979 with AC Milan, this also being the tenth title for The Devils. Totally, he played for AC Milan in Serie A 501 matches and scored 160 goals.

After retirement, Rivera entered the Italian political life, being one of the members of the Italian Parliament. He was named by Pelé as one of the top 125 greatest living footballers in March 2004.

• 4 x Italian cup (1967, 1972, 1973, 1977)
• 3 x Italian title (1962, 1968, 1979)
• 2 x Cup Winners Cup (1968, 1973)
• 2 x European Cup (1963, 1969)
• 1 x European Player of The Year (1969)
• 1 x European Player of The Year runner-up (1968)
• 1 x World Cup runner-up (1970)
• 1 x Italian League Top Scorer (1973)
• 1 x Intercontinental Cup (1969)
• 1 x European Championship (1968)

Preceded by George Best

European Footballer of the Year 1969

Succeeded by Gerd Müller

	Italy squad - 1962 FIFA World Cup
1 Buffon | 2 Losi | 3 Radice | 4 Salvadore | 5 Maldini | 6 Trapattoni | 7 Mora | 8 Maschio | 9 Altafini | 10 Sivori | 11 Menichelli | 12 Mattrel | 13 Albertosi | 14 Rivera | 15 Sormani | 16 Robotti | 17 Pascutti | 18 David | 19 Janich | 20 Tumburus | 21 Ferrini | 22 Bulgarelli | Coach: Mazza / Ferrari

	Italy squad - 1966 FIFA World Cup
1 Albertosi | 2 Anzolin | 3 Barison | 4 Bulgarelli | 5 Burgnich | 6 Facchetti | 7 Fogli | 8 Guarneri | 9 Janich | 10 Juliano | 11 Landini | 12 Leoncini | 13 Lodetti | 14 Mazzola | 15 Meroni | 16 Pascutti | 17 Perani | 18 Pizzaballa | 19 Rivera | 20 Rizzo | 21 Rosato | 22 Salvadore | Coach: Fabbri

	Italy squad - 1970 FIFA World Cup Runners-up
1 Albertosi | 2 Burgnich | 3 Facchetti | 4 Poletti | 5 Cera | 6 Ferrante | 7 Niccolai | 8 Rosato | 9 Puia | 10 Bertini | 11 Riva | 12 Zoff | 13 Domenghini | 14 Rivera | 15 Mazzola | 16 De Sisti | 17 Vieri | 18 Juliano | 19 Gori | 20 Boninsegna | 21 Furino | 22 Prati | Coach: Valcareggi

	Italy squad - 1974 FIFA World Cup
1 Zoff | 2 Spinosi | 3 Facchetti | 4 Benetti | 5 Morini | 6 Burgnich | 7 Mazzola | 8 Capello | 9 Chinaglia | 10 Rivera | 11 Riva | 12 Albertosi | 13 Sabadini | 14 Bellugi | 15 Wilson | 16 Juliano | 17 Re Cecconi | 18 Causio | 19 Anastasi | 20 Boninsegna | 21 Pulici | 22 Castellini | Coach: Valcareggi