Dino Zoff

Dino Zoff (; born 28 February 1942) is an Italian former professional footballer who played as a goalkeeper. Regarded as one of the greatest goalkeepers of all time, he is the oldest ever winner of the World Cup, which he lifted as captain of the Italy 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, 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. Haiti's Emmanuel Sanon ended the streak at the 1974 FIFA World Cup, in the Haiti–Italy group match. With 112 caps, he is the eighth 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 Italy 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.

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.

Club career Udinese, Mantova and Napoli Zoff (left) with Napoli in January 1970, beside Antonio Juliano and Kurt Hamrin, at Schiphol for the match of Inter-Cities Fairs Cup versus Ajax Amsterdam.

Zoff's career got off to an inauspicious start, when at the age of fourteen he had trials with Inter Milan and Juventus, but was rejected due to a lack of height. he made his Serie A debut with Udinese on 24 September 1961, in a 5–2 defeat to Fiorentina, although Zoff was not criticised for any of the goals he conceded. Zoff made only four appearances in his first season for Udinese, as they were relegated to Serie B. He played the next season as the club's starting goalkeeper, helping the club to Serie A promotion, before moving to Mantova in 1963, where he spent four seasons, making 131 appearances.

His performances for Mantova in the top flight caught the attention of larger clubs, while Italy's national coach at the time, Edmondo Fabbri, even considered bringing him as a back-up for the 1966 FIFA World Cup, although he ultimately chose to bring Enrico Albertosi, Roberto Anzolin, and Pierluigi Pizzaballa instead. In 1967, Zoff was transferred to Napoli, in exchange for fellow goalkeeper Claudio Bandoni, and a transfer fee of 130 million Lire; he spent five seasons in Naples, making 143 Serie A appearances with the club. During this time, he began to achieve increasing recognition in Italy, also making his International debut with the Italy national side in 1968, and earning a place in Italy's squads at Euro 68 and the 1970 World Cup. and the semi-finals of the European Cup Winners' Cup during the 1979–80 season.

Overall, Zoff made 479 appearances for Juventus in all competitions, making 330 Serie A appearances with the club (all of which came consecutively, a club record), 74 in the Coppa Italia, 71 in European competitions, and 4 in other club competitions. He is currently Juventus's 6th record appearance holder in all competitions, their 7th all-time appearance holder in Serie A, their 3rd all-time appearance holder in the Coppa Italia, their 7th all-time appearance holder in UEFA club competitions, and their 9th all-time appearance holder in international club competitions. Zoff (left) with Juventus in 1975, beside his historical understudy Massimo Piloni; on background, teammate Fabio Capello.

Zoff won his final Serie A championship with Juventus during the 1981–82 Serie A season, also winning the 1982 FIFA World Cup with Italy that year, as his team's captain. During the following 1982–83 season, the final season of his career, Dino Zoff won the Coppa Italia with defending Serie A champions Juventus, and he reached his second European Cup final with the club in 1983; Juventus were defeated 1–0 by Hamburg in Athens on 25 May, after Zoff was beaten by Felix Magath's long-distance strike; this was the final club match of his career. His final league appearance came in a 4–2 home win over Genoa on 15 May 1983. |name="combi-record"|group="nb" Buffon broke the record during the 2015–16 season. He also held the Serie A record for most consecutive clean sheets alongside Rossi (9), until Gianluigi Buffon overtook them both with his 10th consecutive clean sheet in 2016. With 570 Serie A appearances, Zoff is also 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 match.

International career Prior to representing the senior Italian side, Zoff had won a gold medal with the Italy under-23 side at the 1963 Mediterranean Football Games. On 20 April 1968, Zoff made his senior debut for Italy, playing in a 2–0 win against Bulgaria in the quarter finals of the 1968 European Championships, in Naples. Zoff ended up being promoted to starting goalkeeper over his perceived career rival Enrico Albertosi during the tournament, and Italy proceeded to win the European Championship on home soil, with Zoff taking home a winners' medal after only his fourth international appearance, keeping two clean sheets, and winning the award for the best goalkeeper of the tournament. Zoff was left out of the Italian starting eleven in the 1970 World Cup, and was Albertosi's deputy throughout the tournament, as Italy went on to reach the final of the World Cup, and were defeated 4–1 by Brazil. He returned to the starting line-up, however, ahead of Albertosi, in Italy's disappointing 1974 World Cup campaign, in which they were eliminated in the first round. On 11 July, at the age of 40 years and 133 days, he became the oldest player ever to feature in a World Cup final; following Italy's 3–1 victory over West Germany at the Santiago Bernabéu Stadium in Madrid, he followed in the footsteps of compatriot Gianpiero Combi (1934) as only the second goalkeeper to captain a World Cup-winning side (later Iker Casillas and Hugo Lloris repeated this feat for Spain and France in the 2010 and 2018 World Cups respectively). Due to his performances, he was voted as the Best Goalkeeper of the Tournament. Regarding Zoff's importance during Italy's victorious World Cup campaign, his manager Enzo Bearzot said of him: In the previous years, the same aircraft had been used by Pertini and Pope John Paul II for private and institutional flights. In April 2017, it was put down back in the Museum of Volandia, near Varese.

Zoff also holds the record for the longest stretch (1,142 minutes) without allowing any goals in international football, set between 1972 and 1974. That clean sheet stretch was ended by Haitian player Manno Sanon's beautiful goal during Italy's 3–1 win over Haiti in the first round of the 1974 World Cup. Zoff made his final appearance for Italy on 29 May 1983, in a 2–0 away loss to Sweden, in a Euro 1984 qualifying match. At the time of his retirement, Zoff's 112 caps were the most ever by a member of the Italy national team. He currently sits in sixth place in this category, as well as second among goalkeepers, with Gianluigi Buffon having surpassed the latter record. |name="playing-style"|group="nb" Considered one of the greatest goalkeepers of all time, in 1999 he was elected in a poll by the IFFHS as the third best goalkeeper of the 20th Century – after Lev Yashin (1st) and Gordon Banks (2nd) – as well as Italy's best keeper of the century, and the second best European keeper of the century – behind only Yashin. Although Italy were not top favourites because of a young squad, he coached a young Italy squad to a second-place finish in Euro 2000, suffering a 2–1 extra-time defeat at the hands of reigning World Cup Champions France in the final, due to a golden goal by David Trezeguet. En route to the final, a ten-man Italy had eliminated co-hosts the Netherlands in the semi-finals in a penalty shoot-out, after a 0–0 draw, following extra-time, with a tightly contested defensive display against a more offensive-minded Dutch side. In the final of the tournament, Italy had been 1–0 up for most of the second half, and were less than sixty seconds away from winning the tournament, before France forward Sylvain Wiltord scored in the fourth and final minute of stoppage time to equalise, and send the match into extra time. Despite reaching the final, Zoff resigned a few days later, following strong criticism from AC Milan president and politician Silvio Berlusconi. Zoff was voted the World Soccer Manager of the Year in 2000.

Style of management As a manager, Zoff was known for his use of tactics based upon the zona mista system (or "Gioco all'Italiana"), which was a cross between the catenaccio man-marking and zonal marking systems. Although he was initially known for fielding a 4–4–2 formation, at Euro 2000, he used a 5–2–1–2 system with Italy. His teams often used a sweeper, who, in addition to his defensive duties and organisational responsibilities, was also required to start plays from the back. He preferred not to base his team's play on set plays and formations, as he believed that cultivating a good relationship with his players and fostering a winning team mentality were the keys to getting the best out of them, and that this would also allow their natural creativity to come through in matches.

Personal life and health 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."

Career statistics Club

Managerial Updated 8 March 2023

TeamNationFromToMWDLWin %JuventusLazioLazioItalyLazioFiorentinaTotal

Honours

Player Juventus Serie A: 1972–73, 1974–75, 1976–77, 1977–78, 1980–81, 1981–82 Coppa Italia: 1978–79, 1982–83 UEFA Cup: 1976–77 Intercontinental Cup: Runner-up: 1973 European Cup: Runner-up: 1972–73, 1982–83

Italy FIFA World Cup: 1982, Runner-up: 1970 UEFA European Championship: 1968

Manager Juventus 1980 Ballon d'Or: 1973 (2nd place) FIFA World Cup All-Star Team: 1982 FIFA Order of Merit: 1984 FIFA World Cup Best Goalkeeper: 1982 World XI: 1968, 1975 Sport Ideal European XI: 1973, 1975 IFFHS Italian Goalkeeper of the 20th Century: 1999 UEFA Golden Jubilee Poll: #5 FIFA 100 Golden Foot "Football Legends" Award: 2004 Inducted into the Italian Football Hall of Fame: 2012 Inducted into the Walk of Fame of Italian sport: 2015 IFFHS Legends Juventus FC Hall of Fame: 2025

Manager Seminatore d'oro: 1990 World Soccer Manager of the Year: 2000

Orders

Records FIFA World Cup: Oldest player to play in and win a final, at 40 years, 4 months and 13 days in 1982 UEFA Champions League/European Cup: Oldest player to play in a final, at 41 years and 86 days in 1983 Most consecutive appearances in Serie A with Juventus: 330 (1972–1983) Most consecutive appearances in Serie A: 332 (1972–1983) Longest period time without conceding a goal in international matches: 1142 minutes (1972–1974). Most consecutive minutes without conceding a goal at the European Championships including qualifying: 784 (1975–1980) Fewest goals conceded in a single edition of the European Championships: 1 (1968) (alongside Gianluigi Buffon, Iker Casillas, and Thomas Myhre) Fewest goals conceded in a single edition of the European Championships by a tournament-winning starting goalkeeper: 1 (1968) (alongside Iker Casillas) One of four goalkeepers to win the FIFA World Cup as captain: 1982 (alongside Gianpiero Combi, Iker Casillas, and Hugo Lloris)