Gianluca Vialli, the former Chelsea and Italy striker, has died at the age of 58 after a battle with cancer, the Italian football federation has announced.
Vialli, who also enjoyed success as Chelsea manager following his glittering playing career, was first diagnosed with pancreatic cancer in 2017 and announced he had been given the all-clear in 2020 after treatment at the Royal Marsden Hospital in London.
He was re-diagnosed with the disease in 2021 and announced last month that he had stepped down from his role as Italy’s national team delegation chief.
Announcing his death on Friday morning, the Italian football federation tweeted: “Goodbye Gianluca, we will never forget you.”
Ciao Gianluca, non ti dimenticheremo mai
— Nazionale Italianapic.twitter.com/ZnAbs9qDUe
(@Azzurri) January 6, 2023
Italian newspaper Corriere della Sera reported before Christmas that his 87-year-old mother Maria Teresa and brother Nino had travelled to be with Vialli in a London hospital.
During a 16-year playing career in Italy, Vialli won every major trophy on offer, including Serie A titles with Sampdoria (1991) and Juventus (1995), the Champions League with the latter in 1996, the Uefa Cup and the Uefa Cup Winners’ Cup. He was also a four-time Coppa Italia winner.
He scored 16 goals in 59 appearances for Italy, featured in the 1986 and 1990 World Cups and helped the Azzurri to a third-place finish at the latter, while his £12.5million transfer from Sampdoria to Juventus in 1992 was a world record fee at the time.
Vialli joined Chelsea in 1996 and helped them win the FA Cup at the end of his first season before guiding the London club to glory in both the League Cup and Uefa Cup Winners’ Cup as player-manager the following season.
Additional reporting by Press Association
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