Italy’s all-time top scorer Luigi “Gigi” Riva has died at the age of 79, bidding farewell to “one of the greatest strikers of all time”, the Italian Football Federation (FIGC) said in a statement on Monday.
Riva’s physicality and powerful shooting earned him the nickname Lombo di Tuono (Thunder), and he scored 35 goals in 42 appearances for the national team.
Riva fell ill at his home in Sardinia over the weekend and was being treated for suspected heart problems.
He was part of the Italian team that won the European Championship in 1968 and was runner-up to Pele’s great Brazil team at the 1970 World Cup.
“I am upset and deeply saddened. Italian football is in mourning because a true national monument has left us,” FIGC president Gabriele Gravina said.
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The FIGC statement added that a minute’s silence will be observed in his memory before all matches at this weekend’s Italian Championship.
When color television brought live action to a wider audience, Riva, along with his namesake Gianni Rivera, became one of the poster boys of Italian soccer. In 1969, he finished second to Rivera in the Ballon d’Or trophy, awarded to Europe’s best player.
File photo: Italian forward Gigi Riva heads the ball as Brazilian star Pele looks on during the 1970 World Cup final at Azteca Stadium in Mexico City, Mexico. | Photo credit: ap
Riva played for Cagliari for almost his entire club career and was Serie A’s top scorer in 1970 when the Sardinian team won the only Italian league title in their history. He was honorary president of the club at the time of his death.
Injuries marred the second half of his playing career, and although he scored 164 goals in 315 league games for Cagliari, he was forced to retire in 1976. He was Serie A top scorer three times.
Riva then served as part of the national team’s backroom staff for many years, including in 2006 when Italy won the World Cup.