Former football striker Gianluca Vialli, who earned 59 caps for Italy and enjoyed a stellar career with Sampdoria, Juventus and Chelsea, has died of cancer at the age of 58.
Vialli was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer in 2017. He got treatment just a year after the disease returned, Reuters reports.
Sampdoria confirmed on Friday that he had passed away.
“I know I probably won’t die of old age,” Vialli said in a Netflix documentary airing in March 2022. “I wish I could live as long as possible, but I feel more fragile than before.”
He described cancer as a “traveling companion” whom he hoped would eventually leave him in peace, after testing his strength. “Illness can teach a lot about who you are, and it can push you beyond the superficial way we live,” he said.
However, Vialli was forced to step down from his role as delegation chief with the Italian national team last month, saying he needed to focus on overcoming a new phase of his illness.
Working with the Italy national team, Vialli was reunited with national coach Roberto Mancini, a lifelong friend and partner in attack when they both played for Sampdoria, where they were known as their ‘goal twins’.
Mancini and Vialli led the Italian team to the 2020 European Championship, which was postponed until 2021 due to the COVID-19 pandemic, and lifted the trophy at Wembley Stadium.
They celebrated with a tearful embrace, Vialli said in a televised interview with Italy’s RAI in November, “which was more beautiful than the hugs we used to give to each other when I passed him the ball and he scored goals.”
Sampdoria had lost the European Cup final to Barcelona at the same venue 29 years earlier.
The son of a wealthy industrialist, Vialli made his debut as a youth player with his local club Cremonese in Italy’s third and second divisions.
He moved to Sampdoria in 1984 and helped the club enjoy the most successful period in its history, winning the Italian Cup three times. Vialli scored twice as Sampdoria beat Anderlecht 2-0 in 1990 to lift the European Cup Winners’ Cup.
He also played a key role when Sampdoria won the 1991 Serie A title for the first and only time, scoring 19 goals.
Vialli left the Genoa-based club in the summer of 1992, moving to Juventus, where he rediscovered his scoring touch after a slow start, helping the Torino giants win Serie A in 1995 and the Champions League the following season.
He joined London club Chelsea on a free transfer in 1996 and became player-manager two years later when Dutchman Ruud Gullit was sacked.
Under Vialli, Chelsea won the League Cup and Cup Winners’ Cup in 1998 and the FA Cup two years later before he too was sacked.
His last managerial role was in charge of Watford in the English Second Division in 2001-2002.
After leaving team management, Vialli co-founded sports investment firm Tifosy Capital.
Vialli leaves behind a wife and two daughters.