Top Facts about Giampiero Boniperti, the Bianconeri Legend

Giampiero Boniperti, who was born on 4 July 1928 and passed away on 18 June 2021, was an Italian football player who played his entire 15-season professional career at Juventus from 1946 to 1961, winning five Serie A trophies and two Coppa Italia titles.

Boniperti also played for the Italy national team at international level, and played at the 1950 and 1954 FIFA World Cup finals, as well as the 1952 Summer Olympics with Italy.

After retirement from professional football, Giampiero Boniperti became a CEO and chairman of Juventus and, later, a member of the European Parliament.

Top Facts about Giampiero Boniperti, the Bianconeri Legend

A striker, Giampiero Boniperti is considered by numerous commentators, including Mario Sconcerti, as one of Italy's and Juventus's best ever players, and is regarded by some in the sport, such as Bruno Nicolè, to be Italy's best footballer of all time. 

Boniperti with 182 goals in all tournaments was the highest goal scorer in Juventus history for more than 40 years, until his record was beaten by Alessandro Del Piero on 10 January 2006. Del Piero also broke his team record of 443 Serie A appearances on 14 February 2010, when he played his 444th Serie A match in a 3–2 victory over Genoa. 

At the moment, with 443 Serie A appearances for Juventus, Giampiero Boniperti is third in the team's rankings, behind only Del Piero and Gianluigi Buffon. Boniperti also held the record for most minutes played in Serie A by a Juventus player (39,680), until his record was broken by Gianluigi Buffon on 19 March 2017, in the 66th minute of a 1–0 away victory over Sampdoria. 

One of the top facts about Boniperti is that he is the eleventh-highest goal scorer of all-time in Serie A., Boniperti was named by Pelé as one of the world's top 125 greatest living footballers in March 2004.

One of the

top facts about Giampiero Boniperti

is that for 15 years, from 1946 to 1961, Giampero Boniperti played for Juventus on the pitch, for a total of 459 matches, an achievement that had not been managed by any player ever before.

Once he said, “One match would have been enough to be happy forever, I'm sure of that. It went even better.”

Giampiero Boniperti was born on 22nd May 1946 for the second time when he trialled with the Juventus reserve team and netted 7 goals at Fossano and the Bianconeri wasted no time and sign him the contract in the underpass that led to the club’s changing rooms.

Now, we take a look at top facts about Giampiero Boniperti.

Giampiero Boniperti quick information

• Date of birth:

   4 July, 1928

• Place of birth:

   Barengo, Italy

• Citizenship:

   Italy

• Date of death:

   18 June, 2021 (At the age of 92)

• Position:

   Centre-Forward

• Height:

   1,75 m

• Former international:

   Italy

• International games/Goals:

   38/8

Giampiero Boniperti club career

Giampiero Boniperti was born in Barengo, Piedmont and signed for Juventus at the age of 16. He had already made a name for himself prior to this at youth level, as he netted 11 goals in just one game.

Giampiero Boniperti had the ability to score successfully with both feet and was known for his control and tactical awareness. He made his debut for 

 in Serie A on 2 March 1947 in a match against A.C. Milan, which ended in a 2–1 defeat. 

Boniperti’s first goal for Bianconeri in the league was three months later, against Sampdoria. Juventus ended the 1946–47 Serie A season in the second place after local rivals Torino and Giampiero ended the season with five goals in six matches to his name.

Even though he began as a centre forward, Giampiero Boniperti could play also as an inside striker or on the right-wing.

In his second season with Juventus, Boniperti was 20 years old and netted 27 goals throughout that season, finishing above Valentino Mazzola as the league's top scorer. 

Boniperti's first league title with Bianconeri was during the 1949–50 season. By his 24th birthday he had netted 100 goals for the team, adding a second scudetto championship to his name in 1951–52. Although Giampiero Boniperti was named the team's captain in 1954, for much of the 1950s Juventus and Boniperti struggled to put the team back to the top of the Italian championship.

In 1957 Juventus signed two strikers: 

 and Omar Sivori. With them, Boniperti became a player of what was referred to as the Magical Trio.

One of the top facts about Giampiero Boniperti is that during his last four seasons at the team before his retirement, Juventus was prosperous in the Italian league, winning the Serie A title three times (1957–58, 1959–60 and 1960–61), and the Coppa Italia twice (1958–59 and 1959–60).

At the time when Giampiero Boniperti retired, he was Juventus' all-time top goal scorer with 182 in all tournaments. His record stood for more than 40 years before Alessandro Del Piero beat it on 10 January 2006. 

As of 2010, Giampiero Boniperti was the second best goalscorer of all-time at Bianconeri and was seventh on the list of all-time top appearances for the team. With 443 appearances in Serie A for the Old Lady, he held the club record for most appearances in the league, until long-serving player and former Juventus captain 

 beat it on 14 February 2010.

Giampiero Boniperti international career

A top fact about Giampiero Boniperti is that he played for the first time in the national team on 9 November 1947, under Vittorio Pozzo, called to replace the grenade center-attacker Guglielmo Gabetto.

Giampiero Boniperti played only 14 games in the Serie A league, when he was called up to play for the Italy national football team, making his first international appearance on 9 November 1947, in a match against Austria; the game ended in a 5–1 defeat to the Austrian national team. He played against Austria a couple of years later, when in May 1949 he netted his first international goal for Italy, with a 3–1 win.

Giampiero Boniperti managed to play in 38 matches (24 of which he was captain of the team) and scored 8 goals for the Italian side. Boniperti played for Azzurri in the 1950 and 

 finals (captaining the team in the 1954 World Cup), as well as in the 1952 Summer Olympics.

With the blue jersey of Italy, Boniperti did not achieve any successes, also due to the technical impoverishment that hit Italian football in the aftermath of the Superga disaster and which would last for the whole of the following decade. 

In this situation, Boniperti became one of the key players to re-establish an orphaned national team participating in the unfortunate tournaments in 1950 in Brazil and 1954 in Switzerland, while in 1958 the Italy national team failed to qualify for the final stage. He retired from the national team in 1960.

Giampiero Boniperti style of play

Giampiero Boniperti is considered by numerous pundits as one of the greatest and most successful Italian football players of all time, and is considered by some in the sport, including Alessandro Del Piero, as one of Juventus's best players ever as he was a gifted, ingenious, and prolific forward, with good technique.

Giampiero Boniperti began his professional career as a forward, making a name for himself because of his eye for goal, and later emerging to reputation as a goal scorer for much of his career.

In this role, Boniperti was typically supported by teammates such as John and Karl Aage Hansen, and Karl Aage Præst. As a centre-forward, Boniperti was well-known for his skill in the air and for having the capability to score with both feet, as well as his head.

As a team player, in the later part of his professional career, Boniperti moved into a deeper position, playing as a second striker or inside forward, as an attacking midfielder, as a winger, or even as a central midfielder, as a defensive midfielder, or as a midfield playmaker.

Due to his ball control, technical skill, vision, tactical cleverness, and passing range, Giampiero shined as an assist provider during the final few years of his professional career, artistically supporting his more offensive team mates John Charles and Omar Sívori. In addition to his footballing capability, he was also known for his leadership.

Giampiero Boniperti and the Magic Trio

After six years without success, in the 1957-1958 season Boniperti was able to regain the tenth league title for the Juventus club, which from now on will be the first to be able to boast the so-called "star"- thanks to a renewed Juventus, in the meantime rebuilt from the work of Umberto Agnelli. 

Boniperti contributed to the bianconeri's rebirth by covering the role of mezzala in which he had already shone for some years, thus putting his excellent technical skills and vision of the game for the team and going to form a fearsome attacking trident with the two summer neo-acquisitions of the Juventus, the Welsh John Charles and the Italian-Argentine Omar Sívori. So, the famous Magic Trio was born.

The fourth (1959-1960) and fifth league title (1960-1961) of Giampiero Boniperti soon followed, for a team which is remembered as one of the strongest teams of all time. Just after these triumphs in 1961, Boniperti declared his farewell to football, retiring at the age of 33 despite being still in good physical condition.

Giampiero Boniperti’s last match, on 10 June, was against Inter Milan’ youngsters, deployed in protest by president Angelo Moratti, in the famous 9-1 victory in which Sandro Mazzola made his debut.

In the black and white jersey he made 469 appearances (443 in Serie A, 13 in the Italian Cup, 9 in Europe and 4 in the Rio Cup), scoring a total of 188 goals (178 in Serie A, 1 in the Italian Cup, 3 in Europe and 6 in the Rio Cup).

Giampiero Boniperti; The Italian player of Europe

One of Giampiero Boniperti’s memorable achievements as a footballer was attained on 21st October 1953 at Wembley Stadium in London in a match to celebrate the 90th anniversary of the Football Association Giampiero Boniperti was the only Italian player called up for the Rest of Europe to play against England. The talent of the Juventus player charmed everyone, as the game ended 4-4 and Boniperti netted two goals. When asked what it would take to strengthen his team, England manager Walter Winterbottom replied without uncertainty: "11 Boniperti".

Giampiero Boniperti as a number 9

The centre-forward is the position in which Giampiero Boniperti has played in the most part of his professional career. Boniperti, as a number 9, searched for the best way to reach the goal.

There are no overstatements in his repertoire, there is concentration and competence decoded by him into a method that enforced using nature when it comes to the most significant aspect: "The best shots succeed when you do not think about it, or when you make a mistake, but the ball still goes into the net."

Giampiero Boniperti as a playmaker

"Boniperti shot quickly and hit the ball with both feet": this is one of the descriptions from journalist, Gianni Brera, that stressed some of the characteristics that would be very vital for the last part of his profession.

When he played far away from goal, Giampiero covered more areas of ​​the pitch and helped make the goals of John Charles and Omar Sivori. The great Omar defined his work perfectly: "Boniperti is a playmaker with very clear ideas, he directs the traffic."

Giampiero Boniperti and the first star of Juventus

Giampiero Boniperti was one of the Bianconeri players who celebrated the victory of the 10th Scudetto and it meant that the first star on the Juventus Jersey. The 1957-58 season, which ended in the Old Lady victory, was framed by Boniperti’s first and last goals of Juventus impeccable season. It was the beginning of a new cycle of great accomplishments to come for the club.

Giampiero Boniperti as the captain

Giampiero Boniperti is the captain: this is perhaps the most frequent and most common memory. More than his goals, more than his victories, more than his exceptional technical play, as a footballer Giampiero was remembered for how he was able to represent Juventus.

He did it with an enormous sense of accountability and with the belief of someone who truly loves the Juventus: "I did my part without sacrifices, because I gave what I had inside."

Giampiero Boniperti: Only Juventus

In what becomes a recurrent subject, Juventus is called upon to say "no" to the many teams that court Boniperti, correctly seeing him the best Italian footballer of his time. "I have had so many offers: Inter, Milan, Rome, the Great Torino", Boniperti said, with the pride of someone who has worn only one shirt in his professional career.

Giampiero Boniperti’s Son of Juventus Legend said, “My dad said no to Inter offer but he respected Nerazzurri.”

Accordingly, Angelo Boniperti, son of Giampiero Boniperti, Juventus legend, has clarified the situations when his father decided to reject the offer of Inter President Angelo Moratti.

Angelo Boniperti Spoke to Milan-based newspaper Gazzetta dello Sport in an interview published in and explained that the legendary former Bianconeri forward respected the Nerazzurri and in particular Vice-President Giuseppe Prisco, but that he did not feel that he could betray the Bianconeri.

The regard in which he was held meant that Giampiero Boniperti was also offered by the Nerazzurri, who had hoped that they could bring in one of the top attackers in Italy.

As Boniperti’s son Angelo clarifies, though, the striker ultimately felt that he would not be able to play for a major rival of the team with which he spent his entire professional career.

On Boniperti’s relationship with

he said, “I do not know if he would be comfortable with today’s football. Once there was teasing but then it all ended there. Now I see exaggerated hatred and this is unpleasant. Inter were a rival on the pitch, but my father has always had excellent relations with all their Presidents.”

“When he decided to retire,” Angelo Boniperti went on, “Angelo Moratti made him an indispensable offer to take him to the Nerazzurri but he refused – he was Bianconeri inside.”

“He was linked to Massimo by a great friendship and as long as he was there when he didn’t win with Juve he was sorry if Inter didn’t. My father was looking for purity, enthusiasm, and spirit in football,” he clarified.

Of Boniperti’s relationship with Prisco he said, “My father loved him because he was edgy and funny. He liked his way of being facetious. They respected each other because they looked alike, they shared the same values.”

“Two fantastic characters with a unique style,” he went on. “They also shared the fact that they were both Alpini. With Prisco the two always met in the locker room before the game – a handshake and then the bursts of jokes started. Listening to them was a spectacle, but it was another football.”

Giampiero Boniperti after retirement

A short while after Giampiero Boniperti retired from football, the Agnelli family offered him an executive position as a director in the club's management team; in 1971, he was appointed the chairperson of the board of directors of Juventus, a position he held for many years, and still had a role at the club as one of the honorary chairpersons after he left the position.

Giampiero Boniperti often found the pressure of watching rather than playing quite intolerable, and was known to drive around Turin at half time and just listen to the match on the radio. When the team players asked for pay rises, Boniperti would point to photos of recent defeats of the team on the wall and turn them away in shame. The pressure of continuing as the Italy's top team was extreme for him, even behind the scenes.

Giampiero Boniperti remained as chair until he resigned in 1990, having seen Juventus win the 1984 European Cup Winners’ Cup and the 1985 European Cup. He returned the next year as a director and was appointed honorary president in 2006.

In spite of the success of his period in office, during which Juventus won 16 titles, Boniperti’s presidency was tarnished by the Lobo-Solti affair, in which–before Juventus and Derby County were due to meet in the semi-final of the 1973 European Cup–Dezso Solti, an infamous Hungarian fixer, travelled to Lisbon and offered a bribe to the Portuguese referee, Francisco Lobo. Lobo courageously reported it.

When Boniperti confronted with the evidence in his presidential office the following year, he listened in total quietness, finally breaking the silence to say that it was the work of ‘“madmen” who were not under anyone’s control. Juventus slipped off the hook after a farcical disciplinary investigation by Europe’s controlling football body, UEFA, and the incident was a bad one.

Giampiero Boniperti as a politician

One of the

top facts about Giampiero Boniperti

is that from 1994 until 1999, he was elected as a member of the European Parliament with the centre-right wing party Forza Italia.

Giampiero Boniperti personal life

Giampiero Boniperti was married to Rosi (nee Vergano), with whom he had three children, Giampaolo, Alessandro and Federica.

Giampiero Boniperti's grandson Filippo has followed in his grandfather's footsteps in pursuing a professional career in football, and played for Bianconeri and the Italy U-19 team as a midfielder. Filippo is now a free agent.

Giampiero Boniperti as a goal scorer in three decades

One of the

top facts about Giampiero Boniperti

is that he is the only Italian footballer to have scored goal for the Azzurri in three different decades, from the 1940s to the 1960s.

Giampiero Boniperti famous quote

Giampiero Boniperti had a famous quote on Juventus' winning philosophy, at the opening of the Juventus Stadium on 8 September 2011. He said, "Winning is not important, it's the only concern."

Giampiero Boniperti death

Giampiero Boniperti died in Turin on 18 June 2021 due to heart failure at the age of 92. The Italy national team wore black armbands in honour of him in their game on 20 June against Wales in the UEFA Euro 2020.

Giampiero Boniperti honours

Juventus

• Serie A in 1949–50, 1951–52, 1957–58, 1959–60, 1960–61

• Coppa Italia in 1958–59, 1959–60

Individual

• Serie A top scorer in 1947–48 (27 goals)

•  FIFA 100 in 2004

• Italian Football Hall of Fame in 2012

• CONI Award for Outstanding Sporting Career in 2013

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