Today is Marco Tardelli’s birthday, a man who became a World Champion in 1982 and whose roar after scoring to make it 2-0 in the final against West Germany has become an iconic gesture in Italian football’s history.
Tardelli was born in Careggine, in the province of Lucca, on 24 September 1954. His career began at Pisa in Serie C. After a season in Serie B with Como which ended with promotion to Italy’s top flight, he joined Juventus in 1975. He remained at the Bianconeri for ten years, winning five Scudetti titles, two Coppa Italia trophies, one European Cup, one UEFA Cup, one European Cup Winners’ Cup and one European Super Cup. He then played for Inter for two campaigns before spending the final season of his career at St. Gallen in Switzerland.

As regards Italy, his adventure began on 7 April 1976 as the Azzurri defeated Portugal 3-1 in Turin. That day, Head Coach Bearzot started him and left him on for the entire match. Two years later, on 25 January 1978, he scored his first goal in Italy’s 2-1 friendly defeat to Spain in Madrid.

After his involvement in the 1978 World Cup and the 1980 European Championship, Tardelli was part of the team that lifted the third World Cup in Italy’s history. During that tournament, Tardelli made seven appearances and scored twice: his first goal came against Argentina early on and the second – the most important one – arrived in the final played at the Santiago Bernabeu.

He won his final cap for the National Team on 25 September 1985 as Italy suffered a 2-1 home defeat to Norway in a friendly. He was called up for the 1986 World Cup held in Mexico but never played in that tournament. In total, he scored six goals in 81 appearances in the Azzurri shirt.

Following his playing career, he became part of the Italy setup again in 1989, when he became Head Coach of the Under-16s. The following year, he became Cesare Maldini’s assistant coach for the Under-21s. He performed this role for three years. From 1996 to 2000, he won gold at the 1997 Mediterranean Games while in charge of the Under-23 side and coached the Under-21s to success in the 2000 European Under-21 Championship.