Tarcisio Burgnich was born on 25 April 1939 in Ruda, a small town in the province of Udine. Nickamed ‘The Rock’ due to his great physical attributes, he grew up in Udinese’s youth team, the club with whom he made his Serie A debut on 2 June 1959.

He then went on to wear the shirts of Juventus, Palermo, Inter, the latter for twelve years before moving to Napoli. Overall, he won a total of five Scudetto titles, two Champions Cups, two Intercontinental Cups, a Coppa Italia and an Anglo-Italian League Cup. He also made 66 appearances for the National team scoring two goals, one of which came in the historic 1970 World Cup in Mexico when he scored to make it 2-2 in that unforgettable semi-final between Italy and West Germany, known as the “Match of the Century”. What’s more, he was a key part in the team’s European Championship triumph in 1968 in Italy itself as he played in every single match of the competition.

He was part of the legendary defensive pairing together with his Inter teammate Giacinto Facchetti in three World Cups: 1966, 1970 and 1974. In his 66 matches for Italy, 58 of those were played alongside his inseparable teammate.