José João Altafini (; born 24 July 1938), also known as "Mazzola" in Brazil, is an Italian-Brazilian former footballer, who played as a forward. Although, he began his career with Palmeiras in Brazil, he soon moved to play football in Italy, and is mostly remembered for his highly successful stint with Italian club AC Milan, with which he achieved a great domestic and international success; he later played for Napoli and Juventus, before ending his career in Switzerland with spells at Chiasso and Mendrisiostar. A highly prolific goalscorer, Altafini also held the record for the most goals scored in a single European Cup campaign for over 50 years; he is also one of only eight players to have scored five goals in a single European Cup match. Regarded as one of the best strikers of his generation, and as one of Serie A's and Milan's greatest-ever players, Altafini had an eye for goal and was quick, skilful and powerful.
At international level, Altafini represented both Brazil and Italy; he was a member of the Brazilian side that won the 1958 FIFA World Cup, and later also represented Italy at the 1962 FIFA World Cup.
Altafini was a football pundit on Italian TV for the SKY Italia and a commentator on Italian radio for RTL 102.5, as well as being the secondary commentator on the Pro Evolution Soccer video games in Italy. Altafini coined the expression "golaço" (or the Italianised "golazzo") whenever a notable goal is scored and was known for his iconic exclamation "incredibile, amici!" ("incredible, friends!").
Early life
Altafini was born on 24 July 1938 in Piracicaba, a city in the state of São Paulo, Brazil, with a large Italian community, mostly originating from Trentino Alto Adige, where certain dialects are still spoken. He came from a working-class family of Italian origin, born to Gioacchino Altafini and Maria Marchesoni, his mother being from Caldonazzo (Trentino), which enabled him to obtain Italian citizenship. José's father worked in a sugar factory, while his mother worked as a housemaid for a wealthy family. His goalscoring ratio of 0.74 goals per game is the fifth best ever average for a Palmeiras player. Altafini made his scoreless Milan debut on 21 September 1958, at the age of 20, and, in his first season, he played 32 games and scored 28 goals, winning the 1958–59 Serie A title along the way, and demonstrating his goalscoring prowess; he also managed 4 goals in 4 Coppa Italia appearances that season, finishing the season with a total of 32 goals in 36 appearances in all competitions. His first league goal came on 5 October in a win against Bari. Altafini was the top scorer of the 1960–61 Coppa Italia, with 4 goals, although Milan were not able to make it past the second round of the competition. On 27 March 1960, he scored four goals in the Milan derby against local rivals Inter, which ended in a 5–3 victory for Milan. During these next few seasons, Milan managed a third and second-place finish, as Altafini continued to reach the 20 goal season mark. which was only broken during the 2013–14 season by Cristiano Ronaldo, who managed 17 goals. In Milan's 5–0 win over l'Union Luxembourg, he managed to score five goals in a single match of the competition, a record which he shares with eight other footballers, including Lionel Messi.
Altafini formed a notable attacking partnership with Italo-Argentine advanced playmaker Omar Sívori, who had been his Italy teammate at the 1962 World Cup in Chile. During his time at the club, he helped Napoli to compete for the title regularly, and he was able to lead Napoli to their best ever Serie A finish up until that point, helping them to finish second in the 1967–68 Serie A campaign, behind his former club Milan, also finishing as the second highest goalscorer in Serie A that season. He also helped them finish in third place in 1966 and 1971. During the 1971–72 season, Altafini also helped Napoli to the 1971–72 Coppa Italia final, although they were defeated 2–0 by his previous club, Milan. Despite his role in the club's history, He later played for four years in Switzerland for Chiasso, playing in the second division, and earning a promotion into the Super League thanks to his goals, scoring 14 goals in 26 league games in his first season. He later played for Mendrisiostar, another team in the Swiss second division, before retiring at the age of 42 in 1980, after a 25-season professional footballing career. On the 7 and 10 July, he helped Brazil to win the Copa Roca against rivals Argentina, alongside debutant Pelé, scoring a goal. He returned to the starting line-up in the quarter-final match against Wales on 19 June, putting on a strong performance and helping Pelé to score the only goal of the match. In total he made 8 appearances for the Brazilian national side, scoring 4 goals.
Altafini made his debut for Italy on 15 October 1961, in a play-off against Israel for a place at the 1962 FIFA World Cup. He scored in a 4–2 victory in Ramat Gan and also featured in the second leg as the Italians booked their place at the tournament. Prior to the World Cup, he scored two braces in friendly wins over France and Belgium. Altafini played in the first two group matches of the 1962 World Cup, against West Germany and Chile, as Italy were eliminated in the first round. Despite being only 24, he did not receive another call-up for Italy following Italy's disappointing World Cup campaign, and he was criticised throughout the tournament for avoiding physical challenges and giving up possession too easily.
Style of play
Regarded as one of the best strikers of his generation, Altafini was a complete striker, with good skills, fast feet and an eye for goal, who was quick, agile and physically strong. In addition to his pace and physical attributes, he was gifted with excellent control, technique, flair and dribbling ability; he was also a highly creative player, having started his career as an attacking midfielder or winger, before being switched to a more offensive role as a centre-forward. He made a name for himself as a highly prolific goalscorer throughout his career, due to his powerful, accurate shot and ability to make attacking runs, as well as his intelligence and instinctive opportunism inside the penalty area.
Author
Altafini also co-wrote two books: Incredibile amici! Il mio manuale del calcio, along with Pierluigi Pardo, and Futebol e alegria. Personaggi, fatti, aneddoti del mio calcio, along with Maurizio Barberis.
Career statistics
Club
{| class="wikitable" style="text-align:center"
|+ Appearances and goals by club, season and competition
|-
!rowspan="2" width="100"|Club
!rowspan="2" |Season
!colspan="2" |League
!colspan="2" |Cup
!colspan="2" |Europe
!colspan="2" |Other
!colspan="2" |Total
|-
!width="40"|Apps
!width="40"|Goals
!width="40"|Apps
!width="40"|Goals
!width="40"|Apps
!width="40"|Goals
!width="40"|Apps
!width="40"|Goals
!width="40"|Apps
!width="40"|Goals
|-
|rowspan="8"|AC Milan
|1958–59
||32||28|||4||4||||||2||2||38||34
|-
|1959–60
||33||20||||||4||2||2||4||39||26
|-
|1960–61
||34||22||2||4|||||||2||0||38||26
|-
|1961–62
||33||22||||||2||0||||||35||22
|-
|1962–63
||31||11||2||1||9||14||4||5||46||31
|-
|1963–64
||30||14||1||0||4||4||3||1||38||19
|-
|1964–65
||12||3||||||||||||||12||3
|-
!colspan="1"|Total
!205!!120!!9!!9!!19!!20!!13!!12!!246!!161
|-
|rowspan="8"|Napoli
|1965–66
||34||14||2||1||||||5||7||41||22
|-
|1966–67
||27||16||1||1||5||1||||||33||18
|-
|1967–68
||29||13||2||1||3||3||||||34||17
|-
|1968–69
||21||5||4||2||3||1||||||28||8
|-
|1969–70
||15||8||3||0||3||0||5||3||26||11
|-
|1970–71
||25||7||11||4||||||||||36||11
|-
|1971–72
||29||8||5||2||2||0||||||36||10
|-
!colspan="1"|Total
!180!!71!!28!!11!!16!!5!!10!!10!!234!!97
|-
|rowspan="5"|Juventus
|1972–73
||23||9||6||0||6||3||||||35||12
|-
|1973–74
||21||7||8||2||2||1||1||0||32||10
|-
|1974–75
||20||8||6||0||9||5||||||35||13
|-
|1975–76
||10||1||4||1||3||0||||||17||2
|-
!colspan="1"|Total
!74!!25!!24!!3!!20!!9!!1!!0!!119!!37
|-
!colspan="2"|Career total
!459!!216!!61!!23!!55!!34!!24!!22!!599!!295
|}
International
{| class="wikitable" style="text-align:center"
|+ Appearances and goals by national team and year
|-
!scope="col"|No.
!scope="col"|Date
!scope="col"|Venue
!scope="col"|Opponent
!scope="col"|Score
!scope="col"|Result
!scope="col"|Competition
!scope="col" class="unsortable"|
|-
!colspan="8"|Brazil goals
|-
|style="text-align:center"|1
|
|Pacaembu Stadium, São Paulo, Brazil
|
|style="text-align:center"|–
|style="text-align:center"|3–0
|Friendly
|
|-
|style="text-align:center"|2
|
|Pacaembu Stadium, São Paulo, Brazil
|
|style="text-align:center"|–
|style="text-align:center"|2–0
|1957 Roca Cup
|
|-
|style="text-align:center"|3
|rowspan="2"|
|rowspan="2"|Rimnersvallen, Uddevalla, Sweden
|rowspan="2"|
|style="text-align:center"|1–0
|rowspan="2" style="text-align:center"|3–0
|rowspan="2"|1958 FIFA World Cup
|rowspan="2"|
|-
|style="text-align:center"|4
|style="text-align:center"|3–0
|-
!colspan="8"|Italy goals
|-
|style="text-align:center"|5
|
|Ramat Gan Stadium, Ramat Gan, Israel
|
|style="text-align:center"|2–2
|style="text-align:center"|4–2
|1962 FIFA World Cup qualification
|
|-
|style="text-align:center"|6
|rowspan="2"|
|rowspan="2"|Stadio Comunale, Florence, Italy
|rowspan="2"|
|style="text-align:center"|1–1
|rowspan="2" style="text-align:center"|2–1
|rowspan="2"|Friendly
|rowspan="2"|
|-
|style="text-align:center"|7
|style="text-align:center"|2–1
|-
|style="text-align:center"|8
|rowspan="2"|
|rowspan="2"|Stade du Heysel, Brussels, Belgium
|rowspan="2"|
|style="text-align:center"|2–1
|rowspan="2" style="text-align:center"|3–1
|rowspan="2"|Friendly
|rowspan="2"|
|-
|style="text-align:center"|9
|style="text-align:center"|3–1
|}
Honours
AC Milan
- Serie A: 1972–73, 1974–75
Napoli
- FIFA World Cup: 1958
Individual
- Coppa Italia top goal scorer: 1960–61
- Serie A top Goal-scorer: 1961–62