also later assisting Andrea Carnevale's goal with a cross from a free kick, and contributing to Nikolay Iliev's own goal by setting-up Vialli, whose shot was subsequently deflected by the Bulgarian defender.
1990 FIFA World Cup
and by many in the sport, as one of the greatest players in the history of the game. comparing his elegance to the painter Raffaello, while he described the emerging talent Alessandro Del Piero as Pinturicchio. In a 2011 interview with La Gazzetta dello Sport, Del Piero stated that Baggio, along with Zinedine Zidane, was the best player with whom he had ever played, and his former Brescia teammate Pep Guardiola in 2010, as well as his former Inter teammate Javier Zanetti in 2020, while Matthew Le Tissier named Baggio as his best ever opponent in 2012. In 2018, Cathal Kelly of The Globe and Mail described Baggio playing in the 1994 World Cup as "the best player in the world" at the time, while The Guardian described him as "[t]he definitive player of the decade", also adding that "the 1990s belonged to Il Divin Codino", and labelled him as "probably the finest player in the world between 1992 and 1995." In 2015, Les Carpenter of The Guardian described Baggio as "perhaps the greatest player of his time," while his colleague Emmet Gates dubbed him "the best player of his generation." In 2010, Marco Gori of TuttoMercatoWeb labelled Baggio as "one of the best footballers in history." Throughout his career, pundit Gianni Brera compared his playing style to that of Italian former footballer Giuseppe Meazza, while manager Trapattoni instead compared Baggio's technical characteristics to other former number 10s such as Zico, Platini, and Juan Alberto Schiaffino. Zico described him as "one of the best players in the history of Italian football", while Tommaso Pellizzari of Il Corriere della Sera called him "the greatest pure talent of Italian football." a view shared by Stefano Discreti of Mediaset, who called Baggio "the best Italian footballer of all time" in 2019. Also in 2017, Giuseppe Bergomi described Baggio as "extraordinary" and as a "pure talent", who was "devastating when he played because he was capable of deciding games on his own." In 2004, Gianni Rivera described him as "one of the greatest Italian footballers ever." In 2020, Luca Stamerra of Eurosport described him as one of the "best number 10s in the history of this sport." In 2019, his former Italy manager Dino Zoff listed Baggio as one of the best players he ever coached, while his former Fiorentina manager Sven-Göran Eriksson named him as the most talented player he had ever coached alongside Wayne Rooney in 2021, commenting: "He had everything: incredible technique, vision, pace." In 2019, author Paolo Condò ranked Baggio among the greatest players of all time, a view shared by Emmanuel Amunike in 2020 as well as Roberto Mancini and John Keilman of the Chicago Tribune, who both described Baggio as one of the "all-time greats" in 2018 and 2019, respectively. Former RAI commentator Bruno Pizzul, who served as a pundit for the Italy national team's World Cup matches between 1986 and 2002, named Baggio as his favourite player, and as one of the best footballers he ever saw, among both Italian and non-Italian players. In 2020, Matteo Marani of La Stampa dubbed Baggio as "one of the purest expressions of talent that world football has produced".
Known for his dislike of the defensive, physical and tactical nature of Italian football in the 1990s, Baggio drew criticism from certain pundits and some of his managers for his limited defensive work-rate when possession was lost, as well as the fact that the athletic part of his game was not his main focus during training sessions in his youth, while in his later career, his physical ailments often forced him to train independently with a personal fitness coach and physiotherapist, rather than with his team; as such, Baggio's Milan manager Capello believed that he was not capable of playing for 90 minutes, due to the precarious physical condition of his knees. Luigi Simoni, one of his Inter managers, lauded Baggio for his work-rate in training, stating in 2009 that he would do up to six or seven hours of gym work a day under his tenure, a view which was also shared by Baggio's former Bologna teammate Daniele Carnasciali in 2013. Carlo Mazzone and Gianni De Biasi, his managers at Brescia, as well as his former teammates Luca Toni and Emanuele Filippini, also praised Baggio for his discipline, professionalism, and dedication in training during his time with the club, with De Biasi calling him "an example." Known to be an introvert in the media, due to his quiet private life and reluctance to give interviews, some in the sport, including Gianni Rivera, argued that Baggio lacked leadership qualities on the pitch. His personality is thought to have limited him from being more successful, in particular with larger clubs, with some pundits instead arguing that he excelled more with smaller teams; others instead believed that he had a difficult character due to his disagreements with several of his managers throughout his career, although he was generally regarded as a "correct" and co-operative player by officials, and as a classy and well-behaved footballer in the media. Mazzone also said of him: "Baggio was one of the greatest Italian football players of all time. But I can tell you this, he was an even greater man. He was quiet, polite, respectful, humble. He never let his great talent weigh on anyone else. He was a friend who helped me win games on a Sunday." In 1995, Fabio Capello described Baggio as a player who was "decisive." His former teammate Andrea Pirlo instead commented that "[Baggio] was a silent leader, and above all, he was a leader on the pitch. When he played for the team, he made you win the games",
Despite his talent, success, popularity with the fans, and reputation as one of the greatest players of all time, critical reception of Baggio was occasionally divided throughout his career; this was in part due to his recurring injury struggles, as well as the fact that tactically certain managers struggled to find a suitable playing position for him. His role as a playmaker between the midfield and forward lines, as well as his skilful and creative playing style, were often regarded as being obsolete in modern football, in which managers often favoured the use of the 4–4–2 formation and a more athletic approach to the game; moreover, while Baggio was not an outright forward, he was also thought to lack the stamina to play in midfield, which made him less suited to this particular system, and occasionally led him to be excluded by his managers, although he was ultimately able to adapt to playing as a forward effectively. Baggio's unique playing position, style, and approach to the game, combined with his talent, limited work-rate, and injury struggles, led him to have both many admirers and several detractors. injuries led certain pundits, such as Benedetto Ferrara of La Repubblica in 2010, to label Baggio as a "superfine talent" but who was also "inconsistent." In 1995, Maurizio Crosetti, Ferrara's colleague, had previously described Baggio as "fragile." Regarding the injuries that threatened his career as a youngster, and which haggled him until he retired, Baggio wrote in his 2001 autobiography that "all of my professional career, I played it with a leg and a half. Thousands of hours of work to keep alive a leg which, if it were up to her, would diminish each day. I played it without being fully all right, ever, because if I were to play matches only when I felt one-hundred percent I would play three matches a year." In 2004, Sacchi praised Baggio for his strength of character, which he believed even surpassed his talent, as it allowed him to overcome his injuries and physical struggles, and ultimately "win [his] personal battles against bad luck." In 2017, Capello noted that Baggio had the extraordinary willpower to carry on playing despite his physical struggles.
Legacy
thumb|upright|Baggio's Italy jersey is preserved in the Football Museum in Florence.
Widely considered to be one of the greatest footballers of all time, Baggio came fourth in the 1999 FIFA Player of the Century internet poll, in IFFHS's election for the best player of the 20th century in the same year, he was elected the ninth-best Italian player and the 53rd-best European player of the Century. In 2004, he was named by Pelé in the FIFA 100 list of the world's greatest living players, In 2010, Baggio was named one of the 50 greatest Juventus legends. In a 2014 FIFA poll, Baggio was voted the ninth-greatest number 10 of all time, and later that year he was ranked 24th in The Guardians list of the 100 greatest World Cup players of all time, ahead of the 2014 World Cup in Brazil.
In 2015, journalists of La Gazzetta dello Sport elected the greatest Italian player of all time, with Baggio finishing in second place behind only Gianni Rivera; in a fan poll that was subsequently organised by the newspaper, Baggio was instead voted as the greatest Italian footballer of all time, while Majid Mohamed of UEFA ranked him as the twentieth-best player ever not to have won the UEFA Champions League. That same year, The Daily Telegraph also included Baggio at number 12 in their list of "The top 20 overrated football players of all time." In July 2019, the same magazine ranked Baggio at number ten in their list of the "101 greatest football players of the last 25 years" since their first edition in the summer of 1994, while in September 2023, he was ranked 27th in their list of the "100 best football players of all time." In December 2023, Tom Hancock, of the same magazine, placed Baggio at number three, behind only Zidane and Ronaldo, in his list of the greatest footballers of the 1990s. In 2020, Jack Gallagher of 90min.com placed Baggio at number nine in his list of "The 50 Greatest Footballers of All Time", while Sky Sports ranked him as the fifth-best player ever never to have won the Champions League or European Cup.
Records and selected statistics
Baggio played in 16 World Cup matches for Italy; the Republic of Ireland is the only nation against which he played more than once. He is the joint-highest Italian goalscorer of all time in the World Cup, with nine goals, alongside Paolo Rossi and Christian Vieri. Baggio is the only Italian to have scored in three World Cups (two goals in 1990, five in 1994 and two in 1998). Three of his World Cup goals were scored in the group stage and six were scored during knockout matches. With Baggio, Italy was always eliminated from the World Cup in penalty shootouts: in 1990, in the semi-finals against Argentina; in 1994, in the final against Brazil; and in 1998, in the quarter-finals against France.
Despite his decisive penalty miss in the 1994 World Cup final shoot-out, Baggio is statistically one of the greatest penalty kick specialists in Italian football history, as he scored 85% of his career penalties with only 19 misses, scoring 108 out of 127 penalties in official matches, the most in Italian football history. 68 of his penalties were scored in Serie A, from 83 attempts, with an 82% conversion rate, one of the best records in Serie A history. In Serie A, Baggio scored 17 penalties for Fiorentina (from 19 attempts), 25 for Juventus (from 28 attempts), 3 for Milan (from 5 attempts), 11 for Bologna (from 11 attempts), 1 for Inter Milan (from 2 attempts), and 11 for Brescia (from 18 attempts). Baggio has scored penalties for six different Serie A clubs. Of his other penalties, 8 were scored in Serie C (from 8 attempts), 8 in European competitions (from 9 attempts), and 17 in the Coppa Italia (from 20 attempts). In shoot-outs, Baggio converted three of four career penalties: one in the UEFA Cup with Fiorentina, and the other two with Italy at the World Cup;
Although he never won the Serie A top goalscorer title, Baggio is currently the seventh all-time highest scorer in Serie A, with 205 goals in 452 appearances. Of these goals, 96 were decisive (either equalisers or match winners). Of his open play goals in Serie A, 84 were with his right foot, 26 with his left, and 6 were headers. making him the second–highest assist provider of all time in Serie A, behind only Totti. He is the fourth-highest scoring Italian in all competitions, behind Del Piero, Giueseppe Meazza and Silvio Piola, with 318 professional career goals in 699 appearances. With eight hat-tricks in Serie A, he has also scored the joint-tenth most hat-tricks in the history of the Italian league, alongside Amedeo Amadei, Giampiero Boniperti, Hernán Crespo, and Marco van Basten. Throughout his career, including friendlies, Baggio scored 425 goals.
After retirement
thumb|left|upright|Baggio in 2013
Following Italy’s failure to move on from the 2010 World Cup group stage, in August 2010 Baggio was appointed president of the technical sector of the Italian Football Federation, replacing his former Italy national team manager Azeglio Vicini. In December 2011, he presented a 900-page report titled “Renewing the future”, which proposed an overhaul of the federation’s talent development paths. On 23 January 2013, Baggio stepped down from the position, stating the federation had ignored his ideas about improving the system and focusing on youth talent, which prompted him to resign. In 2026, following Italy’s third consecutive failure to reach the World Cup from the play-off round, Baggio’s report and his attempts to reform the Italian football system were recirculated in the media. On 5 July 2012, Baggio obtained his Category 1 UEFA Pro Coaching Licence at Coverciano, which officially allows him to coach a professional Serie A club.
Outside of professional football
Personal life
After his career threatening injury in 1985, Baggio, formerly a Roman Catholic, converted to Buddhism, practicing Nichiren Buddhism, and is a member of the Soka Gakkai International Buddhist organisation. The captain's armband that he wore throughout his career bore the colours of this religious school (blue, yellow, and red) and the Japanese motto "We win. We must win" in ideograms of the language. Despite his conversion, he married his long-time girlfriend Andreina Fabbi in 1989 in a traditional Roman Catholic ceremony. They have a daughter, Valentina (1990), and two sons, Mattia (1994) and Leonardo (2005).
Between 1991 and 2012, Baggio was the owner of a sporting goods store in Thiene, Vicenza, called Baggio Sport, which he was eventually forced to close due to losses from the Great Recession.
In 2001, Baggio wrote an autobiography entitled ' (literally "A Door in the Sky", also known as "A Goal in the Sky"), including details about his career, childhood, religion, personal life and rifts with managers. It won the award for best football book at the 2002 Serie A Awards.
Philanthropy
On 16 October 2002, Baggio was named a Goodwill Ambassador of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, Through the organisation, Baggio helped to fund hospitals, raise money for the victims of the Haiti earthquake, contribute to tackling bird flu, and was involved in the Burmese pro-democracy movement, which supported the opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi and her release from prison. Baggio was awarded the 2010 Man of Peace title in Hiroshima, presented by the World Summit of Nobel Peace Laureates in recognition of his charitable work and contribution to social justice and peace.
On 8 October 2008, Baggio appeared in a charity match between Milan and Fiorentina, which had been organised in honour of his former Fiorentina teammate Stefano Borgonovo to raise money for his foundation, his treatment and for ALS research. In 2014, Baggio was one of the many celebrities to take part in the "ALS Ice Bucket Challenge" to raise awareness about the disease and funds for ALS research.
On 1 September 2014, Baggio took part in the "Match for Peace", which was played at the Stadio Olimpico in Rome, with the proceeds being donated to charity. Baggio set up Juan Iturbe's goal and scored from a Diego Maradona assist. On 25 October 2014, Baggio participated in the opening of the SGI Ikeda Cultural Center in Corsico, on the outskirts of Milan. It is the largest Buddhist center in Europe.
Media and popular culture
In 1994, Italian satirist Corrado Guzzanti parodied Baggio's advertisement for Italian Petrol Company IP prior to the 1994 World Cup. Italian poet Giovanni Raboni composed the sonnet "Lode a Baggio" in a tribute to him. He has been referenced in several songs, such as "Baggio, Baggio" by Lucio Dalla, "Marmellata n. 25" by Cesare Cremonini and "Baggio" by Miles Kane.
Baggio has featured in two Italian commercials which reference his infamous penalty miss in the 1994 World Cup final. The first was made for Wind in 2000, and shows Baggio scoring the final penalty to win the tournament. The second, made for Johnnie Walker in 2001, showed how he managed to conquer his grief from the miss by believing in himself and scoring the equalising penalty against Chile in the 1998 World Cup. He has featured in several Diadora commercials, as he endorsed their products. In July 2017, Diadora teamed up with Baggio once again to launch the new Signature Match Winner RB Capsule Collection.
Baggio is popular in Japan, and has held close ties with the country since his conversion to Buddhism. He has endorsed several Japanese football video games, such as Human Entertainment's Super Formation Soccer 95: della Serie A, and Sega's Virtua Pro Football and Let's Make a Soccer Team!. An animated version of himself appeared in the Japanese football cartoon Captain Tsubasa, best known in Italy as Che Campioni: Holly & Benji.
In the Channel 4 sitcom Father Ted, Baggio (and Alessandro Costacurta) is mentioned during the 1995 episode "Grant Unto Him Eternal Rest" by Father Dougal McGuire (portrayed by Ardal O'Hanlon), who, when prompted to say the last rites in Latin, ends up saying the footballers' names. (This stems from Graham Linehan and O'Hanlon being fans of Football Italia). In the music video for the 2010 World Cup song "Waka Waka (This Time for Africa)" by Shakira,
Throughout his career, Baggio has been nicknamed the Divin' Codino ("Divine Ponytail" in Italian, a reference to the iconic hairstyle he wore for a large part of his career as well as his playing ability and Buddhist beliefs) and Robi, or Roby, by his fans. An alter-ego of his is referenced in the Italian children's comics of "Mickey Mouse" and "Duck Tales" (Topolino) in the volume Topolino e il Giallo alla World Cup in which he is known as Roberto Paggio. In 2011, Italian sports newspaper La Gazzetta dello Sport issued a collection of DVDs entitled Io Che Sarò Roberto Baggio recounting his career. Baggio's impact on football has been celebrated with the release of an online game called Baggio's Magical Kicks, in which players try to replicate his accuracy on free-kicks and penalties. In 2015, the arcade game company Konami announced Baggio would feature in their football video game Pro Evolution Soccer 2016 as one of the new myClub Legends. On 3 August 2018, EA Sports announced on their official Twitter account that Baggio would feature in EA Sports' football video game FIFA 19 as one of the new Ultimate Team Icons.
In 2019, Netflix announced the development of a documentary on Roberto Baggio in partnership with Mediaset. In March 2021, Netflix released the trailer of a docudrama film on Baggio's career, entitled Baggio: The Divine Ponytail, which was released on 26 May 2021; Andrea Arcangeli portrayed Baggio.
Career statistics
Club
{| class="wikitable" style="text-align:center"
|+ Appearances and goals by club, season and competition:
|-
!rowspan="2"|Club
!rowspan="2"|Season
!colspan="3"|League
!colspan="2"|Coppa Italia
!colspan="2"|Europe
!colspan="2"|Other
!colspan="2"|Total
|-
!Division!!Apps!!Goals!!Apps!!Goals!!Apps!!Goals!!Apps!!Goals!!Apps!!Goals
|-
|rowspan="4"|Vicenza
|1982–83
|Serie C1
|1||0||0||0||colspan="2"|–||colspan="2"|–||1||0
|-
|1983–84
|Serie C1
|6||1||4||0||colspan="2"|–||2||1||12||2
|-
|1984–85
|Serie C1
|29||12||5||2||colspan="2"|–||colspan="2"|–||34||14
|-
!colspan="2"|Total
!36!!13!!9!!2!!colspan="2"|–!!2!!1!!47!!16
|-
|rowspan="6"|Fiorentina
|1985–86
|Serie A
|0||0||5||0||colspan="2"|–||colspan="2"|–||5||0
|-
|1986–87
|Serie A
|5||1||4||2||1||0||colspan="2"|–||10||3
|-
|1987–88
|Serie A
|27||6||7||3||colspan="2"|–||colspan="2"|–||34||9
|-
|1988–89
|Serie A
|30||15||10||9||colspan="2"|–||1||0||41||24
|-
|1989–90
|Serie A
|32||17||2||1||12||1||colspan="2"|–||46||19
|-
!colspan="2"|Total
!94!!39!!28!!15!!13!!1!!1!!0!!136!!55
|-
|rowspan="6"|Juventus
|1990–91
|Serie A
||33||14||5||3||8||9||1||1||47||27
|-
|1991–92
|Serie A
|32||18||8||4||colspan="2"|–||colspan="2"|–||40||22
|-
|1992–93
|Serie A
|27||21||7||3||9||6||colspan="2"|–||43||30
|-
|1993–94
|Serie A
|32||17||2||2||7||3||colspan="2"|–||41||22
|-
|1994–95
|Serie A
|17||8||4||2||8||4||colspan="2"|–||29||14
|-
!colspan="2"|Total
!141!!78!!26!!14!!32!!22!!1!!1!!200!!115
|-
|rowspan="3"|AC Milan
|1995–96
|Serie A
||28||7||1||0||5||3||colspan="2"|–||34||10
|-
|1996–97
|Serie A
|23||5||5||3||5||1||0||0||33||9
|-
!colspan="2"|Total
!51!!12!!6!!3!!10!!4!!0!!0!!67!!19
|-
|Bologna
|1997–98
|Serie A
||30||22||3||1||colspan="2"|–||colspan="2"|–||33||23
|-
|rowspan="3"|Inter Milan
|1998–99
|Serie A
||23||5||4||0||6||4||2||1||35||10
|-
|1999–00
|Serie A
|18||4||5||1||colspan="2"|–||1||2||24||7
|-
!colspan="2"|Total
!41!!9!!9!!1!!6!!4!!3!!3!!59!!17
|-
|rowspan="5"|Brescia
|2000–01
|Serie A
||25||10||3||0||colspan="2"|–||colspan="2"|–||28||10
|-
|2001–02
|Serie A
|12||11||1||0||2||1||colspan="2"|–||15||12
|-
|2002–03
|Serie A
|32||12||0||0||colspan="2"|–||colspan="2"|–||32||12
|-
|2003–04
|Serie A
|26||12||0||0||0||0||colspan="2"|–||26||12
|-
!colspan="2"|Total
!95!!45!!4!!0!!2!!1!!colspan="2"|–!!101!!46
|-
!colspan="3"|Career total
!488!!218!!85!!36!!63!!32!!7!!5!!643!!291
|}
International
{| class="wikitable" style="text-align:center"
|+ Appearances and goals by national team and year
|-
!National team!!Year!!Apps!!Goals
|-
|rowspan="17"|Italy
|1988||1||0
|-
|1989||6||3
|-
|1990||9||4
|-
|1991||2||1
|-
|1992||7||6
|-
|1993||7||5
|-
|1994||12||5
|-
|1995||1||0
|-
|1996||0||0
|-
|1997||2||1
|-
|1998||6||2
|-
|1999||2||0
|-
|2000||0||0
|-
|2001||0||0
|-
|2002||0||0
|-
|2003||0||0
|-
|2004||1||0
|-
!colspan="2"|Total!!56!!27
|}
:Scores and results list Italy's goal tally first, score column indicates score after each Baggio goal.
{| class="wikitable sortable"
|+ List of international goals scored by Roberto Baggio Third Place 1990
Individual
- UEFA Cup Winners' Cup Top Scorer: 1990–91 (9 Goals)
- World Soccers World Player of the Year: 1993
- Ballon d'Or: 1993
- 8th Place: 1990
- Onze d'Or: 1993
- Onze de Bronze: 1994
- FIFA World Cup All-Star Team: 1994
- Don Balón Award: 1994
- Serie A Top Assist-Provider: 1995–96 (12 Assists)
- Il Venerdìs Best 100 Players of All Time: 1997 (32nd Place)
- World Soccers Greatest Players of the 20th Century: 1999 (16th Place)
- IFFHS Italian Player of the 20th Century: 1999 (9th Place)
- IFFHS European Player of the 20th Century: 1999 (53rd Place)
- Placars Best 100 Players of All Time: 1999 (91st Place)
- FIFA XI: 2000, 2002
- Guerin d'Oro: 2001
- Gran Galà del Calcio 'Best Football Book' Award: 2001
- UEFA Golden Jubilee Poll: 2004 (24th Place)
- San Siro Gentleman Nazionale Award: 2004
- Placars Best 100 World Cup Players: 2005 (24th Place)
- Association of Football Statisticians's Best 100 Players of All Time: 2007 (79th Place)
- Juventus FC 50 Club Legends: 2011
- Gentleman di Platino: 2015
- Walk of Fame of Italian Sport: 2015
- IFFHS' 48 Football Men's Legend Players
- Juventus FC Hall of Fame: 2025
Orders
:*left|50px 5th Class / Knight: Cavaliere Ordine al Merito della Repubblica Italiana: 1991
Notes
References
Bibliography
External links
- Roberto Baggio at FIGC.it