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Gianni Rivera (born August 18, 1943 in
Alessandria) was an Italy|Italian soccer|football
player, the European Footballer of the Year in
1969.

He was nicknamed The Golden Boy of Italian
football. He is the product of Alessandria's youth
soccer academy. He debuted in Serie A for
Alessandria Calcio|Alessandria against
Internazionale. That was on June 2, 1959; he was
only 15 years old. He only played for his first
club 26 matches in which he scored six goals.
After one year, he was bought by A.C. Milan|AC
Milan with a record transfer fee for that time,
$200,000, ahd he was only 16 years old. In 1962 he
wins the first scudetto with AC Milan and on the
May 13, 1962, at 18 years, he plays his first
match for the Italy national football team|Italian
national team against West Germany national
football team|West Germany at the Football World
Cup 1962|World Cup in Chile, a game that finished
with a goalless draw, 0-0. 

Due to the win of the 1962 scudetto, AC Milan gets
into the chase for the UEFA Champions
League|European Cup in 1962, a European Cup which
they have finally won, beating SL Benfica|Benfica
2-1 in the final with a Rivera in great form as he
was awarded the second place in the famous Ballon
d'or award, won by the Russian goalkeeper Lev
Yashin. 

In the 1967/1968 season, Rivera won with AC Milan
both the title and the Cup Winners' Cup. In 1968,
he played for Italy as they won at the 1968
European Football Championship|European
Championship. Next season, Rivera takes AC Milan
to win the Champions Cup as he finally gets the
Ballon d'or award.

He played with the Squadra Azzurra (Italian
national team) in the Football World Cup 1970|1970
World Cup hosted by Mexico, where they reached the
final, losing against Brazil national football
team|Brazil, 4-1. He also played in the Football
World Cup 1974|1974 World Cup when the Italians
were knocked-out by Poland national football
team|Poland, 2-1. That was the end of Rivera's
career at the national team for which he played in
60 games scoring 14 goals. 

Rivera took AC Milan in two Cup Winners' Cup
finals, one in 1973 and another in 1974; the first
one was won and the second one lost. He also won
with the red-and-black team two consecutive
Italian titles, in 1972 and 1973. AC Milan also
won several Italian Cups in the 70's but without
Rivera in most of them who was banned because of
his statements against the Italian referees. 

Rivera won his last scudetto of his career as a
player in 1979 with AC Milan, this also being the
10th title for The Devils. Totally, he played for
AC Milan in Serie A 501 matches and scored 122
goals. 

After retirement, Rivera entered the Italian
political life, being one of the members of the
Italian Parliament.  He was named by Pelé as one
of the FIFA 100|top 125 greatest living
footballers in March 2004.

==Trophies won==
*4 x Italian cup
*3 x Italian title
*2 x Cup Winners Cup
*2 x European Cup
*1 x European Player of The Year
*1 x European Player of The Year runner-up
*1 x World Cup runner-up
*1 x Italian League Top Scorer
*1 x Intercontinental Cup
*1 x European Championship

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Year|before=George Best |after=Gerd
Müller|years=1969
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