Gianluca Vialli, former Chelsea player and manager, has died aged 58. In December, Vialli stepped down from his role as Italy’s head of delegation in order to fight cancer.
The former Italy, Juventus and Chelsea striker died following a lengthy battle with pancreatic cancer, the Italian Football Federation has announced.
The 58-year-old revealed in December last year that he was battling pancreatic cancer for a second time. After consulting with doctors, Vialli “suspended professional commitments” as he fought the disease.
Vialli said on the Italian Football Federation’s (FIGC) website at the end of last year: “At the end of a long and difficult ‘negotiation’ with my wonderful team of oncologists, I have decided to suspend, hopefully temporarily, my present and future professional commitments.
“The goal is to use all my psycho-physical energies to help my body overcome this phase of the disease, in order to be able to face new adventures as soon as possible and share them with all of you.”
Concerns grew for the health of Gianluca Vialli before Christmnas when members of his family travelled to visit him in a London hospital. Italian newspaper Corriere della Sera reported before Christmas that his 87-year-old mother Maria Teresa and brother Nino had travelled to be with Vialli in a London hospital.
The former Chelsea player and manager was re-diagnosed with cancer in 2021. Chelsea tweeted: “You’ll be missed by so many. A legend to us and to all of football. Rest in peace, Gianluca Vialli.”
Gianluca Vialli enjoyed a successful spell as player and manager with Chelsea (Adam Butler/PA Archive)
Vialli was first diagnosed with pancreatic cancer in 2017 but after being treated at the Royal Marsden Hospital he announced in April 2020 that he had been given the all-clear.
He went on to play a key role in Italy’s Euro 2020 success in England under head coach Roberto Mancini.
The former Sampdoria and Juventus star made 88 appearances for Chelsea before going on to manage the club between 1998 and 2000.
During a 16-year playing career in Italy, Vialli won every major trophy on offer, including Serie A titles with Sampdoria (1991) and Juventus (1995), the Champions League with the latter in 1996, the UEFA Cup and the UEFA Cup Winners’ Cup. He was also a four-time Coppa Italia winner.
He scored 16 goals in 59 appearances for Italy, featured in the 1986 and 1990 World Cups and helped the Azzurri to a third-place finish at the latter, while his £12.5million transfer from Sampdoria to Juventus in 1992 was a world record fee at the time.
Vialli joined Chelsea in 1996 and helped them win the FA Cup at the end of his first season before guiding the London club to glory in both the League Cup and UEFA Cup Winners’ Cup as player-manager the following season.
Gianluca Vialli: Classy Italian striker who became a Chelsea favourite
Former Italy, Juventus and Chelsea striker Gianluca Vialli was one of English football’s most successful and popular European imports.
Vialli, who went on to enjoy success as Chelsea manager following his glittering playing career, has died aged 58 following a lengthy battle with cancer.
During a 16-year playing career in Italy, Vialli won every major trophy on offer, including Serie A titles with Sampdoria (1991) and Juventus (1995), the Champions League with the latter in 1996, the UEFA Cup and the UEFA Cup Winners’ Cup. He was also a four-time Coppa Italia winner.
Gianluca Vialli (front left) in action for Sampdoria (Malcolm Croft/PA).
He scored 16 goals in 59 appearances for Italy and featured in the 1986 and 1990 World Cup finals, while his £12.5million transfer from Sampdoria to Juventus in 1992 was a world record fee at the time.
In 1996, Dutch great Ruud Gullit, then the Chelsea manager, lured Vialli to Stamford Bridge and the trophies continued to mount up.
At the end of the Italian’s first season in England he lifted the FA Cup and, although limited to a bit-part role under Gullit, he flourished at the London club after the Dutchman’s exit.
The following season, now as player-manager, Vialli led Chelsea to glory in both the League Cup and Cup Winners’ Cup.
Gianluca Vialli (right) joined Chelsea in 1996 (PA).
Aged just 33 years and 308 days, Vialli was then the youngest manager to win a major European title.
He guided Chelsea to a third-placed Premier League finish in 1998-99, his last campaign as a player, and bowed out with the winning goal in a 2-1 home win over Derby.
Vialli’s appeal extended beyond Stamford Bridge due to his grasp of colloquial English and the glint in his eye.
The Italian embodied the Premier League’s continental revolution that transformed English football in the 1990s.
Gianluca Vialli lifts the FA Cup as Chelsea manager (Rui Vieira/PA).
He won his fifth major trophy in less than three years in charge of Chelsea when they won the FA Cup in 2000, becoming the club’s most successful manager at the time, before being sacked five games into the following season.
His next role as Watford boss, his last in football management, ended in dismissal after just one season in 2002 before Vialli worked extensively as a television pundit and as a presenter on Sky Italia.
He also co-founded sports investment platform Tifosy in 2014 and in 2019, despite his on-going fight against cancer, was appointed as Italy’s new delegation chief under close friend and head coach Roberto Mancini, a former Sampdoria and international team-mate, and played a key role in the country’s Euro 2020 triumph.
After Italy’s penalty shoot-out win against England in the final at Wembley, full-back Alessandro Florenzi summed up the impact Vialli had on their triumphant squad.
Florenzi said: “He will hate me for saying this, but I don’t care.
Gianluca Vialli celebrates with Roberto Mancini after Italy’s Euro 2020 triumph (Christian Charisius via DPA/PA).
“We have among us an example that teaches us how to live, in any moment, in any situation. And I’m talking about Gianluca Vialli. For us, he’s special.
“Without him, and without Mancini and the other coaches, this victory would mean nothing. He is a living example. I know he will get angry, but I just had to say it.”
Born in 1964 as the youngest of five children, Vialli’s father owned a construction company and was a self-made millionaire.
Vialli was raised in the family home, the Castello di Belgioso in Cremona, Lombardy, and after leaving school aged 15 he made his first-team debut for local side Cremonese, then in the Italian third tier, at 16.
Chelsea fans show their love for their former player and manager (John Walton/PA).
His 23 goals in 105 appearances for Cremonese helped them reach Serie A within four years and earned Vialli a move to Sampdoria, where he went on to become one of the leading strikers of his generation.
Vialli remained in London after leaving Chelsea and married South Africa-born British-based model Cathryn White-Cooper in 2003.
He was first diagnosed with pancreatic cancer in 2017 and after treatment at the Royal Marsden Hospital in London announced he had been given the all-clear in 2020.
He stepped down from his role with Italy in December after being re-diagnosed with the disease in 2021.
He is survived by his wife and daughters Olivia and Sofia.
