Juan Alberto Schiaffino

Juan Alberto Schiaffino

Juan Alberto Schiaffino and Gianni Rivera (1960)
Personal information
Full name	Juan Alberto Schiaffino Villano
Date of birth	(1925-07-28)28 July 1925
Place of birth	Montevideo, Uruguay
Date of death	13 November 2002(2002-11-13) (aged 77)
Height	1.85 m (6 ft 1 in)
Playing position	Inside forward
Senior career*
Years	Team	Apps	(Gls)
1943–1954	Peñarol	227	(88)
1954–1960	Milan	149	(47)
1960–1962	Roma	39	(3)
National team
1946–1954	Uruguay	21	(8)
1954–1958	Italy	4	(0)
Teams managed
1974–1975	Uruguay
1975–1976	Peñarol
* Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only.

Juan Alberto "Pepe" Schiaffino Villano (Italian pronunciation: [skjafˈfiːno]; 28 July 1925 – 13 November 2002) was an Italian-Uruguayan football player. He played as an inside forward, in particular with CA Peñarol and A.C. Milan, or as an attacking midfielder, and won the 1950 FIFA World Cup with the Uruguayan national team. Schiaffino was renowned for his creative ability as a proficient playmaker and assist provider; he was best known for his excellent technical ability, passing range, and vision.

He was ranked as the best Uruguayan footballer of all time by an IFFHS poll.

Following his eight successful years in Peñarol in his native Uruguayan league, Schiaffino was purchased by Italian Serie A club A.C. Milan, for an at the time world record fee of 52 million Lire, in September 1954. He played 171 games with A.C. Milan and scored 60 goals, and participated in the 1958 European Cup Final, which Milan lost to Real Madrid 2–3 (aet). He was among the crucial offensive players in a Milan team that was dominated by foreign stars such as Nils Liedholm and Gunnar Nordahl. Schiaffino won three national championships with Milan, the victories being in 1955, 1957 and 1959. Schiaffino scored a world leading 145 goals for Milan but left in 1960 to join Roma, where he played out his career during two moderately successful seasons, in which Roma finished fifth in the standings.