The world of football is in mourning. A few days after the death of Pelé, another big name in football breathed his last. This Friday, January 6, Gianluca Vialli died at the age of 58. It was his former club Sampdoria who announced the sad news. The former Italian international suffered for several years from pancreatic cancer. “His death occurred last night after five years of fighting an illness faced with courage and dignity. His memory and example will live forever in our hearts,” his family said. In 2018, he announced in the columns of Corriere della Sera to have been suffering from the disease for several months. In 2021, he revealed that he had overcome the disease, but the cancer finally caught up with him…
In December 2022, Gianluca Vialli made the decision to leave the management of the Italian team to treat “a new phase of the disease”. “After a long and difficult discussion with my wonderful team of oncologists, I have decided to suspend, I hope temporarily, my present and future professional commitments, he revealed then. The objective is to use all my physical and mental energy to help my body overcome this phase of the disease, so that I can take part in new adventures as soon as possible and share them with all of you.” Despite his courage and the help of his doctors, Gianluca Vialli lost his fight against cancer at only 58 years old.
Hello Luca. pic.twitter.com/8KAo9BsYaC
— U.C. Sampdoria (@sampdoria) January 6, 2023
Gianluca Vialli: an important record as a player and coach
The name of Gianluca Vialli will forever be linked to the Sampdoria club, where his career exploded in the 1980s. After eight seasons, a victory in the Italian Championship, three Italian Cups, an Italian Super Cup and a European Cup Winners’ Cup with the Genoa club, he had been transferred to Juventus. With the Turin team, he won several trophies before leaving Italy for England. It was at Chelsea that he ended his career in 1999. But there was no question for Gianluca Vialli of leaving the world of football since he became a coach. With Chelsea, he won the FA Cup, the English League Cup, the Community Shield and the UEFA Super Cup, then worked at Watford and then with the Italian coach.
Gianluca Vialli © Pierre Perusseau
