Antonio Cabrini

Antonio Cabrini

Personal information
Full name	Antonio Cabrini
Date of birth	October 8, 1957 (1957-10-08)
Place of birth	Cremona, Italy
Height	1.78 m (5 ft 10 in)
Playing position	Left-back
Youth career
	Cremonese
Senior career*
Years	Team	Apps†	(Gls)†
1973–1975	Cremonese	29	(2)
1975–1976	Atalanta	35	(1)
1976–1989	Juventus	297	(33)
1989–1991	Bologna	55	(2)
Total		416	(38)
National team
1978–1987	Italy	73	(9)
Teams managed
2000–2001	Arezzo
2001	Crotone
2004–2005	Pisa
2005–2006	Novara
Honours Competitor for Italy Football (soccer) FIFA World Cup Gold Spain 1982
* Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only. † Appearances (Goals).

Antonio Cabrini (born 8 October 1957) is an Italian football former player. He played left-back, mainly with Juventus. He won the 1982 FIFA World Cup with the Italian national team.

In 2007, he was very close to become the manager of the Syrian national football team. After long-running negotiations between the Syrian Football Federation and the Syrian national team sponsors, no agreement was achieved between the sides. Currently, he is part of Al Jazeera Sports channel analysts team that covers the Serie A football matches.

Biography

Club player

Cabrini was born in Cremona, Lombardy. He made his professional football debut with the local team U.S. Cremonese in the Serie C during the 1973–74 season, making 3 appearances and gaining a starting place the following 1974–1975 season. In the 1975–76 season he played in the Serie B for Atalanta, and in the summer of 1976 he was acquired by Juventus, the team for which he was to spend most of his career.

With Juventus, he won the Italian Serie A 6 times, the Coppa Italia 2 times (Italian Cup), 1Italian Super Cup, 1 UEFA Champions League, 1 UEFA Cup and 1 European/South American Cup. He played a total of 352 Serie A matches, scoring 35 goals. In 1989, after 13 successful seasons with Juve, he moved to Bologna for two more years before retiring as a player.

Cabrini was nicknamed Bell'Antonio ("beautiful Antonio"), because of his popularity as a fascinating and good-looking football player. On the field, his technical and physical qualities made of him one of the best defenders of the history of Italian football.

National team

Cabrini was part of the legendary 1982 World Cup-winning team that included goalkeeper Dino Zoff, Gaetano Scirea, Giuseppe Bergomi, Claudio Gentile in defense and Paolo Rossi in attack.

He was called up to Italy's being part of the list of 20 players to participate in the 1978 FIFA World Cup despite being uncapped (he however, had 23 caps for junior teams). He earned his first cap in Italy's opening game against France and became an international regular for the next 9 years. He participated in all of Italy's games in 3 consecutive World Cups, in 1978, 1982 and 1986. Overall, Cabrini played 18 games during World Cup final stages, winning the 1982 edition despite missing a penalty in the final against West Germany.

He earned 73 caps for his country and scored 9 goals (a record for a defender), ending his career with the Azzurri in October 1987. He captained the national side 10 times.

Manager

Cabrini started a coaching career in 2000 with Serie C1 club Arezzo, replacing Serse Cosmi and losing promotion on playoffs. He then coached Serie B's Crotone with little fortune, and later served as head coach for Serie C1 clubs Pisa and Novara Calcio, although with dismal results.

He was announced to become the head coach of Syria national football team on September 2007, but soon after the announcement, problems started in the Syrian FA between the board of Directors and the Syrian National Teams Sponsors and thus the agreement with Cabrini was finally terminated on February 2008, before he actually managed the team. He was planned to take the Syrian team through the World Cup 2010 Qualifications and to make a preparation camp in Italy, but all that was canceled after the financial problems within the FA.

Later on 2008, he briefly contested the Italian TV reality show L'Isola dei Famosi (localized version of Celebrity Survivor). On June 2009 he entered into politics by joining Italy of Values, as party responsible for sports issues in the Lazio region.

Honours

Juventus

• Serie A: 1976–77, 1977–78, 1980–81, 1981–82, 1983–84, 1985–86
• Coppa Italia: 1977–78, 1982–83
• European Cup: 1985
• UEFA Cup Winners' Cup: 1984
• UEFA Cup: 1977
• UEFA Super Cup: 1985
• Intercontinental Cup: 1985

National Team

• FIFA World Cup: 1982

See also

• List of players to have won all international club competitions
• List of players to have won the three main European club competitions

Preceded by Gaetano Scirea

Juventus F.C. captains 1988–1989

Succeeded by Roberto Tricella