Career
Scirea was born at Cernusco sul Naviglio, in the province of Milan but it was of Sicilian origin.
Scirea made his Serie A debut for Atalanta against Cagliari on 24 September 1972. He remained with Atalanta for two seasons, before transferring to Juventus, with whom he would stay until the end of his playing career. In all he made 397 appearances in Serie A, scoring 24 goals. Scirea saw great success with Juventus, playing alongside the hard-hitting Claudio Gentile, and winning every possible trophy to offer in the game.
It has been said that because Scirea was so quietly effective in his position on the field and so quiet in general off the field he did not win as many personal honours throughout the years as other more outspoken and media-friendly players during that time. It was only after his retirement that the wider audience realized and appreciated his fantastic importance to the cause of Juventus and the Italy national football team.
Scirea debuted with the Italian national team on 30 December 1975, against Greece. He immediately became an irreplaceable pillar of the team managed by Enzo Bearzot, and played in three World Cups and one European Championship in 1980. The team of the period 1978–1982 was one of the strongest Italian sides of the post-war period. Scirea impressed in the 1978 World Cup where Italy finished in fourth place. At the 1982 World Cup, after a quiet start, Italy burst to life, beating Argentina and then Brazil in a thrilling match. A 3–1 victory over West Germany in the final earned Scirea a lasting place in World Cup history. By 1986 World Cup, however, the team was in transition, and went out to France in the second round. This was to be Scirea's last match for Italy, having won 78 caps and scoring 2 goals.
He retired from club football at the end of the 1987–1988 season. He took up the role of scout at Juventus.
In summer 1989 Scirea visited Poland as an observer to watch Górnik Zabrze, with which Juventus was to play in the UEFA Cup. On 3 September 1989 a car carrying him collided head-on with a truck near Babsk. The collision was severe, but wouldn't have been fatal. Unfortunately, the car carried in the trunk four canisters of gasoline (a common practice in Poland at that time due to frequent gas shortages), which exploded upon the impact, killing Scirea and two of three other passengers.
Since then his name has become attached to various youth tournaments and fair-play awards, as a role model for sportsmanship and sporting excellence. In 2005 former Italian national team coach Enzo Bearzot proposed the retirement of the jersey number six of that national team and Juventus in recognition of his great career. The north stand in Juventus' former home ground Stadio Olimpico di Torino was also known as the Curva Scirea and was occupied by the ultras.
Read more about this topic: Gaetano Scirea
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