Giuseppe Meazza

For the stadium named after this man - which is more commonly known as San Siro - see Stadio Giuseppe Meazza.

Giuseppe Meazza.

Giuseppe Meazza (August 23 1910 – August 21 1979) was an Italian footballer playing mainly for Inter in the 1930s, scoring 243 goals in 361 games for the club. He is still considered by many to be one of the greatest Italian players of all-time.

Meazza was the first Italian football player who became famous worldwide, and was the first player with personal sponsors. He was also famous for sleeping at a brothel the night before a match.

San Siro, the principal stadium in his native city of Milan, which is today shared by Inter and crosstown rivals AC Milan, is now officially called Stadio Giuseppe Meazza.

Career at Inter Milan

Meazza still holds the record for the most goals scored in a debut season in Serie A, with 31 goals in his first season (1929-30). The year before, when Serie A didn't exist, and the Italian Championship was composed of 2 leagues (North and Central-South) with playoffs, Meazza played 29 matches, scoring 38 goals at the age of 18 years.

He won 3 national championships with Inter in 1930, 1938 and 1940, and was runner-up in 1933, 1934 and 1935; the Italian Cup in 1939; and was top-scorer of Serie A 3 times (1930, 1936, 1938). He was also top-scorer in the pre-Serie A year of 1929. Later in his career he played also with A.C. Milan, Juventus and Atalanta Bergamo.

National team career

Meazza played for Italy in the 1934 and 1938 World Cups, both of which Italy won.

Among his memorable moments is a goal he scored in the 1938 tournament against Brazil in the semi-final. Italy were awarded a controversial penalty and as Meazza stepped up to take it, his shorts fell down. Meazza, without letting this stress him, held his shorts up and shot past the confused Brazilian keeper Walter, sending Italy through to the final.

Meazza won 2 Dr. Gerö Cup, in the 1930 and 1935. That cup was a 3 year international tournement between the strongest national teams of central and eastern Europe.

He played 53 times with Italy and lost just 6 matches.

Career records

Serie A record

Season	Club	Appearances	Goals
1927-28	Inter	33	11
1928-29	Inter	29	38
1929-30	Inter	33	31
1930-31	Inter	34	24
1931-32	Inter	28	21
1932-33	Inter	32	20
1933-34	Inter	32	21
1934-35	Inter	30	19
1935-36	Inter	29	24
1936-37	Inter	26	11
1937-38	Inter	26	20
1938-39	Inter	16	4
1939-40	Inter	0	0
1940-41	Milan	14	6
1941-42	Milan	23	3
1942-43	Juventus	27	10
1945-46	Atalanta	14	2
1946-47	Inter	17	2
Total Serie A		367	216

Meazza is still today the third top-scorer ever in the Italian Championship.

National team record

Cap	Goals	Total Goals	Date	Venue	Opponent	Score	Competition
1	2	2	9 February1930	Rome	Switzerland	4-2	Friendly
2	1	3	2 March1930	Frankfurt	Germany	2-0	Friendly
3		3	6 April 1930	Amsterdam	Netherlands	1-1	Friendly
4	3	6	11 May 1930	Budapest	Hungary	5-0	Dr. Gerö Cup
5		6	22 June1930	Bologna	Spain	2-3	Friendly
6	3	9	January 25 1931	Bologna	France	5-0	Friendly
7	1	10	February 221931	Milan	Austria	2-1	Dr. Gerö Cup
8		10	March 291931	Bern	Switzerland	1-1	Dr. Gerö Cup
9		10	April 19 1931	Bilbao	Spain	0-0	Friendly
10	1	11	May 20 1931	Rome	Scotland	3-0	Friendly
11		11	November 151931	Rome	Czechoslovakia	2-2	Dr. Gerö Cup
12	1	12	March 201932	Vienna	Austria	1-2	Dr. Gerö Cup
13		12	May 81932	Budapest	Hungary	1-1	Dr. Gerö Cup
14		12	October 281932	Prague	Czechoslovakia	1-2	Dr. Gerö Cup
15	1	13	November 271932	Milan	Hungary	4-2	Friendly
16	1	14	January 11933	Bologna	Germany	3-1	Friendly
17	2	16	12 February 1933	Brussels	Belgium	3-2	Friendly
18	1	17	2 April 1933	Geneva	Switzerland	3-0	Dr. Gerö Cup
19		17	13 May 1933	Rome	England	1-1	Friendly
20	1	18	3 December 1933	Florence	Switzerland	5-2	Dr. Gerö Cup
21		18	11 February 1934	Turin	Austria	2-4	Dr. Gerö Cup
22	2	20	25 March 1934	Milan	Greece	4-0	World Cup Qualifier
23	1	21	27 May 1934	Rome	United States	7-1	World Cup
24		21	31 May 1934	Florence	Spain	1-1	World Cup
25	1	22	1 June 1934	Florence	Spain	1-0	World Cup
26		22	3 June 1934	Milan	Austria	1-0	World Cup
27		22	10 June 1934	Rome	Czechoslovakia	2-1	World Cup
28	2	24	14 November 1934	London	England	2-3	Friendly
29	1	25	9 December 1934	Milan	Hungary	4-2	Friendly
30	2	27	17 February 1935	Rome	France	2-1	Friendly
31		27	28 October 1935	Prague	Czechoslovakia	1-2	Dr. Gerö Cup
32		27	24 November 1935	Milan	Hungary	2-2	Dr. Gerö Cup
33		27	5 April 1936	Zürich	Switzerland	2-1	Friendly
34		27	17 May 1936	Rome	Austria	2-2	Friendly
35	1	28	31 May 1936	Budapest	Hungary	2-1	Friendly
36	1	29	25 October 1936	Milan	Switzerland	4-2	Dr. Gerö Cup
37		29	25 April 1937	Turin	Hungary	2-0	Dr. Gerö Cup
38		29	23 May 1937	Prague	Czechoslovakia	1-0	Dr. Gerö Cup
39	1	30	27 May 1937	Oslo	Norway	3-1	Friendly
40		30	31 October 1937	Geneva	Switzerland	2-2	Dr. Gerö Cup
41		30	5 February 1937	Paris	France	0-0	Friendly
42	1	31	15 May 1938	Milan	Belgium	6-1	Friendly
43	1	32	22 May 1938	Geneva	Yugoslavia	4-0	Friendly
44		32	5 June 1938	Marseille	Norway	2-1	World Cup
45		32	12 June 1938	Paris	France	3-1	World Cup
46	1	33	16 June 1938	Marseille	Brazil	2-1	World Cup
47		33	19 June 1938	Paris	Hungary	4-2	World Cup
48		33	26 March 1939	Florence	Germany	3-2	Friendly
49		33	13 May 1939	Milan	England	2-2	Friendly
50		33	4 June 1939	Belgrade	Yugoslavia	2-1	Friendly
51		33	8 June 1939	Budapest	Hungary	3-1	Friendly
52		33	11 June 1939	Bucharest	Romania	1-0	Friendly
53		33	20 July 1939	Helsinki	Finland	3-2	Friendly

(Italy's score shown first)

With 33 goals, Meazza is still the the Italian national team's second highest scorer, behind only Luigi Riva. He died in 1979 aged 68.