Giacinto Facchetti (18 July 1942 – 4 September 2006) was an Italian football player. From January 2004 until his death, he was President of Internazionale, the club for which he played for his whole career during the 1960s and 1970s, playing 634 official games and scoring 75 goals.
Biography
Born at Treviglio, in the Province of Bergamo (Lombardy), Facchetti began his career with his hometown club, Trevigliese, as a forward. He was soon noticed by Helenio Herrera, then manager of Internazionale, who launched him in Serie A in the late 1960-61 season as a full back. The change of role was a good choice, and eventually Facchetti developed into one of the most effective defenders of Italian soccer.
With his club, Facchetti won four scudetti in 1963, 1965, 1966 and 1971; one Italy Cup in 1978; two European Champions Clubs' Cups in 1964 and 1965; and two Intercontinental Cups in 1964 and 1965.
He made his debut for Italy on March 23, 1963. Facchetti was capped 94 times (a record at the time, since overtaken only by Dino Zoff, Paolo Maldini and Fabio Cannavaro), wearing the captain's armband 70 times and scoring three goals. He played for his country at the 1966, 1970 (where his team was runner-up to Brazil losing the final by 4-1), and 1974 FIFA World Cups, and was part of the winning Italian squad at (edit conflict × 68). Facchetti was named by Pelé as one of the top 125 greatest living footballers in March 2004.
Facchetti was elected president of Inter on 19 January 2004. After a long illness, he died of cancer in Milan on 4 September 2006.
Inter Milan retired the number 3 shirt in his honour.
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