Series looking at the new Foreign player
signings in the Serie A in the 1980s and their impact.
In the summer of 1982,
Italy won the World Cup. This victory also helped to take the already
prestigious Serie A to even greater heights.
It was becoming the
League that all the big foreign stars were starting to gravitate to.
This summer of 1982
brought its share of new foreign stars, including some who had appeared in the
last World Cup.
Defending Champion
Juventus made a double signing of two of the biggest World stars of the time.
Polish star Zbigniew
Boniek arrived from Widzew Lodz. They were forced to offload Republic of
Ireland star Liam Brady (to Smapdoria) to get on board St. Etienne star and
France National Team Captain Michel Platini.
Danish midfielder Klaus
Berggreen joined Pisa from Lyngby.
His Danish compatriot,
the striker Søren Skov joined Avellino from Belgian side Cercle Brugge. In addition, Avellino
also welcomed Peruvian winger Gerónimo
Barbadillo from Tigres UANL.
Barbadillo’s
Peruvian teammate Julio César Uribe joined Cagliari from Sporting Cristal.
English star Trevor
Francis joined newly promoted side Sampdoria from Manchester City.
Inter Milan signed
West German midfielder Hansi Muller from VfB Stuttgart.
Dutch midfielder Jam
Peters joined Genoa from AZ’67 Alkmaar.
Polish veteran
defender Władysław Żmuda left
Widzew Lodz to join newly promoted side Verona.
Yugoslav International,
the Croatian Ivan Šurjak joined Udinese from French
side Paris St, Germain.
Uruguayan
forward Waldemar Victorino joined Cagliari from Nacional Montevideo. His compatriot
Jorge Washington Caraballo Larrosa joined Pisa from
Danubio.
Oem of the stars of
Brazil’s 1978 World Cup, Dirceu José Guimarães
joined newly promoted side Verona from Atletico Madrid.
Brazilian
defender Edinho joined Udinese from Fluminense.
From this
group, Michel Platini would be the greatest success and became one of the
greatest players in the World during his time at Juventus.
His first
half of his first season was somewhat disappointing, and it took some time for
him to settle. By the second half of the season, he was simply irresistible.
In his five
years in Italy (until 1987), he won two Scudetti, the Coppa Italia, The
Champions Cup and the Cup Winners Cup. He was Capocannoniere for three straight
seasons. More importantly, he won the Ballon d’Or for three straight years,
during his time at Juventus.
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Photo From: 1982-83
Calciatori Panini
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(Michel Platini) |
His Polish
teammate at Juventus, Boniek was less successful, but nevertheless had a good
spell in Italy.
His form in
the League was not as remarkable as his matches in Europe. This led Gianni
Agnelli to refer to him as a ‘Night-Time Beauty.’
He left
Juventus in 1985 to join AS Roma for three more seasons (until 1988).
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Photo From: 1982-83
Calciatori Panini
|
(Zbigniew Boniek) |
Danish
midfielder Klaus Berggreen would have a significant spell in Italy and play for
three clubs, in Serie A and B.
He managed to help Pisa
to stave off relegation in his first season, but they were relegated in 1984.
He stayed one season (1984/85) in Serie B with the side and helped them win
promotion back. After one more season with Pisa, he joined AS Roma in 1986 and
after one season joined Torino (1987/88 season). He left after a season and
re-joined Lyngby to wind down his career.
Danish striker Søren Skov had a disappointing spell at Avellino and failed
to score in 16 outings. He would join West German side Hertha Berlin, the
following season.
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Photo From: 1982-83
Calciatori Panini
|
(Klaus Berggreen) |
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Photo From: 1982-83
Calciatori Panini
|
(Søren
Skov) |
English forward Trevor Francis would have a long spell in Italy. He was at Sampdoria for four years. He would have one final season with Atalanta (1986/87) before joining Rangers Glasgow, managed by his former Sampdoria teammate Graeme Souness.
West German midfielder Hansi Muller did not reach the heights expected of him at Inter. He remained with the Milanese side for two seasons. He was loaned to newly promoted Como in his last season (1984/85). Afterwards he joined Austrian side Tirol, to wind down his career in 1990.
Dutch
midfielder Jan Peters’ four years in Italy were divided between Serie A and B.
He suffered relegation with Genoa in 1984. He remained with Genoa in Serie B
for one season and then joined Atalanta (1985/86 season) for one last season.
He returned
to Holland in 1986 to join NEC in the final phase of his career.
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Photo From: 1982-83
Calciatori Panini
|
(Trevor Francis) |
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Photo From: 1982-83
Calciatori Panini
|
(Hansi Muller) |
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Photo From: 1982-83
Calciatori Panini
|
(Jan Peters) |
Polish defender Władysław Żmuda was at Verona for two seasons. He joined New York Cosmos for a brief spell, before returning to the Serie A and joined Cremonese during the 1984/85 season. He was relegated with the side and remained in the Serie B with the side until 1987.
The
Peruvian Gerónimo Barbadillo’s move was crucial. He stayed at Avellino for
three seasons. He then joined Udinese for one last season in Serie A (1985/86).
He has
since remained in the peninsula and calls Italy his home until today.
His
Peruvian compatriot Julio César Uribe was less successful with Cagliari and
suffered relegation in this first season. He would nevertheless remain with
Cagliari in Serie B until 1985, before returning to Peru.
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Photo From: 1982-83
Calciatori Panini
|
(Władysław
Żmuda) |
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Photo From: 1982-83
Calciatori Panini
|
(Gerónimo
Barbadillo) |
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Photo From: 1982-83
Calciatori Panini
|
(Julio
César Uribe) |
Yugoslavian
(actually Croatian) Ivica Šurjak’s spell in Italy would only consist of a
single season at Udinese, where he managed only two goals.
After
a season of inactivity, he joined Real Zaragoza for one last season (1984/85).
 |
| (Ivica Šurjak) |
Patricio Hernandez spent two seasons at Torino before joining Ascoli for one last season in Italy (1984/85). He then returned home to join River Plate.
Daniel Passarella would have a successful six seasons in Italy despite not winning titles. He spent four years at Fiorentina before two final seasons at Internazionale Milano (1986-87 and 1987-88). He returned home to River Plate in 1988.
Ramon Diaz would have a successful seven-year spell in Italy. His first and only season at Napoli was not impressive (3 goals only). He bounced back after joining Avellino (1983/84) and scored 22 goals in three seasons.
He then spent two seasons at Fiorentina (scoring 17 goals). He capped off his Italian career as a member of the Scudetto winning side of Internazionale Milano (1988/89) that ran away with the title with Diaz scoring 12 goals. He left at the end of that season to join French side AS Monaco.
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Photo From: 1982-83
Calciatori Panini
|
(Patricio Hernandez) |
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Photo From: 1982-83
Calciatori Panini
|
(Daniel Passarella) |
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Photo From: 1982-83
Calciatori Panini
|
(Ramon Diaz) |
Waldemar Victorino last only one season at Cagliari as the side were relegated. He managed only 10 appearances with no goals and joined Argentine side Newell’s Old Boys in 1983.
Jorge Caraballo also lasted one season with Pisa and joined Ecuadorian side Machala in 1983.
Dirceu would spend many years in Italy with various clubs in one-season stints. After his season with Verona, he joined Napoli (1983/84), Ascoli (1984/85), Como (1985/86) and Avellino (1986/87) before returning home to Brazil.
He was sadly killed in a traffic accident on September 15, 1995, aged just 43.
Edinho manage to stay in Italy and Udinese for five years. He left in 1987 after the side was relegated to return home and join Flamengo.
In the following seasons more stars would join the Serie A, including Brazilians who had impressed in the 1982 World Cup.
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Photo From: 1982-83
Calciatori Panini
|
(Waldemar Victorino) |
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Photo From: 1982-83
Calciatori Panini
|
(Jorge Caraballo) |
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Photo From: 1982-83
Calciatori Panini
|
(Dirceu) |
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Photo From: 1982-83
Calciatori Panini (Edinho) |
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