Giorgio Chinaglia

Swansea

At age 13, Chinaglia was spotted scoring a hat trick for Cardiff Schools, and joined Swansea Town in the Football League Third Division as an apprentice in 1962. Chinaglia made his senior debut for Swansea in October 1964 at Rotherham United, with his League debut following in February. His final Swans appearance was in March 1966, coming on as a substitute against Brentford. With Swansea, Chinaglia won the 1965 West Wales Senior Cup, scoring in the 3–0 victory in the final against Llanelli, and represented the Swansea Senior Association Football League in 1964 in a representative match against the Birmingham & District Works Football Association.

Serie C

In 1966, because of the lack of interest from British clubs and his compulsory Italian military service, Chinaglia, then age 19, and his family moved back to Carrara. He credited the military requirement with getting his career on track, saying: "Otherwise, I'd probably still be in Wales, slogging it out in the mud and drinking ale. The Italian army has a special regiment for soccer players, so all I did in the service was to train all day, and when my club had a game, get a pass." Chinaglia was banned from playing in Serie A, the top division, for three years because he had played professionally outside of Italy, and his father fixed him up with Massese, a Serie C club in Massa near his home. The following season, he joined another Serie C club, Internapoli in Naples, where he played two seasons…

Chinaglia's play with Lazio earned him a place on head coach Ferruccio Valcareggi's shortlist for the Italy squad in the 1970 FIFA World Cup. He did not make the final 22-man squad, but Valcareggi took him to Mexico for experience. Italy reached the final of the tournament. In 1971, after Lazio were demoted to Serie B, Chinaglia became the first Italy national team player in modern history to be selected from a second-tier division club. Chinaglia scored on his debut in a friendly match against Bulgaria, on 21 June 1972, in Sofia. In 1973, Chinaglia returned to Britain with the Azzurri to face England in a friendly match. In the 86th minute, Chinaglia beat English defender Bobby Moore and sent in a cross that was tapped in by Fabio Capello, helping Italy to its first win over England at Wembley Stadium. Along with his teammates Re Cecconi and Wilson, Chinaglia took part in the 1974 FIFA World Cup in Germany, although he was scarcely used by Italy manager Ferruccio Valcareggi. Chinaglia became notoriously famous for his strong verbal reaction when he cursed upon being substituted by Valcareggi for Anastasi during his nation's opening match of the tournament against Haïti, which ended in a 3–1 victory to the Italians, although they would later suffer a first round elimination from the competition. With his successor, Fulvio Bernardini, the situation did not improve. In total, he scored 4 goals for Italy in 14 appearances between 1972 and 1975.

Chinaglia was a large, strong, fast, and powerful player with a keen eye for goal. He is regarded as one of the most prolific Italian strikers of all time. His opportunistic style of play was initially seen as unorthodox, but he developed into a prominent goalscorer, often described as one of the first true old fashioned centre-forwards in Italy. Chinaglia was known for his powerful and accurate shot, heading ability, and clinical finishing, both inside and outside the area, as well as his acrobatic ability in the air. Although he was not initially regarded as a highly gifted player, he developed his skill and control with time, showing great technical improvements later on in his career, leading him to dribble with the ball at speed during counterattacks on occasion. He was also an accurate penalty taker.

In addition to his footballing attributes, Chinaglia was a confident, charismatic and highly influential player on the pitch, due to his flamboyant, outspoken, eccentric, and extroverted personality, as well as his unique sense of humour with his teammates, which led him to become one of the first true footballing stars. He was also known for his leadership throughout his career, in particular during his time at Lazio. However, despite his prolific goalscoring record, he was criticised at times for being selfish, arrogant, and for his limited work-rate off the ball. Although he was popular with fans and teammates, he also had a controversial, brash, and rebellious…

Chinaglia was born in Carrara, Tuscany, in 1947, but in 1955, he moved to Cardiff, Wales, with his father Mario, mother Giovanna and his sister Rita, because of unemployment in Italy following World War II. Because his family was poor, Chinaglia said, "All four of us lived in one room," he says, "My father was an ironworker and it was tough. I used to take the milk left on people's porches and drink it for breakfast." Chinaglia, whilst living in Cardiff, attended St Mary's of The Angels Catholic Primary School for an unknown period.