Silvio Piola

Piola began his career with Italian club Pro Vercelli, making his Serie A debut at age 16 against Bologna on 16 February 1930. Piola scored 13 goals in his first season. On 8 February 1931, he scored a hat-trick against Napoli; at 17 years and 132 days old, Piola set the record as the youngest player to score a hat trick in Europe's top five leagues, surpassing José Iraragorri of Atlético Madrid, who was 17 years and 337 days when he achieved the feat against Real Sociedad on 23 February 1930. As of the 2025 season, this record still stands. On 29 October 1933, Piola scored six goals, the joint-most goals scored in a single match in Serie A, in a 7–2 win over Fiorentina. He went on to score 51 goals in 127 appearances in Serie A for Pro Vercelli. In 1934, he moved to Lazio, who had been on the receiving end of his first Serie A goal on 11 November 1930. He was to spend the next nine seasons there. Piola was the Serie A top scorer twice while at Lazio, in 1937 and 1943. Piola was Lazio's highest all-time leading goalscorer with 149 goals until it was surpassed in 2021 by Ciro Immobile. After leaving Lazio, he spent war-torn 1944 at Torino, where he scored an amazing 27 goals in just 23 games. Toward the end of the war, he joined Novara, where he reached the second position of the 1944-1945 Lombardy Championship. Then, from 1945 to 1947, Piola played for Juventus, before moving back to Novara, where he stayed for seven more seasons. During his final years with Novara, Piola…

His first game for Italy came against Austria on 24 March 1935, when he also scored his first goals for the team in the form of a brace to help Italy defeat the hosts Austria 2–0 in the 1933–35 Central European International Cup. He was a World Cup winner in 1938, when he scored two of Italy's goals in the 4–2 victory over Hungary; he finished the tournament as the second highest scorer and was named the second-best player, also earning a place in the Team of the Tournament. Piola went on to play 34 games for Italy and score 30 goals between 1935 and 1952, a tally that would surely have been greater if not for the interruption caused by World War II. He served as the national side's captain from 1940 until 1947. In 1939 he scored a goal with his hand to England 47 years before Diego Armando Maradona. His last international appearance was in 1952, when Italy drew 1–1 with England. Piola is currently Italy's third highest goalscorer of all-time, behind only Giuseppe Meazza, and Luigi Riva. He also co-holds, with Riva, the national team's record for most goals on opposition soil with 13.

Regarded as one of the greatest strikers of all time, Piola was widely renowned for his goalscoring ability throughout his career, and his eye for goal. He was considered to be a modern and well-rounded player during his time, as he used his physical attributes, intelligence, and control to play with his back to goal, and lay off the ball for teammates in order to provide them with assists. Piola's vision, work-rate, and technical ability, as well as his passing ability, made him a tactically versatile player, who was capable of playing in several positions, and he was deployed on the wing, in midfield, or as a creative advanced playmaker or second striker on occasion. Piola particularly excelled as a centre-forward; however, his speed, positional sense, offensive movement, and opportunism enabled him to lose his markers with his attacking runs and receive his team-mates' deliveries or pounce on loose balls in the area. Piola was also known for his powerful and accurate finishing ability with his head and both feet, from any position on the pitch, which made him a prolific goalscorer throughout his career. Due to his agility and athletic ability, Piola also excelled in the air, and he was capable of scoring spectacular acrobatic goals from volleys and bicycle kicks. Despite his talent and his reputation, he was occasionally accused of diving throughout his career. Unlike his legendary international team-mate, club rival, and friend Giuseppe Meazza, however, with whom he was…

Club

International

Scores and results list Italy's goal tally first, score column indicates score after each Piola goal.