Giacomo Bulgarelli

Bulgarelli was born in Portonovo di Medicina, Bologna.

His entire Italian club career was spent with Bologna, for whom he also served as captain. He made 391 Serie A appearances for the club between 1958–59 and 1974–75, as well as 54 in the Coppa Italia, 3 in the European Cup, 2 in the Cup Winners' Cup, 20 in the Inter-Cities Fairs Cup, 4 in the Mitropa Cup, and 2 in the Anglo-Italian League Cup; he scored 58 goals in all competitions, 43 of which came in Serie A. He won the title with the club in 1964, after they defeated Herrera's "Grande" Inter Milan 2–0 in a play-off match; this was the only time in history that the league title had been decided in such a manner. He also won the Coppa Italia twice with the club during the 1970s, as well as a Mitropa Cup and an Anglo-Italian League Cup. In the 1974 Coppa Italia final against Palermo, he scored Bologna's first penalty in the 4–3 shoot-out victory following a 1–1 draw. During the match, Bulgarelli won a penalty in the 90th minute of play, which was later converted by Giuseppe Savoldi to tie the game. In the shoot-out, Bulgarelli had initially missed Bologna's first penalty, by referee Sergio Gonella had him retake it, because he believed that Palermo's goalkeeper Sergio Girardi had moved too soon; Bulgarelli scored his second attempt, and Bologna eventually won the shoot-out. With 488 appearances in all competitions, Bulgarelli is Bologna's record all-time appearance holder. He finished his career with a brief spell in…

Bulgarelli played three matches for Italy at the 1960 Summer Olympics.

He made his senior debut for the Italy national team at the 1962 World Cup, on 7 June, scoring two goals in a 3–0 win in Italy's final group match against Switzerland, which were unable to prevent the team from being eliminated in the first round. With these goals, he became the youngest ever goalscorer for Italy at the FIFA World Cup, at the age of 21 years and 226 days. He played all three matches for Italy at the 1966 World Cup. Throughout the tournament, he also featured as the team's captain ahead of Sandro Salvadore in the team's infamous and historic 1–0 defeat to North Korea in Middlesbrough, on 19 July, which led to the Italians' elimination from the World Cup. During the match, Bulgarelli was forced off due to a knee injury when the score was still 0–0, leaving the Italians a man down for the remainder of the match, as substitutions were not permitted at the time. His only other appearance as Italy's captain came on 18 June 1966, in a friendly match against Austria. He was a member of the Italy squad that won the 1968 UEFA European Championship on home soil, where his leadership and experience played an important role in the team's success, even though he did not appear throughout the final stages of the tournament; his last international appearance came against Romania, in 1967. He made a total of 29 appearances for the Italy national side, scoring 7 times.

Bulgarelli was a tenacious, hard-working, and complete midfielder, who was known for his positional sense, consistency, and footballing intelligence, as well as his influence and leadership on the pitch. In addition to being adept defensively as a ball-winner, where he excelled at breaking down plays and subsequently distributing the ball to teammates, he also possessed excellent vision, passing ability and technical skills, and was therefore also capable of setting the tempo of his team in midfield as a playmaker. He was also known for his offensive attributes, which saw him score several goals from midfield. Fabio Capello described him as Italy's greatest ever midfielder.

Club

Bologna Serie A: 1963–64 Coppa Italia: 1969–70, 1973–74 Mitropa Cup: 1961 Anglo-Italian League Cup: 1970

International

Italy UEFA European Championship: 1968

Individual

Italian Football Hall of Fame: 2014 (Posthumous honour)