Giuseppe Bergomi

Giuseppe “Beppe” Bergomi was born in Milan on 22 December 1963 and joined Inter Milan’s first-team training setup at just 15. He made his professional debut on 30 January 1980, aged 16, in a Coppa Italia match against Juventus in Turin, becoming the youngest player ever to debut for the club, and made his first Serie A appearance in February 1981 against Como. Teammates nicknamed him “Lo zio” (“the uncle”) for the bushy moustache he wore even as a teenager.

A one-club man, Bergomi spent twenty Serie A seasons with Inter, winning the Scudetto in the record-breaking 1988–89 campaign and lifting the UEFA Cup three times (1991, 1994, and 1998). He retired in 1999 at nearly 36 with 758 appearances and 28 goals, holding Inter’s appearance record until Javier Zanetti surpassed it in 2011, and he still holds the record for most UEFA Cup appearances with 96.

Internationally, Bergomi debuted for Italy at 18 in April 1982 and won the 1982 FIFA World Cup that summer, becoming the second-youngest champion ever after Pelé. He captained Italy at Euro 1988 and the 1990 World Cup, where he was named to the FIFA World Cup All-Star Team, and appeared in four World Cups total. Named to Pelé’s FIFA 100 in 2004, he now works as a pundit for Sky Sports Italia alongside Fabio Caressa.