Paul Rossi was World Soccer magazine's first World Player Of The Year winner (he was the winner of the Golden Globe this year), a vote cast by the magazine's writers and readers, and you can imagine how important the 1982 World Cup final was to the award.
In the top ten players who finally won the vote, the Italian players occupied four seats, while Italy's talented opponents Brazil, Falcao, Zico and Socrates finished up in 3, 4 and 5 respectively. There is no doubt that football fans all over the world were attracted to the brilliant Brazilian team at the World Cup, so even if Brazil did not win the World Cup in 1982, they were voted the best team of the year in World Football.
Italy had to settle for second, and as compensation for the weight, Italy coach Enzo Bearzot won the world's best coach of the year.
Ever since Berzott became the only manager of the Italian national team, fans have begun to study his ups and downs. Bearzot has worked very hard and has brought Italy out of a stagnant defensive mode. When Rossi and his team win the World Cup in Madrid, they should be looking for someone who can stand on The shoulders of Berzott to continue to promote the team.
Maradona was recognized as the most talented offensive player in the world, but he lost the best ten-man list of the world's best players. Because his performance at the 1982 World Cup was disappointing, he was eventually sent off for a bad foul against Batista in the match against Brazil, and bid farewell to the World Cup in this gesture. Maradona has since been in a slow heat at Barca, and although he scored a stunning goal against Red Star Belgrade in the European Cup Winners' Cup (20 October 1982), it came too late to influence the vote.
Paul Rossi's story this year is like a football novel, and if you read it in a novel, he will definitely think it is a ridiculous fantasy, because life is never like this.
Suspended for two years in Italy for a match-fixing scandal, Rossi returned in the final stages of the 1981–82 league season (playing the last three rounds and scoring the first goal) and winning serie A with Juventus, before returning to the national team after two years, playing only one game against Switzerland before the World Cup. However, he became the top scorer at the following World Cup and also scored in the final against West Germany.
After being banned for two years, it was already remarkable to be able to return to the field and find her form, not to mention that Rossi only took a month and a half from his comeback to the top of the world.
Born in Prato on 23 September 1956, Rossi was selected by Juventus as a teenager with great talent, but a series of cartilage surgeries prevented him from growing up as expected, and the "Giants of Turin" gradually looked down on his future.
Juventus then sent him to Como on loan, followed by second-tier side Vicenza. Here Rosie meets his Bole. Coach Gian Battista Fabbri changed his position to center forward and allowed Rossi to succeed quickly.
Rossi is slim, slender and agile, making it difficult for him to be limited by opponents in the penalty area. Moreover, he is also very brave, he has never been afraid of sneakers rampage and flying opponents surrounded by areas. That season, he scored 21 goals in the league to help Vicenza make it to Serie A, and scored a hat-trick against Roma to earn himself his debut for the Italian national team, which was staged against Belgium in December 1977.
In the 1977–78 season, Rossi scored 24 goals in Serie A and won the Golden Boot, and in the subsequent World Cup in Argentina, he scored 3 goals and showed great fighting ability.
Rossi, who is in his early 20s, has made Juventus regret his performance so much that they want Rossi to return to the team. But Vicenza Chairman Giussi Farina significantly raised the offer to get Rossi's other half, leaving Rossi completely owned Vicenza.
In order to pay for the £1.75 million fee, Vicenza had to sell a number of players to save the money, which also caused the overall strength of the team to decline. Although Rossi still guaranteed goal efficiency in the following season, the team was reluctant to be relegated, so Rossi once again embarked on the road to being loaned. This time, Serie A side Perugia spent £600,000 on loan for Rossi for one season. But Rossi didn't spend a full season in Perugia, after all, his gambling scandal was exposed.
Rossi has always claimed to be innocent and knows nothing about how the team's 2-2 draw with Avellino was arranged. But league authorities eventually imposed Rossi's three-year ban, which was reduced to two years on appeal.
During Rossi's ban on training alone, it wasn't until Juventus threw an olive branch again to buy back the boy they had abandoned. He then played the last three games of the 1981–82 season and scored six goals at the World Cup in Spain – including a hat-trick against Brazil and his first goal in the final – to complete one of the most wonderful fairy tales in football history.
In December 2020, the 64-year-old Rossi passed away due to illness, and the football story he left behind will never die.
The top 10 players of the world in 1982 are as follows (vote percentage):
1 Paulo Rossi (Juventus-Italy): 23%
2 Rummenigge (Bayern-West Germany): 14%
3 Falcao (Rome-Brazil): 12%
4 Zico (flamenco-Brazil): 10%
5 Socrates (Corinthians -Brazil): 9%
6 Zov (Juventus-Italy): 6%
7 Bruno Conte (Rome-Italy): 4%
8 Cruyff (Ajax-Netherlands): 3%
8 Cirrea (Juventus-Italy): 3%
10 Bonek (Rozwidzew/Juventus-Poland): 2%
1982 World Manager of the Year: Enzo Bealzot
1982 World Best Team: Brazil
(Compiler: Supine Braces/Qiu Yixi)