Numbers 11 &13, worn by former Cagliari legend Gigi Riva and late player David Astori, have both retired and sealed at Cagliari.
Legendary Riva showcasing Cagliari Club's No. 11 shirt
The legendary Riva's name will forever go down in the annals of Cagliari Club history
The back of the legendary Riva of Cagliari
路易吉·里瓦（Luigi Riva），昵称“吉吉”（Gigi），他是意大利极具传奇色彩的球员，他的左脚、头球以及射门时的冷静都令人赞叹。 为了感谢他对俱乐部做出的杰出贡献，永久纪念这位传奇前锋，2005年1月5日卡利亚里俱乐部宣布里瓦穿过的11号球衣退役。 Before the start of the friendly match between Italy and Russia, Rocco Sabato, cagliari's last number 11 shirt holder, presented his shirt to club legend Riva at an official ceremony at the Sant'Elia Stadium, Cagliari's home stadium. Riva thus became the first player of the Sardinian club to enjoy this prestigious honour.
Luigi Riva was born on 7 November 1944 to a poor family in the northern Italian province of Varese near the Swiss border town of Légiono. His mother Edis was a housewife, and his father Hugo worked as a hairdresser and tailor, and when Riva was 9 years old, his father died in an accident at work, and in order to support the family, his mother began to work as a maid, at this time Riva was sent to a religious boarding school, after three years in the boarding school, Riva found a job in the elevator factory and began to contact football, and soon after his mother also died of illness. It can be said that the legendary childhood of Cagliari was spent in misfortune.
From 1961 onwards, Riva began playing amateur league for Raveno Monbello Youth, scoring 63 goals for the amateur team over the course of two years. In 1962, at the age of 18, Riva took a turn for the worse when he joined Serie A side Legnano Ivrea as a professional, scoring six goals in 22 appearances in his debut season. His outstanding performance caught the attention of Enrico Rocca, the president of cagliari club at the time, and the following year the Serie B team brought Riva to Sardinia. In his first season with the club at just 19 years old, Riva made 26 appearances, scoring eight goals and helping Cagliari advance to Serie A as runner-up in the 1963/64 season, his first time in Serie A since the club's founding 44 years ago.
Riva, who debuted in Serie A in the 1963/64 season
On 13 September 1964, Riva made his Serie A debut in the first round of Cagliari's 2-away defeat to Roma. In Cagliari's 1–1 home draw with Sampdoria on 23 September, Riva opened the scoring in the 20th minute and scored his debut goal in Serie A. In his debut season in Serie A, the 20-year-old Riva made 32 appearances, scoring nine goals, and his team eventually finished 7th in the league.
In the 1966/67 season, Riva debuted as a top scorer, winning the Golden Boot with 18 goals, and his team was 6th in the league. In the 1968/69 season, Riva was again awarded the Serie A Golden Boot with 20 goals, and in that season Cagliari finished second in the league and showed his ability to win the title.
Cagliari won the starting line-up in 1969/70
The 1969/70 season was a year in the annals of Serie A history for Cagliari FC, and the new Serie A team won the Proud A title in the sixth season of Serie A, which was jaw-dropping and shocked the world of football. The number one contributor to the title, Riva, won the league Golden Boot with 21 goals, which was also the third Serie A golden boot of his career.
In the 1970/71 season, Cagliari, who debuted in the European Champions League, easily eliminated France's Saint-Etienne in the first round with two goals from Riva, and in the first leg of the second round, Cagliari won 2:1 at home with his goal. However, the perfect start was brought to an early end due to Riva's serious injury in the European qualifiers against Austria on 31 October. In his absence, Cagliari was quickly eliminated from the Round of 16 of the European Cup, finishing in Serie A in 7th place.
After recovering from injury, Riva scored 21 goals in 30 league games in 1971/72, drawing his serie A single-season scoring record, with cagliari in the title-contending ranks finishing fourth and winning next season's UEFA Cup.
From the 1972/73 season, as Riva's goalscoring decreased year by year as he grew older, Cagliari no longer had the strength to compete with Serie A champions, the team had become a mid-serie A team, and although the relegation was worry-free, it was difficult to qualify for European competition. The heroic twilight Riva made just 23 appearances in his last two seasons in Sardinia, scoring eight goals. At the end of the 1975/76 season, the legendary superstar of Cagliari FC officially retired and ended his football career.
He has made 374 appearances for Cagliari in all competitions, scoring 202 goals, including 156 goals in 289 Serie A games, which is tied for 21st place in Serie A goals list with Philippe Inzaghi and Roberto Mancini.
Gigi Riva is the top scorer in the history of the Italian national team, making 42 appearances for the Italian national team between 1965 and 1974, scoring 35 goals, a record that has not been broken. During this time he won the 1968 European Championship for the national team, participated in two World Cup competitions, and was runner-up in the 1970 World Cup in Mexico.
Regarding the retired No. 13 shirt, in the introduction of the Florentina club retirement number, the late player David Astori has been introduced. I won't talk about it here.
After his unfortunate death, Cagliari FC announced the number 13 shirt he wore, retired and sealed. David Astori played for Cagliari from 2006 to 2016, making 174 Serie A appearances and scoring 3 goals.