Silvio Piola

Italian footballer and manager (1913-1996)

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Italy rank#216

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Fame55.7
Momentum0.2
Italy rank#216
Footballers rank#93
Wikipedia18.1K

Lived 1913–1996, aged 83Italy

Italy FootballersFootball / Soccer Player

Wikipedia
48 languages
Cross-language footprint
Rank in Italy
#216
Footballers
Era
1913–1996
Aged 83
Awards
1
recognised work

Summary

Updated 2026-06-09

The only player to retire as the all-time top scorer for three different Serie A clubs. Piola's 290 first-division goals — a record that still stands — came across two decades when defending was a religion and pitches were mud.

Biography

About

Born in 1913, Piola turned professional as a striker in an era when Italian football was still finding its shape. He broke through at Pro Vercelli, then moved to Lazio, racking up goals with a consistency that defied the war-interrupted seasons and the brutal marking of the time. In 1938 he scored twice in the World Cup final as Italy took the trophy, finishing the tournament as second-top scorer. He kept playing into the postwar years, adding a stint at Novara and pushing his Serie A tally to 274 goals — a mark no one has touched since. When he retired he'd scored 364 in official competitions…

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