Met Oval was honored to have the former Italian star, Gianni Rivera, one of the best soccer athletes of his time, visit Met Oval last week.
In the course of nineteen professional seasons Rivera, a midfielder-playmaker, played in the Italian Serie A with single allegiance to AC Milan. During that time he secured for his team:
4 scudetti (league titles)
2 UEFA Cups (1967-1968, 1972-1973)
2 Champion League Cups (formerly Champions Cup) (1962-1963, 1968-1969)
1 International Cup (1969)
Rivera has also played 63 games with the Italian National team and scored 15 goals, including the seventh winning goal in the iconic semifinal Italy-Germany (4-3) which allowed Italy to enter the final game against Brasil in the 1970 World Cup. The year before he was voted Ballon d'Or winner, a title that had narrowly escaped him in 1963, when he was a runner up.
After retiring, Gianni Rivera had a successful run as a politician. He served first in the Italian Parliament, then in the European Parliament. He remained in touch with the Italian soccer world, and in 2013 he was appointed President of the Technical Sector of the Italian Soccer Federation.
It was a great privilege to have him come visit Met Oval and oversee a night of our training.