Italy's football world mourns a legend.

Italian football is mourning one of its great heroes. Former national team player Sandro Mazzola has died at the age of 83, as announced by his former club Inter Milan.

September 19, 2026

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The attacking player played exclusively for the Nerazzurri during his 17-year professional career and became an icon there as one of the most influential figures in the club's history.

"Sandro Mazzola was one of the greatest footballers of all time. Not just in the history of Inter Milan. He was Inter's history. He owned only one jersey and one dream his entire life," read Inter's obituary.

Mazzola's father was also revered as an icon.

Mazzola scored 158 goals in 565 competitive matches for Inter. With the storied club, he won the Italian league title four times and the European Cup twice. In their first European Cup victory in 1964, he scored two goals in the 3-1 final win against Real Madrid. Inter defended their title a year later. With the Italian national team, he won the European Championship in 1968 and was a World Cup runner-up in 1970.

Mazzola's father was also a big star in Italy. Valentino Mazzola was captain of the legendary AC Turin team "Grande Torino," which was considered the dominant team in the 1940s and won the championship five times in a row.

Valentino Mazzola, along with almost the entire team, perished in the Superga plane crash on May 4, 1949. Sandro Mazzola was six years old at the time.

Keywords Soccer Italy Sandro Mazzola