lit a candle 5h agoMy father was from Turin and kept a scrapbook of the 1970 World Cup final, Mazzola's name circled on the team sheet. I read it cover to cover as a girl in New Jersey without understanding a word of Italian. Eighty three is a long life but this still landed hard.
Their story
Sandro Mazzola, the Inter Milan and Italy forward who embodied Helenio Herrera's Grande Inter and later became a club director and television voice, died shortly after midnight on September 19, 2026. He was 83. Inter announced his death with the words Goodbye Sandro, eternal legend. La Gazzetta dello Sport and…
Sandro Mazzola, the Inter Milan and Italy forward who embodied Helenio Herrera's Grande Inter and later became a club director and television voice, died shortly after midnight on September 19, 2026. He was 83. Inter announced his death with the words Goodbye Sandro, eternal legend. La Gazzetta dello Sport and other Italian outlets confirmed the club statement the same morning.
Alessandro Mazzola was born in Turin on November 8, 1942, the son of Valentino Mazzola, captain of Grande Torino. He was six when his father died in the 1949 Superga air disaster. With younger brother Ferruccio he grew up around Inter, where Benito Lorenzi looked after the boys and they served as match-day mascots at San Siro. He joined the Nerazzurri youth ranks as a teenager, trained under Giuseppe Meazza, and reached the first team under Herrera.
His senior path was pure Inter. From 1960 to 1977 he made hundreds of Serie A appearances and scored more than a hundred league goals for one club only. He won four Scudetti, two European Cups and two Intercontinental Cups with Grande Inter. In the 1964 European Cup final in Vienna he scored twice as Inter beat Real Madrid 3-1. He was the competition's top scorer that season, later scored in the 1967 final, and finished second to Johan Cruyff in the 1971 Ballon d'Or. Fans still call his weaving goal against Vasas Budapest a serpentina.
For Italy he earned 70 caps and scored 22 goals. He debuted against Brazil, won the 1968 European Championship, and reached the 1970 World Cup final. His career was also marked by the famous rivalry and rotation with Milan's Gianni Rivera. He married Graziella young and had three children; his last match as a player was the 1977 Coppa Italia final against Milan.
After retiring he worked as an Inter director in two spells, helping bring Ronaldo and Alvaro Recoba to the club, and later worked with Genoa and Torino. He became a familiar television commentator and a Gazzetta contributor. Italian football spent September 19 mourning a player who carried both his father's name and a Nerazzurri identity that never left San Siro.
Biography adapted from FC Internazionale announcement via La Gazzetta dello Sport (19 Sep 2026); Wikipedia; Inter Hall of Fame; La Repubblica; ANSA; Sky Sport.
In their own words
“Goodbye Sandro, eternal legend.”
“You are worthy of your father.”
Photos
3Sandro Mazzola in Inter Milan kit, early 1970s
by People Forever
Sandro Mazzola with a football during his Inter years
by People Forever
Sandro Mazzola, Inter Milan Hall of Fame
by People Forever
That final still gets talked about here in Italy, 4 3 to West Germany in extra time. He carried that team.