Walter Speggiorin

Walter Speggiorin

Personal information
Date of birth	(1952-12-16) December 16, 1952 (age 71)
Place of birth	Camisano Vicentino, Italy
Position(s)	Forward
Youth career
19??-1968	Vicenza
Senior career*
Years	Team	Apps	(Gls)
1968-1969	Vicenza	0	(0)
1969-1972	Genoa	52	(14)
1972-1973	Vicenza	14	(1)
1973-1976	Fiorentina	52	(8)
1976-1977	Napoli	19	(4)
1977-1979	Perugia	44	(17)
1979-1981	Napoli	38	(3)
1981-1982	Lazio	21	(2)
1982-1984	Massese	20	(1)
International career
1973	Italy U21	1	(1)
*Club domestic league appearances and goals

Walter Speggiorin (born December 16, 1952, in Camisano Vicentino) is a retired Italian professional football player who played as a forward.

Club career

Speggiorin began his football career with local teams before moving to L.R. Vicenza's main team in 1968. In the 1969–1970 season, he transferred to Genoa, in Serie B, where he debuted at the age of seventeen, scoring two goals in five matches before being sidelined by a serious injury. He remained with Genoa for the next two seasons, including a stint in Serie C in the 1970–1971 season, before returning in the summer of 1972 to Lanerossi Vicenza, where he made his Serie A debut on September 24 against Torino. Acquired by Fiorentina in the summer of 1973, he spent three seasons in Tuscany, showing his offensive qualities but also inconsistency, which prevented him from establishing himself as a regular starter. With Fiorentina, he won the Coppa Italia in 1975 and a Anglo-Italian League Cup where he scored the winning goal in the return leg against West Ham Utd. ^[1]

In 1976, he moved to Napoli where he had a relatively anonymous season in the league, but stood out in continental competitions. In the Cup Winners' Cup, he scored 3 goals, helping Napoli reach the semifinals. However, he was involved in a controversial incident during the semifinal, scoring a goal against Anderlecht that was disallowed by English referee Bob Matthewson. He also performed well in the Anglo-Italian League Cup, scoring a brace against Southampton in the return leg to secure the trophy for Napoli. ^[2]

Transferred to AC Perugia, he arguably played his best two seasons there. Under coach Ilario Castagner, he played as a left winger alongside young talent Salvatore Bagni, supporting striker Gianfranco Casarsa. ^[3] Speggiorin began to score with a consistency he had not shown before—17 goals in 44 appearances over two seasons, finishing as the top scorer for Perugia both times. He played a significant role in the notable achievements of the so-called "Perugia of miracles," including a second-place finish in the 1978-1979 Serie A season and a record-breaking unbeaten run. ^{[4] [5]}

In the summer of 1978, Perugia also won the Karl Rappan Cup, their first international trophy, with Speggiorin contributing 4 goals. ^[6]

Throughout his career, Speggiorin amassed a total of 167 appearances and 33 goals in Serie A, and 49 matches and 7 goals in Serie B.

International career

In 1973, he scored a goal in his only appearance for the Italy Under-21 team against France in Paris. ^[7]

Honours

Club

ACF Fiorentina

• Coppa Italia: 1974–75

References

1. "La Fiorentina conquista la Coppa anglo-italiana" (in Italian). l'Unità. 11 December 1975. p. 12.
2. "Il Napoli a valanga sul Southampton" (in Italian). l'Unità. 15 November 1976. p. 9.
3. "Boniperti ha un erede, è Bettega". Guerin Sportivo (in Italian). Vol. 1, no. 166. Conti Editore. January 1978.
4. Sebastiano Vernazza (July 31, 2007). "Perugia imbattibile con il modello Ajax" (PDF) (in Italian). Gazzetta dello Sport.
5. Gary Thacker (25 July 2018). "PERUGIA AND THE UNDEFEATED SEASON OF MIRACLES". These Football Times.
6. Ghirelli, Francesco; Matucci, Giordano (1996). Perugia, un amore[Perugia, a love] (in Italian). Cerbara: Marcon.
7. Giorgio Gandolfi (11 October 1973). "Gli "azzurrini" a Parigi pareggiano coi francesi" (in Italian). La Stampa. p. 18.