Salvatore Schillaci Cavaliere OMRI, commonly known as Totò Schillaci, was an Italian professional footballer who played as a striker. He sadly passed away yesterday (18 September). He can be considered a national treasure because of his heroics in the 1990 FIFA World Cup.
He scored six goals to win the Golden Boot (player who scored the most goals) at the 1990 World Cup on home soil. Italy lost in the semi-finals but Schillaci was also awarded the Golden Ball as the best player and gained hero status.
Schillaci was diagnosed with colon cancer in 2022.
He was capped 16 times for his country, scoring seven goals. He represented Italian giants, Juventus and Inter Milan after beginning his club career at Messina.
Juventus, whom Schillaci joined in 1989, said, "We immediately fell in love with Toto. His desire, his story, his being so wonderfully passionate and it showed in every game he played. We, at Juve, were lucky enough to get excited about him before - in that incredible summer of 1990 - the whole of Italy did, captivated by those wonderfully energetic celebrations of his."
Schillaci scored his first goal of the 1990 World Cup as a substitute against Austria and after another substitute appearance against the United States; earned his first start against the Czech Republic.
Partnering Roberto Baggio up front, Schillaci scored again as Italy's campaign built momentum and his hero status was confirmed with further goals in the subsequent knockout round matches against Uruguay and the Republic of Ireland in the quarter-finals.
Despite opening the scoring in the semi-final against Argentina, Italy lost out on penalties in Naples - but Schillaci sealed the Golden Boot with his sixth goal of the tournament in the third-place play-off against England.
He would finish runner-up to Germany's World Cup-winning captain, Lothar Matthaus, for the 1990 Ballon d'Or.
Italian Prime Minister, Giorgia Meloni, said: "A football icon is leaving us, a man who has entered the hearts of Italians and sports fans around the world. The striker from the magic nights of Italia '90 with our national team. Thanks for the emotions you gave us, for having made us dream, celebrate, embrace and wave our national flag."
Serie A president, Lorenzo Casini, described Schillaci as, "a champion who lit up the magical nights of the 1990 World Cup in Italy".
"His desire to emerge and reach the highest levels of football has been and will continue to be a source of inspiration for the many young people who chase the dream of playing in Serie A."
Schillaci scored only one more goal for Italy and didn't appear for his nation again at a major tournament. He became the first Italian player to play in Japan's J-League before retiring in 1999. The president of the Italian Football Federation (FIGC), Gabriele Gravina, said of Schillaci:
"His face was a symbol of shared joy [and] will forever remain a common heritage of Italian football. "Totò was a great footballer, a tenacious symbol of will and redemption. He was able to thrill the Azzurri fans because his football was full of passion and it was precisely this indomitable spirit that made him appreciated by everyone and will make him immortal."
Former Italy team-mate, Baggio, said: "The magic nights of Italia '90 we experienced together will always remain imprinted in my heart. Brothers of Italy forever."
Schillachi’s story was and is, so beautiful for numerous reasons. Outside Italy, no one knew who he was; even at home, he was seen as a last-minute gamble. It was an age before 15-year-old boys knew who was in the Palermo C team due to Football Manager. We watched World Cups to discover players like: Totò; Roger Milla; Carlos Valderrama; Marius Lacatus and Dragan Stojkovic. Schillaci embodied that and, with a nation so used to a plethora of stars, he gave Italy a moment like this when all eyes were on Roberto Mancini, Vialli, Roberto Donadoni and many more. Now they had something unexpected: a hero from the south.
It was a long way from Totò’s humble beginnings in Palermo. His father had always lived in the same flat in Sicily. It’s probably as you can imagine – high-rise, small, white and overlooking a dusty red football pitch for kids with goalposts stripped of paint. In the documentary, Italia 90: Four Weeks That Changed the World, Toto revisits the flat to see his father and make a joke about that time. He said that once he had made his name in that World Cup, he returned to see his father, who was waving "like the pope" to a screaming mob underneath him simply shouting: "TOTÒ."
It was a comfort to Schillaci but also a regret, that he is remembered most simply for those four weeks, the Italia 90 bubble in the middle of a long career. Amat Palermo, his first club, were named after the local bus company and it was there that he first came into the view of Messina. He spent seven happy years there from 1982 to 1989 and, all of a sudden, the stars aligned. After scoring 23 goals in Serie B, he was snapped up by Juventus and, to his own amazement, managed to carry on his streak by netting 15 times in Serie A and 21 times in all competitions.
Let's not forget that this was a time when calcio ruled the world; Schillaci achieved this against some of the best defences ever assembled in one league.
The passing of Schillaci is hard for many around the world and not just in Italy. The World Cup in 1990 brought a fresh look to football; it was modern, there was a beauty about it, a romance but it kept it's secrets. It made fans dream in a way few tournaments have before or since.
At the heart of it was a player who wasn’t as spectacular as many of those around him and he knew it. What Totò did was take an opportunity and run with it with all the passion, emotion and pride he could. Schillaci lived his best life that summer; for that he will be an Italian hero as eternal as the city he created those memories in.
It's always wonderful when a person, who passes away, has as a big of an impact like Schillaci did on the country. A person like this will always remain in the memory of those who remember them. It's even possible that something will happen in tribute to the person. This could range from a statue being built or something being named after him.