What would it be like to win the best player and top scorer award along with the World Cup title in the same edition? Perhaps the happiness of this success cannot be expressed in words. Italy’s Paolo Rossi is one such player who became the best player and top scorer with the FIFA World Cup title in 1982.
His team won the World Cup. Being the best player, he won the Golden Ball and the Golden Boot for the highest scorer. He scored 6 goals with the best performance for Italy to win the World Cup.
Since the 12th edition of the World Cup in 1982 in Spain, the Golden Boot and the Golden Ball for the top scorer were awarded in the World Cup. Rossi swept the awards for the first time.
Rossi scored the first goal of the match when Italy defeated West Germany 3-1 in the final. After failing to score in the group stage, Rossi scored a hat-trick in a 3-2 win over Brazil, who were considered contenders for the title, in the second round. Similarly, when Italy defeated Poland 2-0 in the semi-finals, both goals were scored by Rossi.
Along with the World Cup, Rossi also won the Ballon d’Or award that year. He scored a total of 6 goals in that World Cup. Rossi played 48 games for Italy and scored 20 goals.
He passed away in December 2020 at the age of 64.
