Thousands of fans take to streets of Vicenza for funeral of 1982 World Cup winner Paolo Rossi

The funeral of Italy‘s 1982 World Cup hero Paolo Rossi is taking place in Vicenza after thousands flocked to the city’s football stadium to pay their final respects.

The former Juventus and AC Milan striker died on Wednesday at the age of 64 after a long illness.

His coffin was placed in the Stadio Romeo Menti in Vicenza, where he first made a name for himself, and supporters were able to lay flowers and say a final goodbye before his funeral.

The funeral of Italy’s 1982 World Cup hero Paolo Rossi is taking place in Vicenza after his death at the age of 64 on Wednesday

 Rossi’s coffin was carried by some of his former Italy team-mates from the 1982 World Cup

His coffin was placed in Vicenza’s football stadium with fans able to pay their final respects

 Members of Italy’s World Cup winning team gathered inside the Duomo di Vicenza cathedral

Rossi’s former team-mates from Italy’s 1982 World Cup winning squad Tardelli Cabrini, Antognoni Collovati and Alessandro Altobelli then carried the coffin into the Duomo di Vicenza cathedral.

Instead of a picture of Rossi, a large replica of the Gazzetta dello Sport front page from the World Cup victory was placed at the entrance to the cathedral. 

Former Italy captain Paolo Maldini, who played alongside Rossi at AC Milan, is also in attendance. 

Ex-Italy captain Paolo Maldini, who played with Rossi at AC Milan, was also in attendance

Thousands of fans flocked to Vincenza’s stadium to say a final goodbye to their hero

Rossi scored a total of 20 goals for the Italian national team from 1977-1986, with his performances in the latter stages of the ’82 World Cup placing him into Italian folklore. 

He scored a hat-trick in a famous 3-2 win against Brazil, scored both goals in the 2-0 semi-final victory against Poland and scored the opening goal in the 3-1 final triumph against West Germany in Madrid. 

However, he almost never made it to the finals. Rossi was served with a ban for match-fixing in 1980, after it emerged a match between Perugia and Avellino was infiltrated by a betting syndicate. 

Rossi was the goalscoring star of Italy’s successful 1982 World Cup campaign in Spain

Rossi, the highest paid footballer in the world at the time, always denied any wrongdoing, and saw his ban reduced to two years. 

He still holds the record for most goals scored in World Cup finals by an Italian, along with Roberto Baggio and Christian Vieiri. Each have scored nine times on football’s grandest stage. 

At club level, as well as Juve, Milan and Perugia, Rossi played for Como, Vicenza and Hellas Verona until his retirement in 1987.

Having scored 134 goals in 338 club matches, he is widely considered as one of the best forwards of his time.