Gianluca Vialli is an Italian manager and former professional football player. He has recently been appointed manager of Chelsea Football Club. Vialli started his career at Cremonese in 1980 where he made 105 league appearances, scoring 23 goals. He signed for Sampdoria in 1984. During his time at the club, he scored 85 league goals, won 3 Italian cups, the Serie A and the European Cup Winners Cup. In 1992, Vialla signe for Juventus for a world record fee of £12.5 million. During this time, he won the Italian Cup, the Serie A, Italian Supercup, UEFA Champions League and the UEFA Cup. Chelsea FC signed the striker in 1996; and became player-manager the following season. In England, he won the FA Cup, League Cup, UEFA Cup Winners Cup and UEFA Super Cup.
He is one of nine footballers to have won the three main European club competitions: UEFA Champions League, UEFA Cup and the European Cup Winners Cup.He is also the only player in European footballing history to have winner's and runner's up medals in all three main European club competitions.
Vialli started his international career in the 1984 UEFA European Under-21 Football Championships. He then reappearred at the same competition two years later. Overall, he represented Italy U21 20, scoring 11 goals.
In 1985, Vialli made his debut for the Italy senior team in a friendly match against Poland. He was then included in Italy's squad for the 1986 FIFA World Cup held in Mexico; appearing in four matches as a substitute. He scored his first goal against Malta in a Euro 1988 qualifier against Malta. With the 1990 FIFA World Cup being held in Italy, Vialli was expected to make a huge impact for the hosts. However, after failing to score in the first match against Austria, Vialli missed a penalty against the United States in the next match and was dropped from the team. Vialli returned to the team for the semi-final against Argentina, but was substituted in the second half as Italy were eliminated on penalties.
Vialli made his last appearance for the Azzurri in December 1992, his strained relationship with coach Arrigo Sacchi bringing his international career to a premature end.