LAST UPDATE | 18 Sep
SALVATORE ‘TOTO’ SCHILLACI has died, aged of 59.
The 1990 World Cup Golden Boot winner had been battling colon cancer since 2022.
The Italian forward scored six goals to win the Golden Boot at the 1990 World Cup on home soil – one of which was his deft strike on the rebound which knocked Ireland out at the quarter-final stage.
Remembering that month in 1990 when Toto Schillaci could not stop scoring - 6 goals for the hosts as they made it to the semi-finals.
— RTÉ Sport (@RTEsport) September 18, 2024
His goal in the quarter-final, of course, ending the Republic of Ireland's World Cup hopes pic.twitter.com/WKsOKBvQwT
Italy lost in the semi-finals to Argentina, but Schillaci was also awarded the Golden Ball as the best player of the tournament.
The striker was capped 16 times for Italy, scoring seven goals. He played club football with Juventus and Inter Milan after beginning in the early 1980s at Messina.
Juventus paid tribute, simply saying “Ciao Toto” on social media with a picture of him in a Juve shirt.
Italian media report that Schillaci died at Palermo’s “Civico” hospital after suffering from bowel cancer.
Schillaci had modest success in the club game but he became a national hero in the summer of 1990. His goal-scoring feats and style saw him edge out the likes of Lothar Matthaus and Diego Maradona as player of the tournament.
Schillaci only scored one other goal for Italy outside the 1990 World Cup and four years after that heady summer left Inter for Jubilo Iwata in Japan, where he ended his career.
