Giovanni "Gianni" Rivera is an Italian politician and former footballer who played as an attacking midfielder.
Dubbed Italy's "Golden Boy" by the media, he played the majority of his club career with Italian side See more

Rivera was born in Alessandria, Piedmont, to Edera and Teresio; his father was a railway worker. Gianni began playing football with local side ASD Don Bosco, where he was … See more

Early years
Rivera was a part of the Italy national side between 1962 and 1974. Rivera made his international debut with the under-21 side on 9 March 1960, scoring 2 goals in a 4–1 pre-Olympic friendly win over Switzerland, alongside See more

Style of play
Rivera was a graceful, creative, technically gifted, and efficient offensive midfield playmaker, who possessed exceptional footballing intelligence, and class. Rivera was capable of playing anywhere in midfield See more

1959–1962: Debut with Alessandria, early years with AC Milan and first scudetto
Nicknamed l'Abatino, and the Golden Boy of Italian football throughout his career, Rivera was the product of his hometown club's youth football academy; he joined the first team in … See more

Milan vice-president
After retirement, Rivera became a vice-president at Milan for seven seasons. When Silvio Berlusconi bought the club in 1986, he resigned … See more

AIC
On 3 July 1968, Rivera founded the Italian Footballers' Association (AIC), in Milan, along with several fellow footballers, such as Giacomo Bulgarelli, Sandro Mazzola, Ernesto Castano, Giancarlo De Sisti, and Giacomo Losi See more