The twenty-seventh winner of the "Golden Ball" - Paolo Rossi

The twenty-seventh winner of the "Golden Ball" - Paolo Rossi

End of German dominance, time for Serie A to return to the top

The strong football in the Bundesliga, the dominance of players from West Germany and footballers playing in the championship of this country, reduced the expectations in 1982 to these players. The slightly weaker year of Karl-Heinz Rummenigge, however, begins to depend even more on the world championship in Spain, where a not particularly consistent, but quite classy striker at the most appropriate moments comes to the fore. His name is Paolo Rossi. The World Cup scorer also became the twenty-seventh winner of the Ballon d'Or award for the best European player in the calendar year.

On December 28, 1982, it became clear that the player of the Italian champion Juventus and world champion with the "Squadra Azzurri" became the third Italian, after Omar Sivori in 1961 and Gianni Rivera in 1969, to receive the most prestigious individual award in football in Europe. We clarify that Sivori was born in Argentina, but has an Italian passport and plays for the national team of this country.

Rossi collects 115 points out of a possible 130 that can be distributed by the 26 journalists representing UEFA member countries. According to 21 of them, he deserves the award the most, one leaves him in second place, and two - in third place. Second in the ranking is Alain Gires. The Bordeaux midfielder has also produced memorable performances both in Spain and in Ligue 1 and the UEFA Cup, picking up 64 points. However, none of those who voted for him put him in the first position. He takes 8 second, six third, five fourth and four fifth places. Third remains the teammate of the winner Zbogniev Boniek. The Pole has been more than great for the "Old Lady" and for his national team, which reached the bronze medals at the world championships.

The winner of the previous two years, Karl-Heinz Rummenigge, remains fourth with 51 points, just 2 behind Bonniek, but that seems to spell the end of the German dominance. The top five is completed by Bruno Conti, who takes the remaining five first positions not awarded to his teammate in the national team. The Roma winger also had a lot of credit for Italy's unexpected World Cup triumph. Unfortunately, again no Bulgarians received points in the Ballon d'Or poll. Logically, it is dominated by world champions. Besides Rossi and Conti, the names of Dino Zoff, Giancarlo Antoniorni, Gaetano Shireia and Marco Tardelli appear.

Paolo Rossi is not having a very strong campaign for Juve in Serie A. The beginning of 1982 was difficult for him, but everything turned around when he began his long and sweet journey through Spain with the national team. The Italians got off to a tough start and after three draws and only a goal more than Cameroon managed to get through the group stage. Rossi has yet to show what he can do to the world, and no one is counting on the Squadra Azzurri for the title. In the second group phase, however, the world champion Argentina is subordinated, after which it is the turn of Brazil. A hat-trick from Paolo Rossi means Italy will play in the semi-finals. The 3-2 win makes the striker's achievement even sweeter. Rossi scored his first goals precisely against the Seleção, and against Poland he continues to be the big hero for Enzo Bearzdot's selection. His two goals bring a new sensation, which was continued by a perfect performance against West Germany. The fourth favorite in a row bows his head to the powerful Italians, and the opening goal in the 3:1 success also brings the "Golden Boot" of the championship for Rossi.

Despite an unpromising start to the year, Rossi turned the fortunes around, and his consistency continued until the end of the calendar year. The self-confidence that he managed to accumulate after the championship of the planet inevitably affected him in the tournament for the cup of the European champions. He scored two goals at Denmark's Hvidovre and then helped the Belgian Standard Liege to a more difficult elimination with two more goals. He subsequently became top scorer in that competition as well, after helping Juve reach the final in 1983, losing to Hamburger SV.

Paolo Rossi is proof that the Ballon d'Or can be won even if you don't have a particularly good end to the previous season, but have an incredible World or European Championship and continue your strong performance until the end of the calendar year. The Italian fully deserves this prize because he brought immense joy to one of the most footballing nations in Europe in 1982.

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