Today in Serie A: December 20, 1968 – Sivori Bids Farewell to Football | OneFootball

In hindsight, it could not have ended any differently. On December 20, 1968, Juventus Argentine legend Omar Sivori decided to hang his boots in line with his turbulent personality, i.e., at the end of a fight.

Sivori announced his retirement as soon as he was handed a six-match ban by the Italian Football Association, following the tumultuous events of a Napoli vs. Juventus matchup from three weeks earlier. Evidently, the battle between the Bianconeri and the Partenopei was as feisty a contest in the 1960s as it is today.

When Sivori received his ban, though, he was not wearing the Juventus jersey anymore. Three years earlier, at the end of eight successful seasons with the Old Lady, he had switched sides and moved to play for Napoli.

Among the main reason for his shocking move was his difficult, to put it mildly, relationship with the Bianconeri’s new coach Heriberto Herrera. The Argentine striker’s wild genius didn’t seem to fit well into the Paraguayan gaffer’s forerunning theories of total football where each player was expected to contribute to build up the play.

From then on, every time Sivori and “HH2” (as he was nicknamed to distinguish him from the more famous of the Herrera coaches – Inter’s Helenio…) met on the same pitch, the confrontation was tense.

When Juve paid a visit to the Partenopei in the 1968/69 season, the Bianconeri defenders reserved a special treatment to Sivori. After being fouled for the umpteenth time, the Argentine scored a red card for hitting his marker Erminio Favalli and all hell broke loose.

As the brawl finally cooled down, two more players were shown their marching orders along with Napoli’s manager Giuseppe Chiappella. Napoli won the game 2-1, but that’s the last thing that matters in this story.

Three weeks later, the Italian Football Association issued their verdict: Sivori was banned for six games. It could have gone even worse, as the Partenopei defender Dino Panzanato won a nine-game suspension, but that was enough for Sivori. He was 33, past his prime, and tormented by multiple injuries. “I’m done”, he said.

The following day, he announced that he was leaving Italy for good, and he did so, once again, in no ordinary fashion: As a guest, during famous Italian TV show Canzonissima…