The confidant

Pele was the prize catch, but Giorgio Chinaglia was the true king of New York

Born in Italy and raised in Wales, Giorgio Chinaglia was a unique footballer. Playing for Lazio and the Italy national side, before heading up the New York Cosmos alongside Pelé and co, Chinaglia had an eye for goal and was power hungry.

There’s very few in football like Giorgia Chinaglia. Charismatic, yet so full of himself both on and off the field that he ultimately causes trouble. All great goalscorers have an ego. Think of Zlatan, Cristiano and co, but none are a touch on Chinaglia.

The Italian’s is an unusual story; born in Carrara, Tuscany and raised in Cardiff, South Wales.

Unemployment in Italy following World War II drove the Chinaglia family to South Wales. His father found work in a Steelworks in the city, before setting up his own restaurant on Newport Road, in the Rumney area of the city. Giorgio was educated in Cardiff schools St Peter’s Primary School, followed by Lady Mary.

A classic tale from the latter perfectly personifies Chinaglia. When asked to play rugby, his response was that only “ugly people played the oval-ball game.” It was that type of straight-forward, amusingly arrogant nature that made Chianglia the man and the footballer that he was.

His love of football developed in the Welsh capital, where he started to represent Cardiff Schools. Then Swansea coach Walter Robbins spotted Chinaglia scoring a hat-trick in a 3–0 win against Wrexham Schools and offered him a month’s trial. He was taken on as an apprentice, before earning his senior debut in October 1964.

Chinaglia failed to impress, though, and was quickly dropped to the reserves by manager Trevor Morris, who subsequently felt the wrath of Mario Chianglia, Giorgio’s father.

“Giorgio was only an up-and-coming youngster but his dad thought he was the greatest player in the world — a genius,” said Morris — clear to see where Giorgio got his arrogance from.

His father actively started to look for a new club, mainly in their native Italy, and Chinaglia lost interest in the Swans. He started to turn up late for training and even turned up late for a game. The writing was on the wall after that and Chinaglia was thrown out of Swansea after just 4 appearances.

Mario Chinaglia had secured him a move to third division side Massese before moving Giorgio to Internapoli. His time in South Wales may have come to an end, but it had a lasting effect on Chinaglia. In Once In a Lifetime, Clive Toye jokes that Chinaglia was an Italian who spoke English with a Welsh accent.

It was at Internapoli that Chinaglia found his feet, scoring 25 goals in 2 seasons before being snapped up by Roman giants Lazio for £140,000. In Rome, the powerful striker led the Serie B scoring charts with 21 goals and guided Lazio back to Serie A.

A tall, powerful striker with good feet and a thunderbolt of a right foot, Chianglia had started to earn the attention of international manager Feruccio Valcareggi and the Lazio man scored on his debut for Gli Azzurri in 1972. His finest hour came one year later, when he helped Italy to their first win on English soil.

Life in Rome, though, turned sour for Chinaglia and his family. They faced abuse from opposition fans and the striker continuously voiced his anger at the Italian tax laws. They bought a house in New Jersey, USA and decided to commute to Lazio matches from there.

Those really were the extents of Chinaglia’s crazy. It did not last long, however, with Chinaglia forcing his way into the office of Clive Toye, president of the New York Cosmos, in 1976 and insisted that he would either play for the Cosmos or buy his own team. He joined the Cosmos.

It was a coup for the Cosmos. Not on the same level on Pelé, of course, but Chinaglia was a player in his prime, not a fading superstar. He would go on to break the NASL goalscoring record, with his 34 goals in 1978.

“Judge me for what I did on the field — that would be a nice thing.” — Giorgio Chinaglia, Once in a Lifetime (2006)

Undoubtedly, Pelé was the star attraction of the New York Cosmos, but Italian Chinaglia was head-strong and cared little for reputations. They traded criticisms back and forth, Chinaglia criticising Pele’s fitness and the Brazilian Chinaglia’s positioning. Responding to his strike partner’s criticism, Chinaglia famously said: “I am Chinaglia. If I shoot from a place, it’s because Chinaglia can score from there.”

For the best part, he was right. Chinaglia went on to score 193 goals in 213 games for the Cosmos, an incredible record in any league. Despite their disagreement, Chinaglia was still a football man and respected the career and talent of Pelé, although Frank Beckenbauer (a Cosmos team-mate of the two) told The New York Times Magazine in 1981 “Giorgio is a brilliant player, but he has no career as a diplomat.”

“They probably can’t stand me — I don’t give a shit.” Chinaglia, Once in a Lifetime (2006)

Although the Italian did not get on with Pelé, one man he did get on with was Cosmos founder Steve Ross. The President of Warner Brothers had fallen in love with the game after being convinced by Turkish brothers Ahmet and Nesuhi Ertegun of its commercial viability.

Chinaglia developed such an rapport with Ross that the latter took his opinion as gospel.

If a coach fell out with the Italian, you could put your money on him losing his job not long after. “Pele was his [Ross] prize catch, but Chianglia was his confidant,” said one source close to the pair.

It was this relationship that made Chinaglia one of the game’s most loved and hated figures.

He strong-armed Ross into running the club as he saw fit. Ross was often seen walking around in Chinaglia’s kit or tracksuit, such was the relationship between the Italian striker and the club President.

“Giorgio was extremely passionate about soccer and found a likeminded individual in my father.” — Mark Ross, Once in a Lifetime (2006)

His influence was outlined when he punched teammate Julio Cesar Romero in the face.

Despite his wrongdoing, Chinaglia was never punished and no team-mates complained. David Hirshey, of the New York Daily News, called Chinaglia “the only playing general manager in the league”, which hits the nail on the head.

With the league in decline following the retirement of Pelé, the Cosmos faced mounting debts and struggled to stay afloat. They sold 60% of the shares in the club to Chinaglia, despite no money changing hands.

Giorgio Chinaglia died of a heart attack in April 2012 and goes down as one of the most enigmatic, arrogant players of all time. Despite this, there is still much affection for him. Despite being named the greatest player in Lazio’s history, inducted into the American soccer hall of fame in 2000 and having his number 9 jersey retired by the Cosmos in 2014, Chinaglia really does not get the credit he deserves.

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