Former Italian international Salvatore Schillaci, known by his nickname Toto and for his prolific 1990 World Cup, has died at the age of 59, the Italian Football Federation (FIGC) announced on Wednesday.
“Toto Schillaci, a symbolic player of the 1990 World Cup in Italy, died this Wednesday at the age of 59,” the FIGC said in a statement, which decided that a minute of silence would take place before all matches scheduled in Italy from Wednesday to Sunday.
“He made an entire country dream during the magical nights of the 1990 World Cup. Inter Milan stands by the Schillaci family after the passing of Toto,” the reigning Italian champion, whose jersey Schillaci wore between 1992 and 1994, said in a statement.
Schillaci had been suffering from colon cancer for several months and was hospitalized in intensive care last week.
Although he wore the Juventus jersey (1989-92) and Inter and won the 1990 UEFA Cup with Juve, the pocket-sized striker (1.73 m), trained in Messina, entered the legend of Italian football during the 1990 World Cup held at home, where he finished top scorer with six goals.
Led by the unexpected Schillaci, the Nazionale reached the semi-final where, in Naples, they suffered the law of Diego Maradona’s Argentina on penalties (1-1 ap, 4 tabs to 3) despite the opening of the score by the inevitable “Toto” in the 17th minute.
In the third-place match against England, Schillaci made the difference by scoring a penalty in the 86th minute, shortly after England equalised (2-1).
Schillaci made his 17th and final appearance for the Nazionale, scoring seven goals, in 1991.
He ended his career in Japan in 1997.
After leaving the football pitch, he returned to Sicily and set up a football school in Palermo. He appeared in a reality TV show in 2004 and recently took part in the Italian version of the game show “Beijing Express”, revealing on that occasion that he was suffering from cancer.
