Gianluca Vialli won the Military World Cup in 1987 while on national service – unlike Alessandro Del Piero and Fabio Cannavaro, who were sent off in a defeat to Cyprus in 1995
By Ricci Potts for The Gentleman Ultra
There is an odd tendency to conflate football with the military. From England fans’ habit of singing songs about the second world war to the seemingly never-ending poppy controversies, there is an idea that football teams are a division of the armed forces. War minus the shooting, as George Orwell put it. Soldiers and footballers are often painted as opposites: soldiers are disciplined, humble and self-sacrificing, while football players are vain, spoiled prima donnas. The idea seems to be that footballers might do a lot better if they were more like soldiers. In fact, some of the best footballers of the last generation have been soldiers.
In Italy, compulsory national service remains on the statute books, although it was gradually reduced in duration from the 1970s onwards and was ultimately suspended completely in 2004. This meant that players such as Paolo Maldini and Roberto Mancini, by then both regular starters in Serie A and for the national team, were obliged to serve a 12-month term in Italy’s armed forces.
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