UEFA President enters Italian Hall of Fame

UEFA President Michel Platini has visited Florence to receive a prestigious award from the Italian Football Federation (FIGC) at the inaugural Italian Football Hall of Fame ceremony.

Mr Platini was presented with the award by Gianni Petrucci, president of the Italian Olympic Committee, at the city's Palazzo Vecchio after being voted as the best foreign player to have played in Italy. The jury comprised the directors of Italy's leading media organs as well as the president of the Italian Sports Press Union (USSI), Luigi Ferrajolo.

The Italian Hall of Fame is organised by the FIGC and its Football Museum Foundation, and aims to celebrate and commemorate the memorable and emblematic figures who have shaped football in Italy.

The UEFA President enjoyed a distinguished career in Italy, from 1982 to 1987. With Juventus, he won the European Cup Winners' Cup and UEFA Super Cup in 1984, the European Champion Clubs' Cup and European/South American Cup in 1985, two Italian titles and one Italian Cup. He finished top scorer in Serie A three times, and his exploits with Juventus helped him lift the Ballon d'Or in 1983, 1984 and 1985.

UEFA's chief refereeing officer Pierluigi Collina collected the Best Italian Referee award. Other winners were Roberto Baggio (Best Italian Player), Marcello Lippi and Arrigo Sacchi (Best Italian Coach – joint winners), Adriano Galliani (Best Italian Official) and Gigi Riva (Best Italian Veteran). Each of the winners gave the museum an item of memorabilia that reminded them of their own career.

Among the various sporting and political dignitaries present at the ceremony was FIGC president and UEFA vice-president Giancarlo Abete.