Alcides Ghiggia

Who is Alcides Ghiggia?

Alcides Edgardo Ghiggia is a former footballer. He achieved lasting fame for his decisive role in the final match of the 1950 World Cup. He is also the only surviving member of the Uruguayan team that defeated Brazil in that particular game.

He played for the national sides of both Uruguay and Italy during his career. He also played for the club sides of the Peñarol and Danubio in Uruguay and AS Roma and AC Milan in Italy.

Roberto Muylaert compares the black and white film of this goal with Abraham Zapruder's chance images of the Kennedy assassination in Dallas. The goal and the shot that killed the US President have "the same dramatic pattern… the same movement… the same precision of an unstoppable trajectory…. They even have the dust in common that was stirred up, here by a rifle and there by Ghiggia's left foot."

He managed C.A. Peñarol in 1980.

On 29 December 2009, Brazil honoured Ghiggia by celebrating his decisive goal in the 2–1 Uruguay victory over Brazil in the final match of the 1950 FIFA World Cup.