Happy Birthday! Walter Zenga was born in Milan on 28th April 1960

Walter Zenga was born in Milan on 28th April 1960.

Voted the world’s best goalkeeper between 1989 and 1991, he spent his youth career playing at the Inter academy. He also spent the majority of his professional career with them, winning one Serie A title, one Italian Cup and two UEFA Cups with the Nerazzurri. He became Inter’s first choice goalkeeper during the 1983/84 season and went on to make 328 appearances for them, finishing his Inter career after the 1994 Uefa Cup final against Salzburg. He ended his professional career after playing for Sampdoria, Padova and New England Revolution, where he also began his managerial career.

Following his playing career, he went on to coach several clubs: National Bucharest and Steaua Bucharest in Romania, where he won a Romanian top-flight title; Red Star Belgrade and Catania Calcio. He joined Palermo in 2009, but left his post after just six months. The following year he went to Saudi Arabia, where he managed Al-Nassr and then Al-Nasr, before moving on to the United Arab Emirates, where he took charge of Al-Jazira. He then joined former club Sampdoria at the begin of the season but only lasted a few months. He moved to the United Arab Emirates to take charge of Al-Shaab but left the position in February. In the summer of 2016 he moved to Wolverhampton Wanderers where he remained for around three months.

As far as his Italy career is concerned, he finished as a runner-up at the UEFA Under-21 European Championship in 1986 and was called up by Azzurri head coach Enzo Bearzot as third choice for the FIFA World Cup in Mexico. He made his Azzurri debut a few months later in a friendly against Greece in Bologna, the day that new head coach Azeglio Vicini also made his debut. He then featured as a regular at the 1988 UEFA European Championship and at the 1990 FIFA World Cup in Italy, during which time went 517 minutes without conceding, setting a World Cup record. He continued playing for Italy until 1992, collecting 58 caps with the Azzurri.