Last Tuesday, on 13 June, Alvaro Ballerini sadly passed away at the age of 88.

Born on 16 October 1934, he was kitman for the national team for over 20 years – from 1974 to 1996 – and took part in four World Cups with the Azzurri: from Argentina ’78 right up until Italia ’90. He was part of the staff for the Azzurri's Olympic Games participation in Los Angeles ’84 and Seoul ’88 (both finishing in fourth place) and in the World Cup triumph at Spain '82.

Before taking up his adventure with the Azzurri team, Alvaro Ballerini was a switchboard operator at Coverciano from 1961, where he met ‘Doctor’ Fini and consequently went on to have a strong relationship with him over the years. It was Fino Fini who introduced him to becoming the national side's kitman and, as underlined by the Ballerini family, “the doctor and Guido Vantaggiato (who, among other roles covered, was also the national team's secretary) were like close family to him.”

Due to this close relationship with doctor Fini, today there are now several pieces of memorabilia on display at Italy's Football Museum in Coverciano that belonged to great champions that were donated to the museum by Alvaro Ballerini.

The FIGC would like to pass on its condolences to the family.