During the 1969–70 season Cagliari Calcio (then Unione Sportiva Cagliari) competed in Serie A, Coppa Italia and Fairs Cup. Cagliari's performance in the 1969-70 Serie A campaign is widely regarded as one of the best performing defences over a domestic league season. Cagliari's 1969-70 team still hold the record of only conceding 11 goals in a league season at a rate of 0.367 goals per game, the best of any team in history across Europe's Big Five leagues.
Summary
In 1970, the boot was on the other foot as Gigi Riva led Unione Sportiva Cagliari with 21 goals in 30 games helped the Sardinian side win their only Serie A title.
Having spent most of the 1950s mired in Serie B, Riva’s arrival in 1964 galvanised the team and was a magnet for other players to leave more fashionable clubs to head to Sardinia such as goalkeeper Enrico Albertosi (Fiorentina) and midfielder Angelo Domenghini (Inter).[1]
After the team clinched the title, Italian national team manager Ferruccio Valcareggi called six players from this Cagliari squad — Albertosi, Domenghini, Gori, Riva, Comunardo Niccolai and Pierluigi Cera — to the 1970 FIFA World Cup in Mexico, where they reached a decent 2nd place.[2]
Squad
Note: Flags indicate national team as defined under FIFA eligibility rules; some limited exceptions apply. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.
