Giacinto Facchetti

UEFA has paid tribute to the late Giacinto Facchetti with the FC Internazionale Milano president described as an "absolute gentleman".

Distinguished
Facchetti, who died today aged 64 after a battle with cancer, had a distinguished playing career for club and country, not least in winning the European Champion Clubs' Cup twice with Inter and the UEFA European Championship with Italy. As well as serving Inter with distinction on and off the field, Facchetti was a valued part of the UEFA family. He was previously a member of the UEFA Fair Play Committee and was due to start his second term on UEFA's Technical Development Committee.

'Terrible shock'
Back in March, UEFA acknowledged such commitment by presenting Facchetti with a Champions of Europe award amid celebrations to mark 50 years of European Cup finals. His death prompted swift and sincere condolences, not least from Andy Roxburgh, the UEFA technical director. "We are all devastated at this news, it has come as a terrible shock," he said. "I did a coaching job with the youth academy at Inter Milan some months ago, and sat with him at a club game. At that point we didn't know there was a problem. Words defy us as to how this tall, smart sportsman could disappear from us so quickly.

'Absolute gentleman'
"He was a fantastic person – he was an absolute gentleman. He oozed class in everything he did. As a football person he was also of the highest order, becoming a statesman as president of Inter. He was the man who introduced the attacking full-back to football and he spoke about it in detail to technical directors at a recent UEFA conference. Celtic FC coach Jock Stein modelled the left-back of his great [1960s] team, Tommy Gemmell, on him – it was therefore ironic that Gemmell scored one of Celtic's goals against Giacinto and Inter in the 1967 European Cup final in Lisbon. It's the greatest form of praise when people follow you. His CV as a player was wonderful."