From Swansea to New York Cosmos, a life of contrast for Chinaglia
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NASL was a place where players like Bobby Moore, Pele and Franz Beckenbaur played, but some of the biggest stars in American soccer never made it in European football, one of them was Giorgio Chinaglia
 

Giorgio Chinaglia was born in Carrara Italy. He grew up in Wales and was first noticed playing for Swansea. Chinaglia played 6 league games for Swansea before returning to Italy and Massese.

He got his great breakthrough in Italian football with Lazio, a club he joined in 1969. After a number of good performances for the Roma club, he was called up to the national team.

Chinaglia played 14 times for Italy including two appearances in the 1974 World Cup.

Pele and Beckenbaur both played for New York Cosmos, but for the Amerian Soccer fan, Chinaglia was the player to watch. He made an instant impact and became the most succesfull player in a NASL.

Chinaglia won the NASL four times and played for Cosmos from 1976 to 1983. He scored 193 goals in 213 appearances.

Chinaglia lived in Cardiff as a youngster after his family moved there for work in the 60's. He was given a free transfer by Swansea and no English club wanted his services. A return to Italy and football in serie C was the alternative.

Chinaglia was not known for his hard training and had a flamboyant reputation.

After his fantastic years in the NASL he moved back to Italy and has been working as a football pundit.