Del Piero's forgotten spell in Sydney

From Turin to the A-League

When Del Piero left Juventus in 2012 after 19 seasons and 705 appearances, the obvious assumption was a quiet, decorative finish somewhere comfortable. Instead he signed for Sydney FC, joining a league that had never before landed a player of his stature.

He stayed for two seasons, and the block of time was anything but a formality. In his first campaign, 2012–13, he scored the A-League's goal of the season. He went on to finish as Sydney FC's top scorer in both of his years there, taking the club's Golden Boot in 2013 and again in 2014. His 14 goals in a single season remain the most ever scored by a Sydney FC player, a club record that still stands under his name.

Recognition beyond the goals

The impact wasn't just statistical. Del Piero was named Sydney FC's Player of the Year in 2013, picked up the club's Members Award that same year, and was selected in the PFA's Team of the Season. The following year he appeared in the A-League All Stars Game, a sign of how thoroughly he had been absorbed into the league's fabric rather than merely passing through it.

Looking back from 2015, the Asian Football Confederation named him in its Team of the Decade, and Sydney FC itself later inducted him into the club's own Team of the Decade and Hall of Fame, both honours arriving in 2015, testament to a spell that, however brief, left a lasting mark on the club's history rather than fading as a mere celebrity cameo.

A final chapter in India

Del Piero's Sydney FC spell wasn't quite the last stop. After two seasons in Australia, he moved to Delhi Dynamos in the Indian Super League for a single season, and it was there, in 2014, that he brought his playing career to a close.

Why it's been forgotten

Set against three Champions League finals, a World Cup winner's medal, and 290 goals in Juventus colours, two years in Australia and one in India were never going to dominate the retrospectives. But the Sydney FC spell wasn't a pay-cheque exercise tacked onto a glittering career, it produced a club scoring record, back-to-back Golden Boots, and a Team of the Decade place that Sydney FC still celebrates. It's simply been crowded out by everything that came before it.