ROME, Sept. 18 (Xinhua) -- Italian football legend and hero at the 1990 World Cup, Salvatore "Toto" Schillaci, passed away at 59 due to colon cancer on Wednesday, the Italy football governing body FIGC confirmed.

Born in December 1964, Schillaci has played for Messina, Juventus, Inter Milan and Jubilo Iwata.

As a hitman, Schillaci's goal ratio was fairly average at the club level, but he shot to fame in the 1990 Italy World Cup when he scored six goals to help the Azzurri finish third in the tournament, while Schillaci also bagged the Golden Boot and Golden ball. What stood in stark contrast was that Schillaci only scored seven goals in all 16 of his appearances on the national side.

Schillaci had reportedly been diagnosed with colon cancer in 2022 and was admitted to the hospital in September. He was once confirmed in a stable condition by his family.

In honor of his contribution, FIGC announced that all matches from Wednesday to the weekend would observe a minute of silence before the kick-off.

"We at Juve were lucky enough to get excited about him before, in that incredible summer of 1990, the whole of Italy did, captivated by those wonderfully energetic celebrations of his. Goodbye, Toto. Thank you." said Juventus in a statement. Enditem

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