MIAMI: Giorgio Chinaglia, one-time Italy, Lazio and Cosmos centre-forward, has died in Florida aged 65.

Chinaglia grew up and played his early football in Cardiff and began his career with Swansea Town in 1964. He later returned to Italy to play for Massese, Internapoli and Lazio in 1969.

Later he won the Serie A title with Lazio in 1974, played at the World Cup that summer and was then one of the North American Soccer League pioneers in New York along with Pele and Franz Beckenbauer. He was briefly owner of the club as Cosmos and NASL collapsed.

More recently, Chinaglia was a fugitive of Italian justice in the United States after prosecutors brought charges of stock market rigging linked to his consortium’s bid to buy Lazio.

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