Of
Luca Bertelli
Baggio at the World Sports Summit in Dubai with his daughter Valentina: «Crisis in our football? My recipe: fewer foreigners, more young Italians.” And the daughter tells how her father has changed: «The robbery was a shock, but not all evils have a silver lining: today we travel the world and I am proud to see how much emotion and affection there is always towards him».
Roberto Baggio is spinning like a top this week: first in Saudi Arabia for the final of the Italian Super Cup, then Christmas at home with the familyIn the end the departure for Dubai where yesterday he was awarded 32 years after winning the Ballon d’Or. Today, at the World Sports Summit, he was interviewed by his friend and former teammate Alessandro Del Piero within a clinic in which his daughter Valentina also participated, who takes care of her father’s image and communication. Baggio has opened up to the world again in this last period and explained to Pinturicchio (“We spoke in Venetian dialect when we played together at Juventus, we were almost neighbors but I was a child and he was the absolute champion”, explained the Juventus legend in perfect English) the reasons for his choice.
«People wondered where I ended up – began the Divin Codino – but at the end of my career I felt the need to live a normal life close to my family and to return to my land. Then, recently, I experienced a very bad episode. I am referring to the home robbery suffered by six criminals in 2024: it changed the vision of my life, in those months the desire was born in me to inform my family and my children of many things. They had to understand who I was, that’s why we are here together today: It’s Valentina’s “fault”, my daughter. This experience bonds us even more, we share many things together which give this relationship even more energy. Being a parent is the most difficult job, you are prone to making mistakes but the love for the family always comes out.”
The eldest daughter of the Baggio family (she has two younger brothers, Mattia and Leonardo, who are also present in Dubai with their mother Andreina) in turn explained the reasons for the switch decided with her father: «I was the only one who wasn’t at home when the robbery took place, I saw how my father reacted: it was a shock in our life, so nine months ago we started to make some changes, we travel together in Italy and abroad. Not all evils have a silver lining, now I work on social media for my father and take care of his communication. I am very proud to see how many former footballers and his former teammates emotionally ask him for a photo when they see him».
«What counts is what you can do in difficult moments, that’s where we understand who we are. I just tried to be the nicest person possible.”
Del Piero then asks Baggio how to explain the affection that still overwhelms him, from ordinary people to former footballers who venerate him as an idol: «It’s difficult to find the right words, I just tried to play with an infinite love and passion for football and sportI tried to be the best person possible and perhaps for this reason I touched the hearts of many people. We all experience good and bad moments but what we manage to do in difficult times is decisive, this demonstrates what we are in life». Then, Roby speaks heart-to-heart about Buddhism on the assistance of a friend: «I have been practicing it for 38 years and I am eternally grateful to those who introduced me to it. It changed me for the better, it was the greatest luck I’ve had: it has profoundly changed my life, if we feel good we can make those around us feel good too and we change the environment around us. This is the essence of Buddhism: if we are not happy all this is impossible. I didn’t impose it on my children, Valentina for example isn’t one”.
Finally, the last pill is about the present: «The crisis of Italian football? There is no space for our players and the national team is suffering. In my World Cup there was a framework of a team and you built the rest around it. Fewer foreigners and more space for young people, they are the future. This is my opinion».
Valentina Baggio he then also told the strategy he adopted to create his father’s Instagram page: «His social profile tells the story of my father, a simple and reserved person: I want to highlight his values, there is nothing to build around him, just show even the youngest the person he is. I also want to show his funniest side, because my father is a very nice person. The video that portrayed him on the Panda, while working in the fields, it went viral but it was simply a piece of his life and the day at our house”.
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December 30, 2025
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