A technically gifted creative playmaker and set piece specialist, renowned for his curling free-kicks, dribbling skills, and goalscoring, Baggio is widely regarded as one of the greatest players of all time. Baggio played for Italy in 56 matches and is the joint fourth-highest goalscorer for his national team. Although he was the star performer for Italy at the tournament, he missed the decisive penalty in the shootout of the final against Brazil.
In , Baggio became the first Italian player in over 50 years to score more than career goals; he is the fifth-highest scoring Italian in all competitions with goals. In , during the final season of his career, Baggio became the first player in over 30 years to score goals in Serie A , and is the seventh-highest goalscorer of all time in Serie A , with goals. Baggio is known as Il Divin Codino "The Divine Ponytail " , for the hairstyle he wore for most of his career, for his talent, and for his Buddhist beliefs.
In , he was the inaugural winner of the Golden Foot award. In recognition of his human rights activism, he received the Man of Peace award from the Nobel Peace Prize Laureates in In , he was the first footballer to be inducted into the Italian Football Hall of Fame. His younger brother, Eddy Baggio , was also a footballer.
Baggio began his youth career after being noticed by his hometown youth team, Caldogno, at age nine. By the time he turned 11, he had scored 45 goals and provided 20 assists in 26 matches, also scoring six goals in one match. After scoring goals in matches, Baggio began his professional career with the Vicenza senior side in , at age At the age of 16, Baggio made his Serie C1 debut with Vicenza on 5 June , a 1β0 home loss against Piacenza , in the final league match of the season, coming on as a second-half substitute.
He scored his first goal in Serie C1 during the following season , on 3 June , from a penalty in a 3β0 win against Brescia , the club with which he retired in Baggio began to draw the attention of larger Italian clubs, in particular Serie A side Fiorentina , and his playing style was compared to that of his idol Zico.
