HE MAY HAVE ended Irish dreams of World Cup glory in 1990, but Toto Schillaci is being fondly remembered here today as a football folk hero.

He died in hospital in Palermo at the age of 59. He had been suffering from bowel cancer.

Toto Schillaci’s cult status in Ireland was confirmed by his appearance as the star of some very funny Irish ad campaigns over the years (and one infamous Colm Meaney t-shirt).

Italia ’90 veteran Paul McGrath paid tribute to the Golden Boot winner today on social media.

Many Irish fans responded to McGrath to recall how they and friends would pretend to be Schillaci when playing football as kids.

So sad to hear the passing of Italy’s Toto Schillaci, what a player and goal scorer. RIP #respect pic.twitter.com/EHZzZnH3Tb

— Paul McGrath (@Paulmcgrath5) September 18, 2024

Toto Schillaci visited Ireland several times over the past three decades. Recalling his own memories of the summer of 1990 last year while in Dublin, he described the quarter-final as a “difficult match” because of the “strong” and “united” Irish team.

He told RTÉ that on his trips to Ireland he had “always been well welcomed, notwithstanding the goal scored and what happened”.

Cultural icon

Toto Schillaci’s status as a cultural icon in Ireland was cemented via the unlikely medium of an expletive-bedecked t-shirt about him – sported by Colm Meaney in the 1996 film adaptation of Roddie Doyle’s Dublin-set novel The Van.

Colm Meaney in The Van The Van The Van

Versions of the t-shirt have been available to buy online for several years. 

In 2001, he popped up in a memorable ad for Smithwicks. 

TG4 got in on the action with its own ad a few years ago, reworking footage of that iconic goal to make it look as if Schillaci had missed, as a promo for the station’s airing of every match of the Italia ’90 tournament during the Covid-19 pandemic (tag line: “You can’t rewrite history, but you can watch it.”)

The Italian was up for a laugh with another 1990 veteran, Ray Houghton, at the National Ploughing Champsionships in 2022, when the pair took part in a pizza-making competition for Ireland AM. 

It remains to be seen whether Thierry Henry can ever undergo the same rehabilitation in the Irish collective consciousness as Toto Schillaci (but at this stage it seems unlikely).