Antonio Cabrini was born in Cremona on 8 October 1957. At the age of 16 he made his debut for U.S. Cremonese in the 1973/74 Serie C season, making three appearances. He moved to Atalanta in 1975, where he had a strong season in Serie B before moving on to Juventus. He won six Scudetti, two Coppa Italia, a Cup Winners’ Cup, a UEFA Supercup, a Champions Cup and an Intercontinental Cup in a Bianconeri shirt. After more than a decade of success, he ended his career at Bologna.

He made his debut for the Italian National Team on 2 June 1978 at the tender age of 20 against France during the World Cup in Argentina. He immediately made the left-back position his own, playing every match as the Azzurri ended up finishing fourth overall. On 20 September of the same year he scored his first goal for the National Team, which came in a friendly against Bulgaria in Turin. He also participated in the Euros in 1980 and the 1982 World Cup in Spain, which Italy won thanks to his winning goal in the final against the defending champions Argentina. Along with nine other members of that winning team, he took part in the ill-fated 1986 World Cup, inheriting the captain’s armband from Scirea after the team’s performance in Mexico. In total he made 73 appearances for the Azzurri, scoring nine goals, which remains the record for a defender.

After ending his playing career, he began to coach as he took on the important role of Head Coach for the Women’s National Team from 14 May 2012 until the summer of 2017, leading the Azzurre for their EURO 2017 campaign hosted by the Netherlands.