Alessandro Del Piero has revealed that he feels he has made the right choice in coming to Australia.
The 39-year old Italian striker joined Sydney FC in September 2012 after ending a successful 20-year career with Juventus and was quick to state that his choice to shift Down Under was the correct decision to make.
In his autobiography, 'Playing On', Del Piero wrote that he feels vindicated for moving to Australia and now hopes to bring success to the A-League club he joined after a glittering career in his beloved homeland.
"I realised at once, after just a few days Down Under, that I had made the right choice," Del Piero offered. "On and off the field.
"I think all sportspeople should try to spend a period of their professional lives in Australia, because for anyone in my profession it's a sort of paradise.
"What I noticed immediately is the general assumption that sport is a fundamental part of young people's education, and more broadly a cultural factor that is always present in people's lives. Here the correspondence between physical activity and wellbeing is well and truly apparent, you notice it very quickly."
Del Piero later added: "I'm not afraid of being accused of being narcissistic if I confess that one of the main reasons behind my accepting the Sydney FC offer was their absolute determination to get me.
"From the first meeting they made me feel truly important, by their actions and not just with their words, and above all they always linked the project to the Australian football movement.
"Of course I play for Sydney and my objective - and their reason for signing me on - is to make my team better and help it grow, but there's something more.
"From the moment I arrived at the airport and from the first training session, not to mention my first game, I had the honour and the responsibility of being celebrated as an emblem of football and of sports in general, a symbol of the growth of the whole Australian football movement.
"That is no small thing: it's almost the ultimate accomplishment one can hope for in one's career. Almost, though, because it's a career that is not yet over. The finale has yet to be written."
