I'm here to win A-League titles: Del Piero

16 Sep 2012, 3:50 pm   -   Source: AAP

Italian star Alessandro Del Piero has arrived in Australia to join Sydney FC declaring he's here to win titles with the A-League club.

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Alessandro Del Piero kicked his first goal with just a few well-chosen words on his arrival as the biggest signing in Australian soccer history.

"I am here not for the end of my career but for the start of my new career," declared 37-year-old Del Piero.

Asked if he wanted win titles with his new club Sydney FC, the Italy great was equally forthright: "I want to win some. I play to win."

Signed by the A-League club for two years at a cost of $2 million per year, Del Piero's performance at Sydney airport after the long trip from Italy will be music to the ears of his new employers.

Sporting a Sydney FC scarf, the superstar striker stopped for about a minute to answer media questions in English and Italian before police cleared a path through about 500 noisy, good-natured fans to usher him, his wife Sonia and their three young children Sasha, Tobias and Dorotea to a waiting car.

It was long enough to lend credence to Football Federation Australia's fervent hope that he can be a game-changer who takes the struggling A-League to a new level.

And long enough for Sydney FC to feel even more confident that their huge outlay - more than $70,000 a week - will be a great investment on and off the field.

With Sydney FC playing a trial match against Brisbane in Mackay later on Sunday, chief executive Tony Pignata - the man who clinched the two-year deal - was one of the few senior club figures at the airport.

Del Piero was escorted with his family to a Sydney hotel to rest and is to front a media conference at midday on Monday, before training with his new teammates for the first time on Tuesday.

Sydney have three training sessions before their final pre-season trial match against Newcastle on Saturday, and club officials suggested on Sunday they would leave it to Del Piero to decide whether he's recovered sufficiently from jet lag to play in that game.

If he does play, with the level of public interest in him, it seems unlikely the game will be played as scheduled at Budgewoi on the NSW Central Coast.

Fans began gathering at Sydney airport about 5.30am, several hours before the Singapore Airlines flight bearing the member of Italy's 2006 World Cup-winning team who played 19 years for club giants Juventus, 11 as captain, setting the club's scoring record.

Initially they were dominated by members of the Sydney chapter of Juventus but, as the morning progressed, they were joined by hundreds of Sydney FC fans, many clad in the club's sky blue shirt bearing Del Piero's No.10.

"The man is a genuine superstar, not just a football superstar. He's a sporting superstar worldwide, it's put our club on the map," said fan Phil Hope, who has travelled to China, Japan and South Korea to support Sydney FC.

"He hasn't kicked a ball in anger yet, but already he's paid for himself.

"To put rugby league off the front and back page in the Murdoch press in the middle of the (NRL) finals series, how good is that?

"It's worth two million bucks by itself."

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