A skillful and creative offensive playmaker, regarded as one of the best Italian players of all time in his position,[2] he played most of his club career with Fiorentina, with whom they won the Coppa Italia and the Anglo-Italian League Cup in 1975.

[3] He narrowly missed out on the Serie A title with Fiorentina during the 1981–82 season, losing out to rivals Juventus by a single point on the final match-day.

However, Genoa's team doctor – Pierluigi Gatto – was able to act quickly and revive Antognoni's pulse by untwisting his tongue and giving him CPR through chest compressions and mouth-to-mouth resuscitation.

Antognoni's senior international career with the Italy national team started on 20 November 1974, in a 3–1 away loss to the Netherlands at the age of twenty, in a Euro 1976 qualifying match.

Antognoni took part in the 1978 World Cup with Italy under manager Enzo Bearzot, where the team finished in fourth place after a semi-final defeat to the Netherlands.

His greatest achievement with the national team came when he won the 1982 FIFA World Cup, however, after recovering from a skull–injury sustained the year prior in time for the tournament.

He started in the latter match against Poland, which Italy won 2–0, but he was not able to participate in the final 3–1 victory over West Germany due to an injury he sustained in the semi-final.