His role was to act as an intermediary between the players and coaching staff and the upper echelons of the club, as well as taking an active involvement in all of the Old Lady's transfer dealings.

[2] He scored a goal against Fiorentina on 16 January 1972, but this was to be his last for a while because he was forced out of the game with a lung infection and the initial stages of tuberculosis, although he was still able to contribute to Juventus's Serie A title victory that season.

[2][5] After retiring from European football, Bettega played two summers in the NASL with the Toronto Blizzard, helping the team to two second-place finishes during his two seasons with the club.

He went on to play in the 1978 FIFA World Cup where he scored two goals to help Italy reach the second round, where they were defeated by the Netherlands, which denied them a spot in the final.

[2][3][5][14] Bettega was regarded as a player of noteworthy tactical intelligence, and in his prime, he was one of the most feared Italian strikers, due to his physical strength and prolific goalscoring ability.

[2] A tall, quick, agile, and athletic player, Bettega excelled in the air, and was known for scoring acrobatic goals, due to his elevation, coordination, opportunism, and timing, as well as his ability to make attacking runs to get on the end of crosses, and was an accurate and a clinical finisher with either foot.

[1][15] His elegance, aerial strength, and prematurely greying hair earned him the nickname Cabeza Blanca ("white head," in Spanish).

[15] Considered one of the greatest Italian footballers of all-time, Bettega was also regarded as a complete and modern team player, as he was capable of playing both as a midfielder and as a forward, courtesy of his stamina, vision, passing ability, and outstanding technical skills, which led him to be compared to former Juventus legend John Charles.

[2][3][16][17] Bettega later returned to Juventus at the request of the club's chairman at the time, Umberto Agnelli, who asked him to be vice-chairman of the board of directors.