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Alessandro Del Piero (born 9 November 1974 in
Conegliano, Veneto) is an Italian World
Cup-winning footballer who plays for Serie
A club Juventus, of which he is also club captain. Del Piero was
named in the FIFA 100, a list of the 125 greatest living footballers
selected by Pelé as a part of FIFA’s centenary celebrations. Del
Piero was also voted in the list of best European players for the past 50 years
in the UEFA Golden Jubilee Poll. In the year 2000, Del Piero was the
world’s best-paid football player from salary, bonuses and advertising revenue.
Del Piero usually plays as a supporting-striker and occasionally between
the midfield and the strikers, known in Italy as the “trequartista”
position. Del Piero’s playing style is regarded by critics as creative in
attacking, assisting many goals as well as scoring himself, as opposed to just
“goal poaching.” His free-kick and penalty taking is also highly regarded. Del
Piero has become famous over the years for scoring from a special “Del Piero
Zone”(“Gol alla Del Piero”), approaching from the left flank and curling a
precise lob into the far top corner of the goal.
Alessandro Del Piero (born 9 November 1974 in
Conegliano, Veneto) is an Italian World
Cup-winning footballer who plays for Serie
A club Juventus, of which he is also club captain. Del Piero was
named in the FIFA 100, a list of the 125 greatest living footballers
selected by Pelé as a part of FIFA’s centenary celebrations. Del
Piero was also voted in the list of best European players for the past 50 years
in the UEFA Golden Jubilee Poll. In the year 2000, Del Piero was the
world’s best-paid football player from salary, bonuses and advertising revenue.
Del Piero usually plays as a supporting-striker and occasionally between
the midfield and the strikers, known in Italy as the “trequartista”
position. Del Piero’s playing style is regarded by critics as creative in
attacking, assisting many goals as well as scoring himself, as opposed to just
“goal poaching.” His free-kick and penalty taking is also highly
regarded. Del Piero has become famous over the years for scoring from a
special “Del Piero Zone”(“Gol alla Del Piero”), approaching from the left flank
and curling a precise lob into the far top corner of the goal.
Along with three awards in Italy for gentlemanly conduct
he has also won the Golden Foot award, which pertains to personality
and playing ability. Del Piero holds the all-time goalscoring record
at Juventus. On 6 April 2008, Alessandro Del Piero became the
all-time highest-capped Juventus player, ahead of Juve legend Gaetano
Scirea. As of May 2010, he is in eighth place in the UEFA Champions League
all-time goalscorer records and joint fourth with Roberto
Baggio within the Italian national team records.
While playing for the local youth team of San
Vendemiano since the age of 7, Del Piero used to play as a
goalkeeper because he could play a lot more football that way. His mother
thought it would be better for him if he played as a goalkeeper, since he would
not sweat and the possibility of him getting injured was less likely. His
brother Stefano told their mother: “Don’t you see that Alex is good in the
attack?” and Del Piero switched position. Del Piero is the son of Gino, an
electrician, and Bruna, a housekeeper. He regularly played football in the
backyard with two friends, Nelso and Pierpaolo as a child. All three dreamed of
becoming footballers, but only Del Piero would eventually manage to do
so. Alessandro’s older brother, Stefano, briefly played professional
football for Sampdoria before injury struck him. The family lived in
the hamlet of Saccon – a rural home in San Vendemiano. While growing up
Del Piero’s family did not have much money for travelling abroad, so he
considered being a lorry driver in order to see the world.
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It was while playing with his local side of San
Vendemiano in 1988 that Del Piero was first spotted by scouts he left
home at the young age of 13 to play in the youth side of Padova Calcio. In
1993, he transferred to Juventus, and has been there ever since. Del
Piero made his Serie A debut against Foggia in September
1993, scored his first goal in his next game against Reggiana after
appearing as a substitute, and then grabbed a hat-trick
against Parma on his first start. Juventus claimed their
first Scudetto in eight years in his first season and success
continued to follow. With the Turin club, he won the Serie A championship seven
times (1995, 1997, 1998, 2002, 2003, 2005 and 2006), the Champions League
(1996), and the Intercontinental Cup (1996). His best season
was in 1997–98, when he scored 21 goals in Serie A and finished top scorer
in the Champions League with 10 goals, which included a peach of a freekick
against Monaco in the semi finals. His goal in the 1997 UEFA Champions
League Final was unable to prevent Juventus from going down 3–1 to
Borussia Dortmund. Del Piero struggled for form at the beginning of
the 1998–99 season, whilst doping allegations were aimed at Juventus (they
were later found innocent). In October he picked up a serious knee injury in
the 2–2 draw withUdinese. This kept him out of action for the remainder of the
season. Juventus struggled without him and limped home to a lowly 6th place in
the league.
During this time, Del Piero earned the nickname Il
Pinturicchio, in reference to a comment by former president Gianni
Agnelli when he compared the emerging Del Piero to the renaissance
artist Pinturicchio. He’s also been nicknamed by the fans “Il Fenomeno
Vero” meaning “The Real Phenomenon”, in a sort of comparison
with Ronaldo, who was nicknamed “Il Fenomeno” by rival supporters
of Internazionale. One of Del Piero’s greatest strengths as a footballer
is his versatility, which allows him to play in a variety of attacking
positions. While he started his club career playing as an out-and-out striker,
he settled into a deeper role as a support-striker. He has also been positioned
as a playmaker in the central slot behind the forwards. Under Marcello
Lippi’s reign as Juventus coach Del Piero played in the “trident-attack”
formation along with veterans Gianluca Vialli and Fabrizio
Ravanelli. After that, he took a role in a combination with Zinédine
Zidane behind Filippo Inzaghi. As Juve’s playing style changed in
Lippi’s second stint with Juventus starting 2001, Del Piero partnered with
Zidane’s replacement Pavel Nedvěd in midfield and David
Trézéguet upfront.
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Experts agree that Del Piero was back to his best in
the 2005–06 season having scored 20 goals in all competitions. However,
his role at Juventus changed in the following season, as coach Fabio
Capello preferred to use him as a substitute for an “immediate impact”,
as Capello put it. Del Piero never had a calm relation with Fabio Capello
though, evident from the quote on his official site “If Capello had stayed as
coach of Juventus, I would have left Juventus”.
In 2006 Del Piero equalled José Altafini’s Serie A
record of 6 goals as a substitute after scoring in the final minute of
Juventus’s final game of the 2005–06 season. On 10 January 2006 Del Piero
became the all time leading goalscorer for Juventus when he scored three times
in a Coppa Italia match against Fiorentina and took his
total goals for the club to 185. The previous record holder was Giampiero
Boniperti, who scored 182 goals for the club. Del Piero scored the last
goal for Juventus the 2005–06 season before Juve were forcibly relegated due to
the infamous Calciopoli scandal. After Euro 2004, Marcello
Lippi was replaced by Fabio Capello as Juventus coach. Capello
was not convinced of Del Piero’s abilities and frequently benched him in favor
of the new signing Zlatan Ibrahimović, much to the disappointment of many
fans. But Del Piero still managed to score 14 goals as Juventus won their 28th
league title, thanks to his spectacular overhead assist to teammate David
Trezeguet which proved decisive in a crucial match against AC Milan at the San
Siro.
Juventus were demoted to Serie B and their last
two Scudetti were revoked (see 2006 Italian football scandal). Del Piero
announced that he would stay to captain the team in Serie B. He underlined that
players should stick with the team, explaining that “The Agnelli
family deserve this, as do the fans and the new directors”. While
many key players such as Zlatan Ibrahimović, Fabio Cannavaro
and Lilian Thuram left Turin, he chose to stay and help Juve
regain promotion. Del Piero’s first appearance after the World Cup’s
triumph was in the Coppa Italia match against Cesena on
23 August 2006. Since Juventus played in Serie B for the 2006–07 season, the
Coppa Italia campaign became increasingly important for the club in order to
achieve a UEFA Cup spot. Having been on vacation beforehand, Del
Piero started on the bench. Juventus and Cesena were locked on 1–1 when Del
Piero entered in the 74th minute and after 9 seconds scored the winning goal
for Juventus.
Del Piero then came in as a substitute at the 61st minute
for Juve’s next Coppa Italia match on 27 August vs. S.S.C.
Napoli. Again Juventus were behind, but Del Piero scored twice to give Juve the
lead. In the end the match went to penalties. Del Piero scored but Napoli
eventually won 5–4 in the shoot-out. Following this, Alex was locked in
months of fractious negotiations over the signing of a new contract with
Juventus’ new management. After successfully negotiating a new contract till 30
June 2010, Alex was greeted with news of the birth of his first child, Tobias
Del Piero. This was quite a staggering turnaround in his fortunes, as only two
weeks earlier he was dropped by Claudio Ranieri for the Serie A
match with ACF Fiorentina and was then axed from Roberto
Donadoni’s Italy squad for the games with Georgia and South Africa.
n February 2008, he scored the winning goal for Juventus in
a Serie A victory at home to AS Roma (1–0). He scored two goals away
at Lazio and was named to two consecutive Serie A teams of the week.
On 6 In April 2008 he set a new appearance record for Juventus,
overtaking Gaetano Scirea’s previous tally of 552 matches in all
competitions. In April, he registered seven goals in five Serie A
matches, including a hat-trick in a 4–0 away win over Atalanta.
On 17 May 2008, in the final round of the 2007–08 season
against Sampdoria, Del Piero scored his 20th and 21st goals, thus becoming
the Capocannoniere and clinching his long overdue first Serie A
golden boot. Thus, he became only the second Italian ever to win consecutive
Capocannoniere titles in two different leagues – former Juventus
and 1982 FIFA World Cup hero Paolo Rossi being the
other one (coincidentally Rossi too won the Capocannoniere titles like
Alessandro first inSerie B and then in Serie A). On 26 July 2008,
Del Piero was awarded the Scirea Award. On the final weekend of the 2007/2008
season Del Piero scored a brace against Sampdoria in a 3–3 draw. These two
goals were crucial as it took him to 21 goals for the season, thus winning him
the Capocannonieri prize in Serie A for the first time in his illustrious
career, beating the likes of David Trezeguet (20 goals)
and Marco Borriello (19 goals) and matching his highest tally for a
top-flight season since 1997/98.
During the 2008–09 summer pre-season, Juventus
played Hamburger SV and Arsenal F.C. in the Emirates Cup,
and played a friendly versus Manchester United at Old Trafford.
Juventus’ coach Claudio Ranieri remarked that Del Piero would have
as good a season, or an even better one, than the previous term. In August
2008, Del Piero announced that he would try to keep playing professional
football with Juventus until he is 40 years old. With Juventus back in the
Champions League, they were drawn into the same group as former
winners Real Madrid and UEFA Cup winners Zenit St.
Petersburg. Del Piero marked their return with a brilliant match-winning free
kick to seal a home win against Zenit. On 21 October, he scored a wonderful
first-time strike from distance as Juve defeated Real Madrid in Turin. On
21 October, he scored in Juve’s Champions League match at home
against Spanish club. In the fifth minute, from open play, Del Piero swerved the
ball in the far corner of the goal with a freekick like shot, giving Casillas
no chance, with Amauri scoring the second in the first few minutes of
the second half.
On 5 November 2008, Juventus and Real Madrid squared off at
Estadio Santiago Bernabéu in the Champions League. The Italians won 2–0 (their
first away win against Madrid since 1962), and Del Piero was a key performer,
scoring both the goals and being praised by both Claudio Ranieri and
Madrid coach Bernd Schuster. As he left the pitch after being substituted, fans
from both sides gave him a standing ovation. However, Juventus’
2009 UEFA Champions League campaign ended in disappointment as they
were eliminated by Chelsea in the 2nd round. Despite converting a
penalty in the second leg in Turin, Del Piero was unable to
prevent Juventus from losing 3–2 on aggregate. In the league,
Juventus were mostly challenging Milan for second place and an
automatic Champions League place. Most notably, Del Piero inspired
the Bianconeri to a 3–0 win over Siena in their penultimate game
of the season, scoring a brace and setting up Claudio Marchisio for
the youngster’s third goal of the season to end their run of seven winless
matches in the Serie A. Juve won 2–0 over Lazio to finish
second ahead of Milan (based on their head-to-head record).
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On 17 July 2009, Alessandro extended his contract with
Juventus by 1 more year until 30 June 2011 in Pinzolo while training
for pre-season, thus practically ensuring that he would retire at the club with
which he started his professional career. During his renewal, he said “I
am happy at Juventus and we are competitive. I want to keep playing for as long
as I can and I’m certain that for at least two more years I will be at the top
level.” He marked his 445th Serie A appearance, breaking the all-time club
record, with a brace against Genoa on 14 February 2010. He is also currently
the all-time top scorer for Juventus, having scored more than 250 goals in all
competitions. He has also made over 600 appearances in official matches for the
club, breaking the record of Gaetano Scirea who had 552 appearances
for Juventus.
On 14 March 2010, Alessandro recorded his 300th and 301st
career goal during a 3–3 draw with Siena with the first two goals at the second
and seventh minute. On 30 October 2010, Alessandro recorded his 179th Serie A
goal, breaking the record of club legend Giampiero Boniperti as Juventus’ top
scorer in Serie A and further cementing his status as the most prolific
goalscorer in Juventus history.
On 5 February 2011, with his substitution
against Cagliari, Alessandro Del Piero became the most
capped Juventus player, edging out former Juventus legend Giampiero
Boniperti. Del Piero remains the third most capped player in the Serie
A behind Javier Zanetti and Francesco Totti respectively.
On 5 May 2011, he signed a new 1-year contract in the Juventus Arena. His
previous deal was due to expire on 30 June 2011. On 24 May 2011, Del
Piero and Juventus played against Manchester United at Old Trafford in a
friendly match being former England defender Gary Neville’s testimonial match.
Del Piero was substituted after 65 minutes to a standing ovation from the
Manchester United supporters. Del Piero is currently Italy’s fourth all-time
leading scorer. His tournament debut was Euro 96, but made his only
appearance in the first half of a match against Russia before being substituted
at halftime. Del Piero competed with fan favorite Roberto Baggio for
a spot on the 1998 FIFA World Cup final roster while struggling to
recover from injury suffered during the 1998 Champions League final
with Juventus. He also missed two gilt-edged chances in Italy’s 2–1 loss
to France in the Euro 2000 final.
He returned to the international scene in the 2002 FIFA
World Cup, after a season in Serie A in which Juventus won
theScudetto. Del Piero scored the decisive goal against Hungary,
which sealed the Azzurri’s qualification for the finals. He
instantly scored with a header against Mexico after coming on as a
substitute, a goal which saved Italy from the ignominy of a first round exit.
The goal sent Italy through to the second round, where they were eliminated by
a golden goal in a controversial match against South Korea.
As of 2008, Del Piero has captained Italy seven times
(including Euro 2008) . He also regularly wore the number 10, but later gave it
to Francesco Totti and switched to the number 7, as it was the first
number he wore at the start of his career. Even though the number 10 was
vacated after Totti retired from the national team in July 2007, Del Piero denied
any interest in taking back the number, saying he was satisfied with the number
7. On May he was recalled by popular demand to Italy’s UEFA Euro 2008 squad
after nine-month absence from international duty, and thus became the second
Italian player to participate in 7 major international tournaments (EURO 1996,
2000, 2004, 2008; World Cup 1998, 2002, 2006).
Del Piero was called up to Italy’s squad for the UEFA
Euro 2008 Championship in Austria and Switzerland. He was mostly
on the substitutes’ bench but started against Romania as the squad’s captain.
In the group match against the Dutch, he came on for the
under-performing Antonio Di Natale and made an immediate impact,
including several efforts on goal. However he could not prevent the Azzurri from
a 3–0 loss. Italy qualified through the group stage in second-place behind
Holland, eliminating Romania and France. Del Piero began the 2006 World
Cup on the bench, appearing in two out of three group stage matches, and
made his first start of the competition in a 1–0 round-of-16 win
over Australia on 26 June. On 4 July, Del Piero entered as a
substitute near the end of regulation and scored Italy’s second goal in a 2–0
semifinal win over host Germany. In the final against France, which
ended 1–1 after extra time, Del Piero scored a penalty in the shootout as Italy
won the tournament for the fourth time. He admitted afterwards that winning the
World Cup was his childhood dream. In the quarter-final against Spain,
Del Piero made a substitute appearance during extra-time, and with the game
ending in a 0–0 draw, it was decided by a penalty shootout in which Spain won
4–2. On 20 August 2008 he won his 90th cap for Italy in friendly against
Austria – only the fifth Azzurri player to reach this landmark. Despite announcing
that he will carry on playing until he is 40 years old, he has not been called
up since Italy’s qualifier against Georgia on 10 September 2008.
Del Piero is married to Sonia Amoruso, and the two have been
together since 1999 and married in 2005. The couple announced in July 2007
that they were expecting their first baby. On 22 October 2007, Amoruso gave
birth to baby boy Tobias Del Piero at 0:20 at Sant’Anna hospital
in Turin. On 14 February 2009, Amoruso’s second pregnancy was
announced. On 5 May 2009 their daughter Dorotea was born in Turin. On
September, 12, 2010 Del Piero announced on his personal website the upcoming
birth of his third child. The Del Pieros welcomed son Sasha on December,
27th of that year.
Del Piero has used his fame and money to promote and support
cancer research; in recognition of this he has received from
the Associazione Italiana per la Ricerca sul Cancro a prize of
“Believe in Research” during November 2006.
When the Olympic Flame for the 2006 Winter
Olympics passed through Turin, Del Piero was a torchbearer. He
has an interest in sports outside of football (particularly basketball)
and in turn has gained fans outside of just football, sport icons such as NBA
star Steve Nash and cycling legend Eddy Merckx have stated
that they are fans of Del Piero. As well as an interest in other sports,
Del Piero also has a keen interest in music. He has even recorded some albums
of his own. Along with Marco Materazzi, Del Piero appeared on stage
at a Rolling Stones show in Milan shortly after Italy’s World Cup
win. He is a good friend of musician and singer Noel Gallagher
and a fan of his former band Oasis. Del Piero appears in the Oasis video
“Lord Don’t Slow Me Down”.
On 9 February 2009, it was reported that Del Piero was suing
the social networking site Facebook over a fake profile bearing his
name that links to Nazi propaganda sites. He was said to be
aggrieved that the bogus account, which carries his picture, implies neo-Nazi
sympathies as he did not have a Facebook profile at that time. Besides
scoring goals, Del Piero is also known for his sense of humour and is a popular
guest at Italian comedy shows such as Paperissima and Striscia
la notizia. His goal celebration usually consists of him running to the
touchline in front of Juve fans sticking his tongue out and has done the
back-flip goal celebration on several occasions. He featured in the
show La sai l’ultima di Totti, a comedy sketch created by his good friend
and Roma captain Francesco Totti where the two of them and
national teammates Milan defender Alessandro Nesta and
Juve teammate Gianluigi Buffon would tell jokes about one another.
On TV, Del Piero is famous not just for his matches, but
also for broadcasting and advertising skills. He is under contract with German
sports equipment manufacturer Adidas,with Uliveto water,
Italian car manufacturer Fiat and Japanese motorbike
company Suzuki. In 2006 he appeared in a television commercial for the
Japanese motor scooter Suzuki Burgman together with the sports
agent Andreas Goller.