| Personal information | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Date of birth | (1944-06-28)28 June 1944 | ||
| Place of birth | Uliveto Terme,Italy | ||
| Date of death | 16 March 1969(1969-03-16) (aged 24) | ||
| Place of death | Cagliari,Italy | ||
| Height | 1.79 m (5 ft10+1⁄2 in) | ||
| Position | Striker | ||
| Senior career* | |||
| Years | Team | Apps | (Gls) |
| 1961–1962 | Genoa | 0 | (0) |
| 1962–1963 | Alessandria | 22 | (2) |
| 1963–1964 | Varese | 2 | (0) |
| 1964–1965 | Entella | 27 | (7) |
| 1965–1966 | Savona | 32 | (13) |
| 1966–1967 | Genoa | 32 | (4) |
| 1967–1969 | Roma | 41 | (18) |
| * Club domestic league appearances and goals | |||
Giuliano Taccola (28 June 1944 inUliveto Terme – 16 March 1969 inCagliari) was an Italian professionalfootballer who played as astriker.
Taccola began his football career in 1961, and played for several Italian clubs throughout his career, includingGenoa,Alessandria,Varese,Entella, andSavona, before joiningRoma in 1967, where he spent two seasons in the ItalianSerie A, playing 41 games and scoring 18 goals.
He made his Serie A debut with Roma on 24 September 1967, marking the occasion with a goal in a 1–1 away draw againstInter. He finished hisfirst season with the club with ten goals.[1]
On 29 September 1968, he scored the opening goal of the1968–69 campaign, scoring after only 30 seconds in a 2–1 home defeat toFiorentina.[1] During the course of his second Serie A season with the club, however, his level of performance dropped due to fever, weight loss, a sore throat, and a high heart rate, but the club's managerHelenio Herrera decided to continue to play him. On 25 January 1969, Taccola was hospitalised due totonsillitis; he was operated on 5 February. On 2 March 1969, he returned to the pitch but injured his ankle in a game againstSampdoria, and two weeks later, after a game againstCagliari, to which he accompanied the team, he suffered a seizure in the locker room. He died in an ambulance on the way to the hospital, at the age of 24, with official cause of death being heart failure due to pneumonia. He is survived by his widow, Marzia.[2] Taccola scored 7 goals in 12 appearances for Roma during his second season with the club.[1][3][4]
According to a 2004 interview byFerruccio Mazzola inL'espresso, Taccola was a victim of performance-enhancing drugs, the use of which allegedly was widespread under Helenio Herrera.[5][6]
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