| Personal information | ||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Date of birth | (1968-02-17)17 February 1968 (age 57) | |||||||||||||
| Place of birth | Alzano Lombardo, Italy | |||||||||||||
| Height | 1.70 m (5 ft 7 in) | |||||||||||||
| Position(s) | Striker,left winger | |||||||||||||
| Youth career | ||||||||||||||
| 1981–1984 | Inter Milan | |||||||||||||
| Senior career* | ||||||||||||||
| Years | Team | Apps | (Gls) | |||||||||||
| 1984–1986 | Leffe | 38 | (8) | |||||||||||
| 1986–1989 | Piacenza | 46 | (6) | |||||||||||
| 1987–1988 | →Trento (loan) | 31 | (3) | |||||||||||
| 1989–1992 | Foggia | 100 | (37) | |||||||||||
| 1992–1997 | Lazio | 152 | (107) | |||||||||||
| 1998 | Sampdoria | 17 | (3) | |||||||||||
| 1998–2004 | Bologna | 142 | (66) | |||||||||||
| 2004–2005 | Iraklis | 5 | (0) | |||||||||||
| 2005–2006 | Sopron | 10 | (3) | |||||||||||
| Total | 541 | (230) | ||||||||||||
| International career | ||||||||||||||
| 1992–1995 | Italy | 28 | (7) | |||||||||||
Medal record
| ||||||||||||||
| * Club domestic league appearances and goals | ||||||||||||||
Giuseppe "Beppe" Signori (Italian pronunciation:[dʒuˈzɛppesiɲˈɲoːri]; born 17 February 1968) is an Italian former professionalfootballer who played as aforward.
He played for several clubs in Italy throughout his career, and also had spells in Greece and Hungary withIraklis Thessaloniki andMFC Sopron respectively. Signori won theSerie A top-scorer award three times and is one of thetop ten scorers inSerie A history. At international level, Signori representedItaly 28 times between 1992 and 1995, scoring 7 goals, and took part at the1994 World Cup, where they reached thefinal.[1]
Signori was born inAlzano Lombardo,Bergamo. As a youngster he played in the youth system ofInter Milan, but was eventually released after being told by the club that he was too short to succeed as a professional.[2] He went on to make his pro debut forLeffe (1984–86), followed byPiacenza (1986–87 and 1988–89),Trento (1987–88),Foggia (1989–92),Lazio (1992–97),Sampdoria (January–June 1998) andBologna (1998–2004). He then spent two short periods abroad: first in Greece in 2004 withIraklis Thessaloniki; and then in October 2005 he signed a one-year contract with Hungarian teamMFC Sopron to end his professional career.
The pinnacle of Signori's career came at Lazio, where he was the top goalscorer in Serie A three times, in 1993, 1994, and 1996 (the last title shared withIgor Protti). In 1998, he was sold for an undisclosed figure to Sampdoria after being used more sparingly by the Lazio coachSven-Göran Eriksson. At Bologna, he helped the club to qualify for the1998–99 UEFA Cup by winning the1998 UEFA Intertoto Cup that season. Bologna went on to reach the semi-finals of both the UEFA Cup and theCoppa Italia that season. Overall, he scored 188 goals in Italy's top division, theninth highest in the history of the league, alongsideAlessandro Del Piero andAlberto Gilardino.
Between 17 May 1992 and 28 February 1993, Signori scored in arecord 10 consecutive away games in Serie A (1 in1991–92 with Foggia, and 9 in1992–93 with Lazio). AlongsideCristiano Ronaldo,he holds the records for most consecutive away games with at least one goal in a single season (9), which he set during the 1992–93 season with Lazio.[3][4]
Signori was not able fully to translate his success to the national level, partly due to differences between him andnational coachArrigo Sacchi, who preferred to play him in the midfield, as a left winger, only using him as a forward on occasion, both as a striker and as a supporting forward. He played for the national side 28 times between 1992 and 1995, scoring seven goals. The only major tournament Signori played in was the1994 FIFA World Cup, where he appeared six times as Italy finished in second place, but he did not play in thefinal againstBrazil, as Italy were defeated on penalties after a 0–0 draw following extra time. Despite going scoreless during the tournament, he assistedDino Baggio's match-winning goal againstNorway in Italy's second group match,[1] andRoberto Baggio's match-winning goal in the 87th minute of the quarter-final match againstSpain.[5][6]
Signori was a fast, hard-working, and diminutive left footedstriker, who was a prolific goalscorer, due to his powerful and accurate shot, which drew frequent comparisons withLuigi Riva in the Italian media. A versatile forward, during the early part of his career he was used as aleft winger or as asecond striker, where his pace, excellent technique, and accuratecrossing and passing ability were put to good use; in this position, he was known for his ability to cut in from the left flank and subsequently score by placing the ball at the far post with his left foot. He was also an extremely accurateset piece andpenalty-kick taker, and was noted for his tendency to take set pieces and penalties without taking a run-up. When taking penalties, he often observed the keepers' movements, and attempted to send them the wrong first by waiting for them to dive before striking the ball. He scored 44 penalties from 52 attempts, making him one of the most accurate penalty takers in Serie A history, and thefifth most prolific spot kick taker of all time in the Italian league.[7][8][9][10][11] AlongsideSiniša Mihajlović, he is one of two players to have scored a hat-trick fromfree kicks in Serie A, a feat which he managed with Lazio in a 3–1 home win over Atalanta, on 10 April 1994.[12] In training, in order to refine his accuracy from free kicks, he used to practise by attempting tocurl the ball over artificial walls that were up to two metres in height, and that were placed closer to the ball than regulation distance.[13] In addition to his goalscoring and ability as a footballer, he was also known for his leadership and mentality; however, despite his talent, he was also known to be injury prone.[11][14] Signori was sponsored byDiadora and used to squeeze his feet into boots that were too small for him, claiming that this improved his touch and accuracy on the ball.[1]
After working as a Serie A football pundit forRAI Radio1,[15] he served as director of football ofTernana Calcio in 2008 and 2009.[16][17]
On 1 June 2011, Signori was arrested in connection with afootball betting scandal, together with other former players such asStefano Bettarini andMauro Bressan.[18][19] He was initially placed underhouse arrest,[20] until it was revoked two weeks later.[21] On 9 August 2011, it was announced that he had been banned from any football-related activity for five years.[22] On 23 February 2021, Signori was acquitted due to a "lack of evidence".[23] On 1 June 2021,FIGC's President Gabriele Gravina pardoned Signori to be able to return to football.[24]
| Club | Season | League | Coppa Italia | Europe | Other | Total | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Division | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | ||
| Leffe Calcio | 1984–85 | Serie D | 8 | 5 | — | — | — | 8 | 5 | |||
| 1985–86 | 30 | 3 | — | — | — | 30 | 3 | |||||
| Total | 38 | 8 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 38 | 8 | ||
| Piacenza | 1986–87 | Serie C | 14 | 1 | 3 | 0 | — | — | 17 | 1 | ||
| Trento | 1987–88 | Serie C | 31 | 3 | — | — | — | 31 | 3 | |||
| Piacenza | 1988–89 | Serie B | 32 | 5 | 5 | 0 | — | — | 37 | 5 | ||
| Foggia | 1989–90 | Serie B | 34 | 15 | — | — | — | 34 | 15 | |||
| 1990–91 | 34 | 11 | 3 | 1 | — | — | 37 | 12 | ||||
| 1991–92 | Serie A | 32 | 11 | 2 | 0 | — | — | 34 | 11 | |||
| Total | 100 | 37 | 5 | 1 | — | — | 105 | 38 | ||||
| Lazio | 1992–93 | Serie A | 32 | 26 | 6 | 6 | — | — | 38 | 32 | ||
| 1993–94 | 24 | 23 | 1 | 0 | 3[a] | 0 | — | 28 | 23 | |||
| 1994–95 | 27 | 17 | 5 | 4 | 7[a] | 0 | — | 39 | 21 | |||
| 1995–96 | 31 | 24 | 4 | 1 | 3[a] | 1 | — | 38 | 26 | |||
| 1996–97 | 32 | 15 | 4 | 0 | 3[a] | 0 | — | 39 | 15 | |||
| 1997–98 | 6 | 2 | 4 | 5 | 3[a] | 2 | — | 13 | 9 | |||
| Total | 152 | 107 | 24 | 16 | 19 | 3 | — | 195 | 126 | |||
| Sampdoria | 1997–98 | Serie A | 17 | 3 | — | — | — | 17 | 3 | |||
| Bologna | 1998–99 | Serie A | 28 | 15 | 5 | 1 | 12[b] | 6 | 2[c] | 1 | 47 | 23 |
| 1999–2000 | 31 | 15 | 1 | 0 | 6[a] | 4 | — | 38 | 19 | |||
| 2000–01 | 23 | 15 | 2 | 1 | — | — | 25 | 16 | ||||
| 2001–02 | 14 | 3 | 1 | 0 | — | — | 15 | 3 | ||||
| 2002–03 | 24 | 12 | — | 3[d] | 2 | — | 27 | 14 | ||||
| 2003–04 | 22 | 6 | 1 | 0 | — | — | 23 | 6 | ||||
| Total | 142 | 66 | 10 | 2 | 21 | 12 | — | 175 | 81 | |||
| Career total | 526 | 230 | 47 | 19 | 40 | 15 | 2 | 1 | 615 | 265 | ||
| National team | Year | Apps | Goals |
|---|---|---|---|
| Italy | 1992 | 6 | 2 |
| 1993 | 6 | 2 | |
| 1994 | 13 | 3 | |
| 1995 | 3 | 0 | |
| Total | 28 | 7 | |
Leffe[25]
Piacenza[25]
Italy[27]
Individual
