 Graziani at Torino in 1976–77 | |||||||||||||||||
| Personal information | |||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Date of birth | (1952-12-16)16 December 1952 (age 72) | ||||||||||||||||
| Place of birth | Subiaco, Italy | ||||||||||||||||
| Height | 1.80 m (5 ft 11 in) | ||||||||||||||||
| Position | Forward | ||||||||||||||||
| Youth career | |||||||||||||||||
| 1967–1970 | Bettini Quadraro | ||||||||||||||||
| Senior career* | |||||||||||||||||
| Years | Team | Apps | (Gls) | ||||||||||||||
| 1970–1973 | Arezzo | 48 | (11) | ||||||||||||||
| 1973–1981 | Torino | 221 | (97) | ||||||||||||||
| 1981–1983 | Fiorentina | 52 | (14) | ||||||||||||||
| 1983–1986 | Roma | 57 | (12) | ||||||||||||||
| 1986–1988 | Udinese | 33 | (8) | ||||||||||||||
| 1988 | APIA Leichhardt | 2 | (0) | ||||||||||||||
| Total | 413 | (142) | |||||||||||||||
| International career | |||||||||||||||||
| 1973 | Italy U21 | 1 | (0) | ||||||||||||||
| 1975–1983 | Italy | 64 | (23) | ||||||||||||||
| Managerial career | |||||||||||||||||
| 1989–1990 | Fiorentina | ||||||||||||||||
| 1990–1991 | Reggina | ||||||||||||||||
| 1991–1992 | Avellino | ||||||||||||||||
| 2001–2002 | Catania | ||||||||||||||||
| 2003–2004 | Montevarchi | ||||||||||||||||
| 2004–2006 | Cervia | ||||||||||||||||
| 2013 | Vigevano Calcio(Allievi) | ||||||||||||||||
Medal record
| |||||||||||||||||
| * Club domestic league appearances and goals | |||||||||||||||||
Francesco "Ciccio"Graziani (Italian pronunciation:[franˈtʃeskoˈtʃittʃoɡratˈtsjaːni]; born 16 December 1952) is an Italianfootballmanager and former football player who played as aforward.[1]
He began his career withArezzo in 1970, and later joinedTorino in 1973, where he remained until 1981, winning aSerie A title in 1976 and theCapocannoniere title as the Serie A top goalscorer in 1977; with 122 total goals scored for Torino, he is the seventh-highest scorer in the history of the Torinese club behindValentino Mazzola (123). He subsequently moved toFiorentina, where he narrowly missed out on the Serie A title in his first season, and later also played forRoma between 1983 and 1986, winning twoCoppa Italia titles and reaching the1984 European Cup Final. He later spent two seasons withUdinese, before ending his career with Australian clubAPIA Leichhardt in 1988.
At international level with theItaly national team, they won the1982FIFA World Cup, and made fourth-place finishes at the1978 FIFA World Cup andUEFA Euro 1980. With 23 official goals, he is theninth-highest all-time scorer for the Italy national team (tied withChristian Vieri).[citation needed]
He is the father ofGabriele [it], who was also a professional footballer.[citation needed] He considers himselfRoman Catholic.[2]
Graziani was born inSubiaco, in theprovince of Rome. A prolific and physicalstriker, he started his footballing career in Bettini Quadraro before moving to Arezzo and then to Torino in 1973.[3] Graziani played eight seasons for Torino, making his debut in Serie A on 18 November 1973 againstSampdoria and scoring his first goal in the top flight on 16 December of that same year againstBologna. In total, Graziani scored 122 goals in 289 games for Torino, divided as follows: 221 appearances (97 goals) in the league, 45 appearances (17 goals) in the Coppa Italia and 23 appearances (8 goals) inEuropean competition. He won theScudetto in1975–76.[1]
During thenext season, Graziani emerged as the top-scorer in Serie A with a tally of 21 goals.He formed, in those years, the famous pair nicknamedGemelli del gol ("Goal twins") with his teammatePaolo Pulici.[4] He helped Torino reach the Coppa Italia final in 1980, but was one of the players who failed to score his penalty in the resulting shoot-out defeat to Roma at theStadio Olimpico in Rome.[1]
Graziani left Torino when, with his teammatePecci, he transferred to Fiorentina for two seasons in 1981, missing thetitle by a single point in the1981–82 season.[1]
In 1983, he was signed by Roma; they won the Coppa Italia twice (1984 and 1986), and also reached the1984 European Cup final, losing in a failed penalty shoot-out defeat toLiverpool at the Stadio Olimpico in Rome (Graziani himself missed a penalty in the shoot-out during the match).[1]
After two seasons with Udinese and a brief appearance in the AustralianNational Soccer League with APIA Leichhardt, Graziani abandoned his playing career in 1988. He totaled 353 appearances, with 130 goals, in the Italian Serie A.[1]
Graziani was also an important international player for Italy: he represented theAzzurri at the 1978 FIFA World Cup, as a reserve behindPaolo Rossi, where they finished in fourth place, and subsequently at the1980 European Championship on home soil, where he made four appearances, scoring once, as Italy finished in fourth place once again, after reaching the semi-final of the tournament. He made his international debut on 19 April 1975, in a 0–0 home draw in Rome againstPoland, and scored his first goal for Italy on 7 April 1976, in a 3–1 home win againstPortugal.[1]
Graziani also played a key role in Italy's victorious 1982 FIFA World Cup campaign: he scored one goal in the 1982 FIFA World Cup in a 1–1 draw againstCameroon, which proved to be decisive for the Azzurri's qualification to the knockout phase, who advanced on number of goals scored, at the expense of the African team; this was Graziani's final goal for Italy. Graziani appeared in all of Italy's matches as the nation went on to win the tournament for the third time in their history.[1] In thefinal againstWest Germany, however, he was forced off in the seventh minute of play after sustaining a shoulder injury following a collision withWolfgang Dremmler, and was replaced byAlessandro Altobelli; Italy won the match 3–1 to claim the title.[5] Graziani's final official appearance for Italy came on 29 May 1983, in a 2–0 away defeat toSweden in aUEFA Euro 1984 qualifying match.[1]
He returned to the national team for the 25th anniversary of the1982 FIFA World Cup Final on 27 July 2007 inStuttgart, scoring twice, with the final score of 4–4.With 23 goals in 64 caps between 1975 and 1983,[6] he is ranked as the ninth-highest all-time scorer for his national team.[7]
Graziani was a prolific and versatile forward, known for his composure in front of goal, and was capable of playing as a main striker, in acreativemidfield role, or even on thewing, due to his ability to play off of his teammates. Although in his youth he was not known for being particularly skilful, he showed great technical improvements throughout his career; these characteristics, along with his determination, work-rate, eye for goal, heading accuracy, ability in the air, and physical attributes, enabled him to excel as acentre-forward.[1][8][9]
Graziani coached a number of teams with little fortune: he managed his former club Fiorentina during the1989–90 season, in which they narrowly avoided relegation but reached the1990 UEFA Cup Final, and later coachedReggina in 1990, andAvellino in 1993. In the2001–02 season, Graziani, who was the managing director ofCatania inSerie C1, was successively appointed as manager, and led theSicilian team to a historic promotion inSerie B.[1]
He then resigned as football coach after the ninth match of the next season, and in 2003–04 he coachedMontevarchi ofSerie C2 with little success, being fired before the end of the season.[1]
From 2004 to 2006, he coachedCervia, an amateur team ofEmilia-Romagna fromEccellenza league which was subject of an Italian reality show,Campioni – Il Sogno. He led the team to an immediate promotion toSerie D, being popular to the public because of his hot-blooded attitudes, especially during league matches.[1] He later also worked forMediaset as a football pundit.[10]
| No. | Date | Venue | Opponent | Score | Result | Competition | Ref. |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 7 April 1976 | Stadio Comunale,Turin, Italy |  Portugal | 2-0 | 3-1 | Friendly | [11] |
| 2 | 23 May 1976 | Robert F. Kennedy Memorial Stadium,Washington, D.C., USA |  Team America | 3-0 | 4-0 | 1976 U.S.A. Bicentennial Cup Tournament | [12] |
| 3 | 28 May 1976 | Yankee Stadium,New York City, USA |  England | 1-0 | 2-3 | 1976 U.S.A. Bicentennial Cup Tournament | [13] |
| 4 | 2-0 | ||||||
| 5 | 5 June 1976 | San Siro,Milan, Italy |  Romania | 1-0 | 4-2 | Friendly | [14] |
| 6 | 25 September 1976 | Stadio Olimpico,Rome, Italy |  Yugoslavia | 2-0 | 3-0 | Friendly | [15] |
| 7 | 16 October 1976 | Stade Municipal,Luxembourg City, Luxembourg |  Luxembourg | 1-0 | 4-1 | 1978 FIFA World Cup qualification | [16] |
| 8 | 26 January 1977 | Stadio Olimpico, Rome, Italy |  Belgium | 1-0 | 2-1 | Friendly | [17] |
| 9 | 15 October 1977 | Stadio Comunale, Turin, Italy |  Finland | 3-0 | 6-1 | 1978 FIFA World Cup qualification | [18] |
| 10 | 3 December 1977 | Stadio Olimpico, Rome, Italy | Luxembourg | 2-0 | 3-0 | 1978 FIFA World Cup qualification | [19] |
| 11 | 8 February 1978 | Stadio San Paolo,Naples, Italy |  France | 1-0 | 2-2 | Friendly | [20] |
| 12 | 2-0 | ||||||
| 13 | 23 September 1978 | Stadio Comunale,Florence, Italy |  Turkey | 1-0 | 1-0 | Friendly | [21] |
| 14 | 17 November 1979 | Stadio Friuli,Udine, Italy |  Switzerland | 1-0 | 2-0 | Friendly | [22] |
| 15 | 15 March 1980 | San Siro, Milan, Italy |  Uruguay | 1-0 | 1-0 | Friendly | [23] |
| 16 | 21 June 1980 | Stadio San Paolo, Naples, Italy |  Czechoslovakia | 1-1 | 1-1 | UEFA Euro 1980 | [24] |
| 17 | 24 September 1980 | Stadio Luigi Ferraris,Genoa, Italy | Portugal | 3-1 | 3-1 | Friendly | [25] |
| 18 | 1 November 1980 | Stadio Olimpico, Rome, Italy |  Denmark | 1-0 | 2-0 | 1982 FIFA World Cup qualification | [26] |
| 19 | 2-0 | ||||||
| 20 | 3 June 1981 | Idrætspark,Copenhagen, Denmark | Denmark | 1-2 | 1-3 | 1982 FIFA World Cup qualification | [27] |
| 21 | 23 September 1981 | Stadio Comunale,Bologna, Italy |  Bulgaria | 1-0 | 3-2 | Friendly | [28] |
| 22 | 2-0 | ||||||
| 23 | 23 June 1982 | Estadio Municipal de Balaídos,Vigo, Spain |  Cameroon | 1-0 | 1-1 | 1982 FIFA World Cup | [29] |
Torino
Roma
Italy
Individual
Cervia
Italy squads | |||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| |||||||||||||
