| Personal information | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Date of birth | (1952-06-22)22 June 1952 (age 73) | ||
| Place of birth | Novara di Sicilia, Italy | ||
| Height | 1.71 m (5 ft 7 in)[1] | ||
| Position | Forward | ||
| Senior career* | |||
| Years | Team | Apps | (Gls) |
| 1970–1974 | Lausanne-Sport | ||
| 1974–1976 | FC Sion | ||
| 1976–1978 | FC Zürich | ||
| 1978–1979 | Chiasso | ||
| 1979–1981 | Servette | ||
| 1981–1983 | FC Sion | ||
| Total | ? | (?) | |
| * Club domestic league appearances and goals | |||
Franco Cucinotta (born 22 June 1952) is an Italian former professionalfootballer who played as astriker. He spent his entire career in theSwiss Super League, and during the 1976–77 season, he was the top scorer in both the Swiss League, and theEuropean Cup withFC Zürich.
Born inNovara di Sicilia, Franco Cucinotta grew up inMontreux, Switzerland, the city to which his family had emigrated for work in 1960.[1] He also later began his professional footballing career in Switzerland, and despite being Italian, is one of the few Italian footballers to have never once played in Italy, spending his entire career in the Swiss League.[2]
While playing for Swiss clubFC Zürich (1976–78), Cucinotta was thetop scorer of the 1977 European Cup alongsideGerd Müller,[3] scoring a total of five goals in thecompetition, in which he helped Zürich to reach the semi-finals.[4] He also finished the 1976–77 season as top scorer in theNationalliga A, with 21 goals, scoring a total of 28 goals in all competitions,[2] which earned him nominations for the Swiss Footballer of the Year and the Swiss Foreign Footballer of the Year Awards.[5]
Cucinotta also played in Switzerland forLausanne-Sport (1970–74),FC Sion (1974–76; 1981–83), winning theSwiss Cup in 1982,Chiasso (1978–79), andServette (1979–1981), winning the SwissLeague Cup in 1980, and retiring in 1985.[2][6][citation needed]
After retiring, Cucinotta worked in insurance, and, after his divorce in 1988, also later moved to Africa for work, where he remained until 2007. He later returned to Switzerland, where he pursued a career in finance.[2]
Cucinotta was a very fastcentre-forward, with a keen eye for goal, who was also capable of playing as awinger.[1][2] Due to his abilities, he was compared to fellow Sicilian footballerPietro Anastasi.[7]
Servette[2][6][citation needed]
Sion[2][6][citation needed]
Individual