Francesco Graziani

For the Italian opera singer, see Francesco Graziani (baritone).

Francesco Graziani

Francesco Graziani with Italian national team jersey.
Personal information
Date of birth	December 16, 1952 (1952-12-16) (age 58)
Place of birth	Subiaco, Italy
Playing position	Striker
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)
National team
1975–1983	Italy	64	(23)
Teams managed
1989–1990	Fiorentina
1990–1991	Reggina
1991–1992	Avellino
2001–2002	Catania
2003–2004	Montevarchi
2004–2006	Cervia
* Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only. † Appearances (Goals).

Francesco "Ciccio" Graziani (born December 16, 1952) is an Italy football manager and former player.

Playing career

Graziani was born in Subiaco, in the province of Rome.

As striker, he started his footballing career in Arezzo.^[1] Later he became famous as one of the leading members of the last scudetto won by Torino. He joined the granata in 1973, and soon became a key player for the team, winning the Serie A in 1976. In 1977, he was the Serie A top-scorer with 21 goals.

Graziani then played for ACF Fiorentina (1981–1983) and AS Roma (1983–1988), and failing to win a European Cup in a penalty defeat against Liverpool (Graziani himself missed a penalty shoot-out in the match). He then played also for Udinese, before abandoning his playing career. Graziani totalled 353 appearances, with 130 goals, in the Italian Serie A.

He was also an international player for Italy, representing the Azzurri at the 1978 FIFA World Cup, 1982 FIFA World Cup and in Euro 80. He scored one goal in the 1982 FIFA World Cup against Cameroon, a tournament that Italy won. With 23 goals in 64 caps,^[2] he is (as of April, 2006) ranked as the ninth highest all-time scorer for his national team.

Managing career

Graziani coached a number of teams with little fortune: Fiorentina in 1989, Reggina in 1990, and Avellino in 1993. In the 2001–2002 season, Graziani, who was the managing director of Catania in Serie C1, was successively appointed as manager, and led the Sicilian team to a promotion in Serie B. He then resigned as football coach after nine match of the next season, and in 2003–2004 he coached Montevarchi of Serie C2 with little success, being fired before the end of the season. From 2004 to 2006, he coached Cervia, an amateur team of Emilia-Romagna from Eccellenza league which was subject of an Italian reality show, Campioni – Il Sogno. He led the team to an immediate promotion to Serie D, being popular to the public because of his hot-blooded attitudes, especially during league matches. He currently works for Mediaset as a football pundit.

Graziani's son, Gabriele, is a football player too; he currently plays in the role of forward for Serie C1 team Cremonese.

Honours

FIFA World Cup: 1982

Serie A: 1976

Italian Cup: 1984, 1986

References

1. ^ http://www.rsssf.com/players/grazianidata.html
2. ^ http://www.figc.it/nazionali/DettaglioConvocato?codiceConvocato=544&squadra=1

Persondata
Name	Graziani, Francesco
Alternative names
Short description
Date of birth	December 16, 1952
Place of birth	Subiaco, Italy
Date of death
Place of death