Francesco Toldo

Football player infobox
playername = Francesco Toldo


fullname = Francesco Toldo
height = height|m=1.96
dateofbirth = birth date and age|1971|12|2
cityofbirth = Padua
countryofbirth = Italy
currentclub = Internazionale
clubnumber = 1
position = Goalkeeper
youthyears = 1987–1990 1990–1991
youthclubs = Milan Verona
years = 1991–1992 1992–1993 1993–2001 2001–
clubs = Trento Ravenna Fiorentina Internazionale
caps(goals) = 038 (0) 031 (0) 266 (0) 144 (1) [cite web|url=http://www.inter.it/aas/squadra/player4?codgioc=G0724&L=en&STAG=2007/08|title=Stats at the official Inter site]
nationalyears = 1997–2004
nationalteam = Italy
nationalcaps(goals) = 028 (0)
pcupdate = 21:39, 31 May 2008 (UTC)
ntupdate = July 5, 2006

Francesco Toldo (born December 2, 1971 in Padua) is an Italian football goalkeeper, who currently plays for Inter. At his prime he was regarded as one of the best keepers in the world.

Club

Toldo came up with A.C. Milan; however, he never played a game with the club. Instead, the Italian giants loaned him out to Trento and Ravenna from 1991 to 1993. Toldo then joined Fiorentina, and became the club's starter for eight seasons, winning the Coppa Italia twice, and playing a UEFA Champions League for the "Viola". One year before Fiorentina faced bankruptcy, he transferred to F.C. Internazionale Milano in 2001, where he was the number one until the summer of 2005, when Brazilian keeper Júlio César relegated Toldo to the bench after Toldo elected to sit out Inter's summer friendly match tour of England. He regained the position of first choice keeper in February 2006 following his signing of a contract extension and a slip in form by César, not before rumours linked him both to Palermo, A.C. Milan, and Fiorentina. The extension will keep him under contract with Inter until 2009. [cite web|url=http://www.inter.it/aas/news/reader?L=en&N=21944|title=Inter re-new Toldo's contract] He did score a goal against Juventus in a serie A campaign in injury time to make it 1-1.

National team

As of the end of 2004, Toldo has been capped 28 times for Italy. Despite facing competition from high profile keepers such as Gianluca Pagliuca, Angelo Peruzzi, and Gianluigi Buffon, Toldo was chosen to start in Euro 2000 as Buffon broke his hand in a friendly match against Norway just eight days before the tournament started. Toldo helped his country to finish runner up behind France. During the semi-final against the home team of Netherlands, Toldo saved one penalty during the match and two during the shootout. In the final however he failed to save a crucial shot by Sylvain Wiltord as the game was nearing to a close with Italy ahead by one. France won in extra time with a goal by David Trézéguet. He was an unused reserve in Italy's Euro 96, 1998 World Cup, 2002 World Cup, and Euro 2004 squads.

External links

* [http://www.francescotoldo.it/ Official website] it icon en icon
* [http://www.footballdatabase.com/site/players/index.php?dumpPlayer=39 FootballDatabase provides Francesco Toldo's profile and stats]
* [http://www.inter.it/aas/squadra/player1?codgioc=G0724&L=en&stagione=2005/06 inter.it profile]

References