Description
DANIELE DE ROSSI BIOGRAPHY:
Daniele De Rossi (Born 24 July 1983) is an Italian former professional footballer who played as a defensive midfielder, currently in charge as assistant coach of the Italy national football team. He is mostly known for his time playing with his hometown club Roma in Serie A, as well as a former FIFA World Cup-winning Italy national team player. De Rossi made his professional debut with Roma during the 2001–02 season, and made his Serie A debut the following year. With the club, he won the Coppa Italia twice in 2007 and 2008, and the 2007 Supercoppa Italiana. He was named Serie A Young Footballer of the Year in 2006, and the Serie A Italian Footballer of the Year in 2009. De Rossi inherited the captaincy of Roma at the start of the 2017–18 season, following the retirement of Francesco Totti, during which he helped Roma to the Champions League semi-final for the first time in the Champions League era. At the end of the 2018–19 season, he left Roma after 18 seasons with the team. With 616 appearances for Roma in all competitions, he is the club’s second-most capped player of all time, behind Totti. He subsequently joined Argentine club Boca Juniors in the summer of 2019, and retired from professional football in January of the following year. De Rossi represented Italy at under-19, under-20, under-21 and senior levels, winning the 2004 UEFA European Under-21 Football Championship, and also represented Italy at the 2004 Olympics, winning a bronze medal. From his senior international debut in 2004, until his retirement from the national team in 2017, he earned 117 caps, and is Italy’s fourth-highest capped player of all time. With 21 goals, he is the highest scoring midfielder for Italy post-World War II, and Italy’s all-time second most prolific midfielder behind Adolfo Baloncieri. He was part of the 2006 FIFA World Cup-winning squad and has also participated at UEFA Euro 2008, the 2009 FIFA Confederations Cup, the 2010 FIFA World Cup, UEFA Euro 2012 (finishing in second place), the 2013 FIFA Confederations Cup (finishing in third place), the 2014 FIFA World Cup, and UEFA Euro 2016. De Rossi was named in the Euro 2012 Team of the Tournament for his performances. Along with Mario Balotelli and Giuseppe Rossi, De Rossi is Italy’s top scorer in the Confederations Cup, with two goals. In 2009, the French sports magazine L’Équipe named De Rossi as the eighth-best midfielder in the world.
LUCA TONI BIOGRAPHY:
Luca Toni (Born 26 May 1977) is an Italian former professional footballer who played as a striker. A prolific goalscorer, Toni scored over 300 goals throughout his career, and is one of the top-five highest scoring Italians in all competitions; with 322 career goals, he is currently the fourth-highest scoring Italian player of all time. Something of a footballing nomad, at club level, Toni played for twelve different Italian teams throughout his career. A late bloomer, he spent several seasons in the lower divisions of Italian football, as well as promising spells with minor Serie A clubs Vicenza and Brescia, before finally making his breakthrough with Palermo: he helped the team to Serie A promotion during the 2003–04 season by winning the Serie B title, and was the league’s top scorer with 30 goals; the following season, he helped the club qualify for Europe, scoring 20 goals in Serie A. After two prolific seasons with Fiorentina, Toni also spent three seasons with German side Bayern Munich, where he helped the club to a domestic treble during the 2007–08 season, also reaching the UEFA Cup semi-finals; after falling out with the club’s manager during his third season with the team, and being demoted to the reserve squad, he later returned to Italy on loan with Roma in 2010, and subsequently had spells with Genoa and Juventus. In 2012, he played for Al-Nasr Dubai SC, in the UAE Arabian Gulf League, but returned to Fiorentina for a season later that year. He retired in 2016, after three seasons with Verona, the last as team captain. At international level, he represented the Italian national team on 47 occasions, scoring 16 goals. He made his international debut in 2004 and took part at the 2006 FIFA World Cup, UEFA Euro 2008, and the 2009 FIFA Confederations Cup with Italy; he most notably contributed to Italy’s 2006 World Cup victory, as he scored twice and was elected to the tournament’s All-star team. In addition to the team medals he collected, Toni also won several individual honours: during his first spell with Fiorentina, he won the Capocannoniere (Serie A top scorer) award during the 2005–06 season, in which he scored 31 goals (the most goals in a Serie A season since 1958–59), which also earned him the European Golden Shoe, becoming the first Italian player ever to win the award; he was also the league’s joint top scorer in the 2014–15 Serie A season, in which he became the oldest player to win the award at the age of 38, with 22 goals. Toni also finished as top scorer in the 2007–08 Bundesliga, with 24 goals, and in the 2007–08 UEFA Cup, with 10 goals.
VINCENZO IAQUINTA BIOGRAPHY:
Vincenzo Iaquinta Ufficiale OMRI (born 21 November 1979) is an Italian former professional footballer who played as a striker. Prior to joining Juventus in 2007, he initially played for several smaller Italian clubs, and subsequently moved to Udinese in 2000, where he spent seven seasons, representing the club in the UEFA Champions League. After failing to make an appearance under new manager Antonio Conte during the first half of the 2011–12 season, in January 2012, he was sent on a half-season loan to Cesena; he returned to Juventus the following season, but once again made no appearances due to injury as the club won the league title; he subsequently retired from football in 2013. Iaquinta played 40 matches for the Italy national football team between 2005 and 2010, scoring six goals. He was included in their squad which won the 2006 FIFA World Cup, as well as the team for the 2010 edition of the tournament, scoring a goal on each occasion; he also took part at the 2009 FIFA Confederations Cup with Italy.
