Gianfranco Zola

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Gianfranco Zola
Personal information
Full name Gianfranco Zola
Date of birth July 5, 1966
Place of birth Oliena, Sardinia, Italy
Nickname Franco, Magic Box,
Tamburino Sardo, Pocket Fonz
Position Attacker
Professional clubs*
Years Club Apps (goals)
1984-1987
1987-1989
1989-1993
1993-1996
1996-2003
2003-2005		 Nuorese
Turris
Napoli
Parma
Chelsea
Cagliari		 31 (10)
88 (21)
105 (32)
102 (49)
229 (59)
35 (9)
National team
1991-1997 Italy 35 (10)

* Professional club appearances and goals
counted for the domestic league only.

Gianfranco Zola, OBE, born July 5, 1966 in Oliena, Sardinia, is a retired Italian footballer. He spent the first decade of his career in Italy, most notably with Napoli and Parma, before moving to English side Chelsea, where he was voted Football Writers' Player of the Year in 1997. He was also capped for Italy and is currently joint coach of the Italian under-21s.

Contents

[edit] Early days in Italy

Zola signed his first professional contract with Sardinian team Nuorese in 1984. Five years later he signed for Napoli in Serie A. The young and talented Zola scored two goals as understudy to Diego Maradona as Napoli won the Italian title in 1990. He helped Napoli to win the Italian Super Cup in 1991 and he made his debut for the Italian national side under coach Arrigo Sacchi in the same year. In 1993, Zola left Napoli and joined fellow Serie A side Parma. He won the UEFA Cup with Parma and they were runners-up in Serie A and the Italian Cup in 1995. It was with the blue and yellow club that he cemented his reputation as a creative player.

[edit] Chelsea career

In November 1996, Zola joined English Premier League club Chelsea F.C. for £4.5m as one of several continental players signed by Ruud Gullit. After his debut, he made several notable performances. One such was spiriting the ball around Manchester United's defence in the penalty area before slotting the ball past Peter Schmeichel, he was described by United manager Alex Ferguson as a "clever little so-and-so." [1] Zola played a significant part in Chelsea's resurgence that season as they won the FA Cup. Other than the curling strike in the 4-2 comeback game against Liverpool, probably his best FA Cup goal was the "twisted blood" move in the semi-final against Wimbledon. Whilst running full speed acros the penalty box a pass was played into him. In one movement he backheeled it into the space he had just run from and turned 180 degrees to follow it, before striking into bottom corner.

He was voted the FWA Player of the Year in 1997: the only player ever to receive the accolade without playing an entire season. (He came second in his final season 2002-3, too)

It was also in November 1997 that he scored his first professional hat-trick in a 4-0 victory over Derby County at Stamford Bridge.

In 1998 he helped Chelsea win the English League Cup, the Cup Winners' Cup and the Super Cup. An injury denied him a place in the starting line-up for the Cup Winners' Cup final against VfB Stuttgart at the Råsunda Stadium in Stockholm, but he came as a second half substitute, scoring 21 seconds later. In his second touch of the game, he struck a through ball from Dennis Wise past goalkeeper Wohlfahrt into the roof of the net to secure Chelsea's third major trophy in a year and the second European trophy in the club's history. He helped Chelsea to win FA Cup again in 2000.

In early 2003, Zola was voted as the best ever Chelsea player by Chelsea's fans. In November 2004, he was awarded an OBE - Honorary Member of the Order of the British Empire in a special ceremony in Rome. In 2005 Zola was voted into the Chelsea FC Centenary Eleven, occupying one of the two "forward" roles.

[edit] Return to Italy and retirement

In the summer of 2003, amid rumours of an impending takeover at Chelsea, Zola left CFC to join Cagliari, a club from his native Sardinia. Within a week CFC was purchased by Russian billionaire Roman Abramovich. Unable to persuade Zola to renege on his verbal contract with Cagliari, Abramovich attempted to purchase the entire Cagliari club. His offer for the club was rejected. Zola subsequently led Cagliari to promotion to the Italian Serie A. Then he renewed his contract for Cagliari Calcio for one more year. He retired in June of 2005, after ending his career in appropriate style with a double against Juventus in his last ever professional game. His number 10 jersey was retired by Cagliari, as was his number 25 jersey for Chelsea.[citation needed]

Despite speculation he would play on in the 2005/2006 season, Zola decided to leave the game, just a week before he turned 39. He is currently an Italian football pundit, though he also comments on European competitions. He has also been named joint coach of the Italian Under-21 side with ex Chelsea player Pierluigi Casiraghi.

In his entire career, Zola played 627 games and scored 193 goals.

[edit] Possible Comeback?

Rumours within Australia were circulating that Zola was being chased by at least 4 Hyundai A-League clubs, (Australia's national league) about a possible comeback. Zola is scheduled to play a charity match in Sydney on December 29, but a stint in the A-League looks unlikely at this stage.

[edit] International career

Zola played for his country at the 1994 FIFA World Cup and Euro 96. He last played in a World Cup qualifier against England in Rome in October 1997. Zola won 35 international caps, scoring 10 goals. His international career is best known to English fans for his goal against England at Wembley, and Chelsea fans were stunned that the Italian team didn't take him to France in 1998.

Preceded by:
Éric Cantona		 FWA Footballer of the Year
1997		 Succeeded by:
Dennis Bergkamp

[edit] Honours and awards

[edit] Napoli

[edit] Parma

[edit] Chelsea

[edit] Personal Honours

Zola was inducted into the English Football Hall of Fame in 2006 in recognition of his achievements in the English league.

[edit] Notes

  1. ^ "Gullit Raves Over World Class Strikes", 4thegame.com, 1997-02-23. Retrieved on 2006-12-09.

[edit] External links

  • Gianfranco Zola profile, detailed club and national team statistics, honours, timeline and picture gallery
Italy Italy squad - 1994 World Cup Runners-up Italy

1 Pagliuca | 2 Apolloni | 3 Benarrivo | 4 Costacurta | 5 Maldini | 6 Baresi | 7 Minotti | 8 Mussi | 9 Tassotti | 10 R. Baggio | 11 Albertini | 12 Marchegiani | 13 D. Baggio | 14 Berti | 15 Conte | 16 Donadoni | 17 Evani | 18 Casiraghi | 19 Massaro | 20 Signori | 21 Zola | 22 Bucci | Coach: Sacchi
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