Enrico Chiesa

Enrico Chiesa
Personal information
Date of birth29 December 1970
Place of birthGenoa, Italy
Height1.76 m (5 ft 9 in)
Playing positionStriker
Youth career
1986–1987Pontedecimo
Senior career*
YearsTeamApps†(Gls)†
1988–1990Sampdoria1(0)
1990–1991Teramo31(5)
1991–1992Chieti24(6)
1992–1993Sampdoria26(1)
1993–1994Modena36(15)
1994–1995Cremonese34(14)
1995–1996Sampdoria27(22)
1996–1999Parma92(33)
1999–2002Fiorentina59(34)
2002–2003Lazio12(2)
2003–2008Siena129(32)
2008–2010Figline32(7)
Total503(171)
National team‡
1996–2001Italy22(7)
Teams managed
2010Figline
* Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only and correct as of 10 March 2014.

† Appearances (Goals).

‡ National team caps and goals correct as of 30 June 2009

Enrico Chiesa (Italian pronunciation: [enˈriko ˈkjɛza]; born 29 December 1970 in Genoa) is an Italian football coach and former striker.

Chiesa performed regularly at Serie A level for over a decade, and was also part of the Italy national football team. He was considered one of the most exciting and dynamic strikers in Italy during the mid 90's. A hardworking, elegant player, and a prolific goalscorer, Chiesa was mainly deployed as a striker throughout his career, but he could also play as a supporting forward. Fabio Capello described him as a complete forward, and a cross between Gigi Riva and Paolo Rossi, due to his pace, opportunism, and his accurate, powerful shot. He was also known for his dedication and his correct behaviour on the pitch.[1]

Playing career

Club

Chiesa moved his early playing footsteps at amateur club Pontedecimo (1986–87). He then moved to Sampdoria, team for which he made his debut on 16 April 1989 in a 1–0 loss at AS Roma in the Serie A 1988-89.[2] He then played for Teramo of Serie C2 and successively Chieti of Serie C1 before returning at Sampdoria on 1992. Failing to impress, he then joined Modena in Serie B for the 1993–94 season, and later Cremonese during the 1994–95 season, where he scored 14 goals in their Serie A campaign. In 1995 he returned again with the blucerchiati, forming a notable attacking duo with Roberto Mancini, and scoring 22 goals in 27 matches in Serie A.

In 1996 he was signed by rising club Parma, and he helped his squad to a second place finish behind Juventus, scoring 14 goals in Serie A during his first season at the club. The second place result allowed Parma to qualify for the UEFA Champions League the following season. With Parma, Chiesa won an UEFA Cup, a Coppa Italia, and Supercoppa Italiana during the highly successful 1998-99 season, in which Parma also finished in fourth place in Serie A, and Chiesa became one of the best strikers in Italian football (when not injured or out of form). During his time at the club, he also formed a successful partnership with Argentine star striker Hernán Crespo, as the duo averaged 10–15 goals a season each. They also each scored in the 1999 UEFA Cup Final victory over Marseille, a competition in which Chiesa finished top scorer, with 8 goals.

In 1999 he was signed by Fiorentina, a team looking to expand and bring in better players, in an attempt to keep club captain and talisman Gabriel Batistuta. Despite making regular appearances in his first season for La Viola, Chiesa was fighting for a place with Predrag Mijatovic among others, and also had spells where he was out of form, and in the end only managed 6 goals in the league. In 2000–01, Batistuta had left to go to AS Roma and Fiorentina were plagued with injuries and financial problems; Chiesa became the main striker for the club, and scored 22 goals in 30 matches, finishing amongst the top 5 highest scorers in the league, and also helping Fiorentina to win the 2000-01 Coppa Italia over his former club, Parma, in the final. After a very hard 2001–02 campaign, in which Chiesa played only five matches and score five goals due to a serious knee injury (and a season during which Fiorentina were subsequently relegated), he moved to Lazio, where he however failed to play at his personal best.

In 2003 he joined Siena, where he became a fan favourite and a key player of the squad in their whole Serie A history, impressively reaching double scoring figures in Serie A during his first three seasons at the club. Despite a very poor 2006–07 season in which Chiesa was not able to score a single goal in Serie A,[2] he was confirmed by the club and new trainer Andrea Mandorlini, who explicitly stated that he felt that Chiesa was still important to the team, and that he expected at least 15 goals from him in their 2007–08 Serie A campaign.[3] However, he played only twice, scoring no goals once again, before he was signed by Figline[4] in Lega Pro Second Division. He scored five goals with Figline, thus giving his contribution to the team's promotion to the upper level, Lega Pro Prima Divisione. In the following season, his last as a footballer, he played a limited number of games due to suffering a fractured leg, an injury who forced him to stay out of contention for most of the season.

International

Chiesa played for the Italian team from 1996 to 2001, collecting a total of 22 caps with 7 goals. Chiesa made his senior international debut in a 2-2 friendly draw against Belgium on 29 May 1996 in Cremona, marking the occasion with a goal. He was also selected by manager Arrigo Sacchi to play for Italy at the UEFA Euro 1996 tournament, ahead of Roberto Baggio. Chiesa appeared in two group stage matches, the first in a 2-1 defeat against the Czech Republic, where he scored Italy's only goal of the match, and the second in a 0-0 draw against Germany, as Italy were eliminated in the first round. He also was called up to the 1998 FIFA World Cup by manager Cesare Maldini as a replacement for Fabrizio Ravanelli.[5] He appeared in Italy's opening group match of the 1998 World Cup, which ended in a 2-2 draw against Chile, also appearing as a substitute in the 1-0 victory in the round of 16 match against Norway. Italy were eliminated in the quarter finals on penalties by hosts and eventual champions France. Under manager Dino Zoff, Chiesa appeared in Italy's 6-2 friendly win over the FIFA World Stars on 16 December 1998, scoring a hat-trick. He also scored a goal in a 4-0 victory over Wales in a European qualifying match in Bologna, on 5 June 1999. He made his final appearance for Italy under Giovanni Trapattoni, in Italy's 1-0 friendly win over South Africa in Perugia, on 25 April 2001. Chiesa holds the unique record for the most goals scored by an Italian international coming off the bench (5). Chiesa is currently the last player to manage 2 goals in his first two Italy appearances.[6][7]

Coaching career

On June 2010 he was announced as new head coach of Figline for the 2010–11 season.[8] Such experience however lasted a very short time, as Figline was excluded from Italian leagues later on July.

Honours

Sampdoria
Parma
Fiorentina
Figline

Individual

References

  1. ↑ "Riva spiega il ' 68 agli azzurri". Retrieved 9 November 2014.
  2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 "Serie A 2006/2007 – Enrico Chiesa" (in Italian). Gazzetta dello Sport. Retrieved 11 July 2007.
  3. ↑ "Calcio: Mandorlini esalta Chiesa" (in Italian). Gazzetta dello Sport. 11 July 2007. Retrieved 11 July 2007.
  4. ↑ "Ecco Chiesa, il Figline sogna traguardi ambiziosi" (in Italian). CalcioToscano.it. 12 July 2008. Retrieved 12 July 2008.
  5. ↑ "Ravanelli a casa, Chiesa acciuffa l’ ultimo tram] Ravanelli a casa, Chiesa acciuffa l' ultimo tram". Retrieved 23 December 2014.
  6. ↑ "Enrico CHIESA". Retrieved 23 December 2014.
  7. ↑ "Nazionale in cifre: Chiesa, Enrico". http://www.figc.it'' (in Italian). FIGC. Retrieved 22 April 2015.
  8. ↑ "UFFICIALE: Enrico Chiesa nuovo tecnico del Figline" (in Italian). TuttoMercatoWeb. 11 June 2010. Retrieved 11 June 2010.

External links