Francesco "Ciccio" Tavano (born 2 March 1979) is an Italian football coach and former striker. He is currently in charge as head coach of

Eccellenza The Eccellenza (, "excellence") is the fifth level (since 2014–15) of Italian football. It is a regional league, composed of 28 divisions divided geographically. All 20 regions are represented by at least one division except for Piedmont and A ...

amateurs Tuttocuoio.

Playing career

Tavano started his professional career with Pisa, before being sold to minor

Florence Florence ( ; it, Firenze ) is a city in Central Italy and the capital city of the Tuscany Regions of Italy, region. It is the most populated city in Tuscany, with 383,083 inhabitants in 2016, and over 1,520,000 in its metropolitan area.Bilan ...

team

Rondinella Rondinella is an Italian wine grape variety. Almost all of the total global growing area of is in the Veneto region of northern Italy, and the grapes are used in wines from the Valpolicella and Bardolino wine regions. Rondinella always appear ...

, then in Serie C2. He then joined Empoli, where he slowly established himself as one of the stars of the small Tuscan team. During the January 2006 transfer window, several Italian football pundits claimed that Real Madrid were interested in signing Tavano, but he eventually signed for

Valencia Valencia ( va, València) is the capital of the autonomous community of Valencia and the third-most populated municipality in Spain, with 791,413 inhabitants. It is also the capital of the province of the same name. The wider urban area al ...

in mid-2006, for €9 million. He received a call-up from the

Italian national team The Italy national football team ( it, Nazionale di calcio dell'Italia) has represented Italy in international football since its first match in 1910. The national team is controlled by the Italian Football Federation (FIGC), the governing bo ...

in April 2006, when manager Marcello Lippi held trials for the 23-man squad that would go on to win the

2006 FIFA World Cup The 2006 FIFA World Cup, also branded as Germany 2006, was the 18th FIFA World Cup, the quadrennial international football world championship tournament. It was held from 9 June to 9 July 2006 in Germany, which had won the right to host th ...

, but he never made his international debut. His time in Spain, however, proved to be unsuccessful, as he fell out with coaching staff after making statements in the press which led to him being a sub player for the majority of his short stay in Spain. Tavano then returned to Italy for a loan spell with

Roma Roma or ROMA may refer to: Places Australia * Roma, Queensland, a town ** Roma Airport ** Roma Courthouse ** Electoral district of Roma, defunct ** Town of Roma, defunct town, now part of the Maranoa Regional Council *Roma Street, Brisbane, a ...

, where he mostly served as a reserve player for the main ''giallorossi'' strikers, although he was able to win the 2006–07 Coppa Italia with the club. In 2007, he was permanently signed by Livorno, for a reported €5.5 million on a four-year contract. He received the

number 10 jersey Squad numbers are used in association football to identify and distinguish players that are on the field. Numbers very soon became a way to also indicate position, with starting players being assigned numbers 1–11, although in the modern ga ...

, previously retired in honour of

Igor Protti Igor Protti (born 24 September 1967) is an Italian former professional footballer who currently works as a general manager for Livorno. Throughout his playing career, he made a name for himself as a prolific and opportunistic striker, who mainl ...

and unretired that year under explicit request from the former ''amaranto'' star. Despite being the club top scorer in his comeback season in Tuscany, his side did not manage to escape from relegation. Tavano agreed to stay at Livorno also in their

2008–09 Serie B The 2008–09 Serie B season was the seventy-seventh since its establishment. A total of 22 teams will contest the league, 15 of which will be returning from the 2007–08 season, four of which will have been promoted from Serie C1 (now Lega ...

campaign in order to try to lead his team back into the top flight. He scored a hat-trick against Avellino on the opening day of the season, making it the first round 1 hat-trick since 1994. He would then score at Piacenza, before standing back to back with a teammate in celebration. He missed a penalty against his former club Empoli with the score tied at 1–1, before

Antonio Busce Antonio is a masculine given name of Etruscan origin deriving from the root name Antonius. It is a common name among Romance language-speaking populations as well as the Balkans and Lusophone Africa. It has been among the top 400 most popular mal ...

scored Empoli's winner. Tavano would, however, get a goal in the 5–2 win over Frosinone, on the way to 25 for the season, giving him the

capocannoniere The ''Capocannoniere'' award (; literally "head gunner"), known as Paolo Rossi Award Eccellenza The Eccellenza (, "excellence") is the fifth level (since 2014–15) of Italian football. It is a regional league, composed of 28 divisions divided geographically. All 20 regions are represented by at least one division except for Piedmont and A ...

Tuscany amateurs Tuttocuoio, at the age of 43.

Coaching career

On 15 November 2022, Tavano took on his first head coaching role, in charge of

Tuscany club Tuttocuoio, for which he was playing before, therefore forcing him to quit his playing career as a consequence.

Honours

Roma *

Coppa Italia The ("Italy Cup") is an annual knockout cup competition in Italian football organized by the FIGC until the 2009–10 season and the Lega Serie A ever since. History The beginning of the tournament was turbulent, due to the complexity of ...

: 2006–07

References

External links

{{DEFAULTSORT:Tavano, Francesco 1979 births Living people People from Caserta Italian footballers Men's association football forwards Serie A players Serie B players Serie C players La Liga players Empoli F.C. players U.S. Avellino 1912 players Valencia CF players A.S. Roma players U.S. Livorno 1915 players Carrarese Calcio players Pisa S.C. players Italian expatriate footballers Italian expatriate sportspeople in Spain Expatriate footballers in Spain Footballers from Campania Sportspeople from the Province of Caserta Italian football managers