Francesco "Ciccio" Graziani (; born 16 December 1952) is an Italian

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kicking a ball to score a goal. Unqualified, the word ''football'' normally means the form of football that is the most popular where the word is used. Sports commonly c ...

manager Management (or managing) is the administration of an organization, whether it is a business, a nonprofit organization, or a government body. It is the art and science of managing resources of the business. Management includes the activities o ...

and former football player who played as a

forward Forward is a relative direction, the opposite of backward. Forward may also refer to: People * Forward (surname) Sports * Forward (association football) * Forward (basketball), including: ** Point forward ** Power forward (basketball) ** Sm ...

. He began his career with

Arezzo Arezzo ( , , ) , also ; ett, 𐌀𐌓𐌉𐌕𐌉𐌌, Aritim. is a city and ''comune'' in Italy and the capital of the province of the same name located in Tuscany. Arezzo is about southeast of Florence at an elevation of above sea level. ...

in 1970, and later joined

Torino Turin ( , Piedmontese: ; it, Torino ) is a city and an important business and cultural centre in Northern Italy. It is the capital city of Piedmont and of the Metropolitan City of Turin, and was the first Italian capital from 1861 to 1865. T ...

in 1973, where he remained until 1981, winning a

Serie A The Serie A (), also called Serie A TIM for national sponsorship with TIM, is a professional league competition for football clubs located at the top of the Italian football league system and the winner is awarded the Scudetto and the Coppa ...

title in 1976 and the

Capocannoniere The ''Capocannoniere'' award (; literally "head gunner"), known as Paolo Rossi Award Valentino Mazzola Valentino Mazzola (; 26 January 1919 – 4 May 1949) was an Italian footballer who played as an attacking midfielder or forward. Considered one of the great number 10s in the history of football and, according to some, the best Italian footba ...

(123). He subsequently moved to

Fiorentina ACF Fiorentina, commonly referred to as Fiorentina (), is an Italian professional football club based in Florence, Tuscany, Italy. The original team was founded by a merger in August 1926, while the actual club was refounded in August 2002 fo ...

, where he narrowly missed out on the Serie A title in his first season, and later also played for

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 ...

between 1983 and 1986, winning two

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 ...

titles and reaching the

1984 European Cup Final The 1984 European Cup Final was an association football match between Liverpool of England and Roma of Italy on 30 May 1984 at the Stadio Olimpico, Rome, Italy. It was the final match of the 1983–84 season of Europe's premier cup competition, ...

. He later spent two seasons with

Udinese Udinese Calcio, commonly referred to as Udinese, is a professional Italian football club based in Udine, Friuli-Venezia Giulia, that currently plays in Serie A. It was founded on 30 November 1896 as a sports club, and on 5 July 1911 as a fo ...

, before ending his career with Australian club

APIA Leichhardt APIA Leichhardt Football Club, also known simply as APIA (Associazione Poli-sportiva Italo Australiana), is a semi-professional soccer club based in the suburb of Leichhardt, New South Wales, Leichhardt in Sydney, Australia. The club was formed ...

in 1988. At international level with the Italy national team, they won the

1982 Events January * January 1 – In Malaysia and Singapore, clocks are adjusted to the same time zone, UTC+8 (GMT+8.00). * January 13 – Air Florida Flight 90 crashes shortly after takeoff into the 14th Street bridges, 14th Street Bridge in ...

FIFA World Cup The FIFA World Cup, often simply called the World Cup, is an international association football competition contested by the senior men's national teams of the members of the ' ( FIFA), the sport's global governing body. The tournament ha ...

, and made fourth-place finishes at the

1978 FIFA World Cup The 1978 FIFA World Cup was the 11th edition of the FIFA World Cup, a quadrennial international football world championship tournament among the men's senior national teams. It was held in Argentina between 1 and 25 June. The Cup was won by t ...

and

UEFA Euro 1980 The 1980 UEFA European Football Championship finals tournament was held in Italy. This was the sixth UEFA European Championship, which is held every four years and endorsed by UEFA. It was the first European Championship to feature eight teams i ...

. With 23 official goals, he is the ninth-highest all-time scorer for the Italy national team (tied with

Christian Vieri Christian "Bobo" Vieri (; born 12 July 1973) is an Italian former professional footballer who played as a centre forward. Having been born in Italy, Vieri moved with his family to Australia as a child, before returning to Italy to pursue his p ...

). He is the father of , who was also a professional footballer. He considers himself

Roman Catholic Roman or Romans most often refers to: *Rome, the capital city of Italy *Ancient Rome, Roman civilization from 8th century BC to 5th century AD *Roman people, the people of ancient Rome *'' Epistle to the Romans'', shortened to ''Romans'', a lette ...

Club career

Graziani was born in Subiaco, in the

province of Rome The Province of Rome ( it, Provincia di Roma) was one of the five provinces that formed part of the region of Lazio in Italy. It was established in 1870 and disestablished in 2014. It was essentially coterminous with the Rome metropolitan area. T ...

. A prolific and physical striker, he started his footballing career in Bettini Quadraro before moving to Arezzo and then to Torino in 1973. Graziani played eight seasons for Torino, making his debut in Serie A on 18 November 1973 against

Sampdoria Unione Calcio Sampdoria, commonly referred to as Sampdoria (), is an Italian professional football club based in Genoa. The club was formed in 1946 from the merger of two existing sports clubs whose roots can be traced back to the 1890s, ...

and scoring his first goal in the top flight on 16 December of that same year against

Bologna Bologna (, , ; egl, label= Emilian, Bulåggna ; lat, Bononia) is the capital and largest city of the Emilia-Romagna region in Northern Italy. It is the seventh most populous city in Italy with about 400,000 inhabitants and 150 different nat ...

. In total, Graziani scored 122 goals in 289 games for Torino, divided as follows: 221 appearances (97 goals) in the league, 45 appearances (17 goals) in the Coppa Italia and 23 appearances (8 goals) in

European competition The European Competition is a student competition in which students of all ages submit creative, artistic, or written pieces of work on the activities of the European Union. Tendered by European Movement Germany, it is the oldest student competition ...

. He won the ''

Scudetto The ''scudetto'' (Italian language, Italian for: "little shield") is a decoration having the colors of the flag of Italy which is sewn onto the jersey of the Italian sports clubs that won the highest level championship of their respective sport in ...

'' in 1975–76. During the next season, Graziani emerged as the top-scorer in Serie A with a tally of 21 goals. He formed, in those years, the famous pair nicknamed ''Gemelli del gol'' ("Goal twins") with his teammate

Paolo Pulici Paolo Pulici (; born 27 April 1950) is an Italian football manager and former footballer who played as a striker. With 172 goals in all competitions, he is the all-time record goalscorer for Torino. He had several nicknames: amongst the most f ...

. He helped Torino reach the Coppa Italia final in 1980, but was one of the players who failed to score his penalty in the resulting shoot-out defeat to Roma at the

Stadio Olimpico The Stadio Olimpico (English: ''Olympic Stadium'') is the largest sports facility in Rome, Italy, seating over 70,000 spectators. It is located within the Foro Italico sports complex, north of the city. The structure is owned by the Italian Na ...

in Rome. Graziani left Torino when, with his teammate Pecci, he transferred to Fiorentina for two seasons in 1981, missing the

title A title is one or more words used before or after a person's name, in certain contexts. It may signify either generation, an official position, or a professional or academic qualification. In some languages, titles may be inserted between the f ...

by a single point in the 1981–82 season. In 1983, he was signed by Roma; they won the Coppa Italia twice (1984 and 1986), and also reached the 1984 European Cup final, losing in a failed penalty shoot-out defeat to

Liverpool Liverpool is a city and metropolitan borough in Merseyside, England. With a population of in 2019, it is the 10th largest English district by population and its metropolitan area is the fifth largest in the United Kingdom, with a popul ...

at the Stadio Olimpico in Rome (Graziani himself missed a penalty in the shoot-out during the match). After two seasons with Udinese and a brief appearance in the Australian

National Soccer League The National Soccer League (NSL) was the top-level soccer league in Australia, run by Soccer Australia and later the Australian Soccer Association. The NSL, the A-League's predecessor, spanned 28 seasons from its inception in 1977 until its d ...

with APIA Leichhardt, Graziani abandoned his playing career in 1988. He totaled 353 appearances, with 130 goals, in the Italian Serie A.

International career

Graziani was also an important international player for Italy: he represented the ''Azzurri'' at the 1978 FIFA World Cup, as a reserve behind

Paolo Rossi Paolo Rossi (; 23 September 1956 – 9 December 2020) was an Italian professional footballer who played as a forward. He led Italy to the 1982 FIFA World Cup title, scoring six goals to win the Golden Boot as top goalscorer, and the Golden ...

, where they finished in fourth place, and subsequently at the 1980 European Championship on home soil, where he made four appearances, scoring once, as Italy finished in fourth place once again, after reaching the semi-final of the tournament. He made his international debut on 19 April 1975, in a 0–0 home draw in Rome against

Poland Poland, officially the Republic of Poland, is a country in Central Europe. It is divided into 16 administrative provinces called voivodeships, covering an area of . Poland has a population of over 38 million and is the fifth-most populous ...

, and scored his first goal for Italy on 7 April 1976, in a 3–1 home win against

Portugal Portugal, officially the Portuguese Republic ( pt, República Portuguesa, links=yes ), is a country whose mainland is located on the Iberian Peninsula of Southwestern Europe, and whose territory also includes the Atlantic archipelagos of ...

Francesco Graziani, Italia-Lussemburgo 3-0, 3 dicembre 1977

Graziani also played a key role in Italy's victorious 1982 FIFA World Cup campaign: he scored one goal in the 1982 FIFA World Cup in a 1–1 draw against

Cameroon Cameroon (; french: Cameroun, ff, Kamerun), officially the Republic of Cameroon (french: République du Cameroun, links=no), is a country in west-central Africa. It is bordered by Nigeria to the west and north; Chad to the northeast; the C ...

, which proved to be decisive for the Azzurri's qualification to the knockout phase, who advanced on number of goals scored, at the expense of the African team; this was Graziani's final goal for Italy. Graziani appeared in all of Italy's matches as the nation went on to win the tournament for the third time in their history. In the

final Final, Finals or The Final may refer to: *Final (competition), the last or championship round of a sporting competition, match, game, or other contest which decides a winner for an event ** Another term for playoffs, describing a sequence of cont ...

against

West Germany West Germany is the colloquial term used to indicate the Federal Republic of Germany (FRG; german: Bundesrepublik Deutschland , BRD) between its formation on 23 May 1949 and the German reunification through the accession of East Germany on 3 O ...

, however, he was forced off in the seventh minute of play after sustaining a shoulder injury following a collision with

Wolfgang Dremmler Wolfgang Dremmler (born 12 July 1954) is a German former footballer who played as a midfielder. A trained metalworker, Dremmler was part of the West Germany team that reached the 1982 FIFA World Cup final against Italy at Santiago Bernabéu. ...

, and was replaced by

Alessandro Altobelli Alessandro Altobelli (; born 28 November 1955) is a former professional Italian footballer who played as a forward, and who won the 1982 World Cup with Italy. Nicknamed ''Spillo'' ("Needle") for his slender build, Altobelli was a prolific goals ...

; Italy won the match 3–1 to claim the title. Graziani's final official appearance for Italy came on 29 May 1983, in a 2–0 away defeat to

Sweden Sweden, formally the Kingdom of Sweden,The United Nations Group of Experts on Geographical Names states that the country's formal name is the Kingdom of SwedenUNGEGN World Geographical Names, Sweden./ref> is a Nordic country located on ...

in a

UEFA Euro 1984 qualifying The qualifying round for the 1984 European Football Championship consisted of 32 teams divided into seven groups; three of four teams and four of five teams. The qualifying round was played at various times between May 1982 and December 1983, wit ...

match. He returned to the national team for the 25th anniversary of the 1982 FIFA World Cup Final on 27 July 2007 in

Stuttgart Stuttgart (; Swabian: ; ) is the capital and largest city of the German state of Baden-Württemberg. It is located on the Neckar river in a fertile valley known as the ''Stuttgarter Kessel'' (Stuttgart Cauldron) and lies an hour from the ...

, scoring twice, with the final score of 4–4. With 23 goals in 64 caps between 1975 and 1983, he is ranked as the ninth-highest all-time scorer for his national team.

Style of play

Nicknamed "Ciccio", Graziani was a prolific and versatile forward, known for his composure in front of goal, and was capable of playing as a main striker, in a creative

midfield Midfield is the part of a sports field that lies approximately in the center. In American football, association football (soccer) and field hockey, it is the area in and around the center circle, as well as the players who occupy that region. In ...

role, or even on the

wing A wing is a type of fin that produces lift while moving through air or some other fluid. Accordingly, wings have streamlined cross-sections that are subject to aerodynamic forces and act as airfoils. A wing's aerodynamic efficiency is expres ...

, due to his ability to play off of his teammates. Although in his youth he was not known for being particularly skilful, he showed great technical improvements throughout his career; these characteristics, along with his determination, work-rate, eye for goal, heading accuracy, ability in the air, and physical attributes, enabled him to excel as a

centre-forward Forwards (also known as attackers) are outfield positions in an association football team who play the furthest up the pitch and are therefore most responsible for scoring goals as well as assisting them. As with any attacking player, the role ...

Managerial career

Graziani coached a number of teams with little fortune: he managed his former club Fiorentina during the 1989–90 season, in which they narrowly avoided relegation but reached the

1990 UEFA Cup Final The 1990 UEFA Cup Final was an association football tie played on 2 May 1990 and 16 May 1990 between Juventus and Fiorentina of Italy. Juventus won 3–1 on aggregate. This was the first final between two Italian sides in the UEFA competit ...

, and later coached

Reggina Reggina 1914 S.r.l., commonly referred to as Reggina, is an Italian football club based in Reggio Calabria. Founded in 1914, they currently play in Serie B, and play their home matches at the 27,763 seater Stadio Oreste Granillo. They are n ...

in 1990, and

Avellino Avellino () is a town and ''comune'', capital of the province of Avellino in the Campania region of southern Italy. It is situated in a plain surrounded by mountains east of Naples and is an important hub on the road from Salerno to Benevento. ...

in 1993. In the 2001–02 season, Graziani, who was the managing director of

Catania Catania (, , Sicilian and ) is the second largest municipality in Sicily, after Palermo. Despite its reputation as the second city of the island, Catania is the largest Sicilian conurbation, among the largest in Italy, as evidenced also by ...

Serie C1 Lega Pro Prima Divisione was the third highest football (soccer), football league in Italy. It consisted of 33 teams, divided geographically into two divisions of 16 and 17 teams for group A and B respectively. Until 2008 it was known as Serie C1 ...

, was successively appointed as manager, and led the Sicilian team to a historic promotion in

Serie B The Serie B (), currently named Serie Balkrishna Industries, BKT for sponsorship reasons, is the second-highest division in the Italian football league system after the Serie A. It has been operating for over ninety years since the 1929–30 ...

. He then resigned as football coach after the ninth match of the next season, and in 2003–04 he coached

Montevarchi Montevarchi is a town and ''comune'' in the province of Arezzo, Tuscany, Italy. History The town of Montevarchi sprang up around 1100, near to a fortified Benedictine monastery, founded by bishop Elempert (986–1010) of Arezzo. At first the cas ...

Serie C2 Lega Pro Seconda Divisione was the fourth highest football league in Italy, the lowest with a professional status. Usually it consisted of 36 teams, but in the 2011–12 season, there were 41 teams divided geographically into two divisions of 2 ...

with little success, being fired before the end of the season. From 2004 to 2006, he coached

Cervia Cervia ( rgn, Zirvia) is a seaside resort town in the province of Ravenna, located in the northern Italian region of Emilia-Romagna. Cervia is a major seaside resort in Emilia-Romagna, North Italy. Its population was 28,700 at the 2018 census. ...

, an amateur team of

Emilia-Romagna egl, Emigliàn (man) egl, Emiglièna (woman) rgn, Rumagnòl (man) rgn, Rumagnòla (woman) it, Emiliano (man) it, Emiliana (woman) or it, Romagnolo (man) it, Romagnola (woman) , population_note = , population_blank1_title ...

from

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 Ao ...

league which was subject of an Italian reality show, ''Campioni – Il Sogno''. He led the team to an immediate promotion to

Serie D The Serie D () is the top level of semi-professional football in the country. The fourth tier of the Italian league system, the competition sits beneath the third professional league, Serie C. It is administered by the Lega Nazionale Dilettant ...

, being popular to the public because of his hot-blooded attitudes, especially during league matches. He later also worked for

Mediaset Mediaset Italia S.p.A., also known as Mediaset, is an Italian-based mass media company which is the largest commercial broadcaster in the country. The company is controlled by the holding company MFE - MediaForEurope. Founded in 1987 by former ...

as a football pundit.

Honours

As player

Torino *

: 1975–76 *

: runner-up 1979–80 Roma *Coppa Italia: 1983–84, 1985–86 *

European Cup The UEFA Champions League (abbreviated as UCL, or sometimes, UEFA CL) is an annual club football competition organised by the Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) and contested by top-division European clubs, deciding the competit ...

: runner-up 1983–84 Italy *

Individual * Serie A Top scorer: 1976–77 (21 goals) *Coppa Italia Top scorer: 1980–81 (5 goals) * Torino F.C. Hall of Fame: 2017 * ACF Fiorentina Hall of Fame: 2019

As manager

Cervia *Eccellenza: 2004–05 (Group B)

References

External links

Goals and appearances in Serie AL'eroe Francesco Graziani

Profile at FIGC.it
{{DEFAULTSORT:Graziani, Francesco 1952 births Living people People from Subiaco, Lazio Italian footballers Italian expatriate footballers Italian expatriate sportspeople in Australia Italy international footballers Italy under-21 international footballers S.S. Arezzo players Torino F.C. players A.S. Roma players ACF Fiorentina players Udinese Calcio players Serie A players Serie B players APIA Leichhardt FC players Expatriate soccer players in Australia Italian football managers ACF Fiorentina managers Reggina 1914 managers U.S. Avellino 1912 managers Catania S.S.D. managers Montevarchi Calcio Aquila 1902 managers A.S.D. Cervia 1920 managers Italian television personalities UEFA Euro 1980 players 1978 FIFA World Cup players 1982 FIFA World Cup players FIFA World Cup-winning players Association football forwards Outfield association footballers who played in goal Footballers from Lazio Sportspeople from the Metropolitan City of Rome Capital Italian Roman Catholics