Giuliano Taccola (28 June 1944 in

Uliveto Terme Uliveto Terme is a village in Tuscany, central Italy, administratively a frazione of the comune of Vicopisano, province of Pisa. At the time of the 2001 census its population was 1,183.Cagliari Cagliari (, also , , ; sc, Casteddu ; lat, Caralis) is an Italian municipality and the capital of the island of Sardinia, an autonomous region of Italy. Cagliari's Sardinian name ''Casteddu'' means ''castle''. It has about 155,000 inhabitant ...

) was an Italian professional

footballer A football player or footballer is a sportsperson who plays one of the different types of football. The main types of football are association football, American football, Canadian football, Australian rules football, Gaelic football, rugby le ...

who played as a striker.

Career

Taccola began his football career in 1961, and played for several Italian clubs throughout his career, including

Genoa Genoa ( ; it, Genova ; lij, Zêna ). is the capital of the Italian region of Liguria and the List of cities in Italy, sixth-largest city in Italy. In 2015, 594,733 people lived within the city's administrative limits. As of the 2011 Italian ce ...

Alessandria Alessandria (; pms, Lissandria ) is a city and ''comune'' in Piedmont, Italy, and the capital of the Province of Alessandria. The city is sited on the alluvial plain between the Tanaro and the Bormida rivers, about east of Turin. Alessandria ...

Varese Varese ( , , or ; lmo, label= Varesino, Varés ; la, Baretium; archaic german: Väris) is a city and ''comune'' in north-western Lombardy, northern Italy, north-west of Milan. The population of Varese in 2018 has reached 80,559. It is the c ...

Entella Éntella (Greek language, Greek: ), was an ancient city in the interior of Sicily, situated on the left bank of the river Hypsas (modern Belice), and nearly midway between the two seas, being about 40 km from the mouth of the Hypsas, and ...

, and

Savona Savona (; lij, Sann-a ) is a seaport and ''comune'' in the west part of the northern Italy, Italian region of Liguria, capital of the Province of Savona, in the Riviera di Ponente on the Mediterranean Sea. Savona used to be one of the chie ...

, before joining

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 ...

in 1967, where he spent two seasons in the Italian

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 ...

, playing 41 games and scoring 18 goals. He made his Serie A debut with Roma on 24 September 1967, marking the occasion with a goal in a 1–1 away draw against

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. He finished his first season with the club with ten goals. On 29 September 1968, he scored the opening goal of the 1968–69 campaign, scoring after only 30 seconds in a 2–1 home defeat 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 ...

. During the course of his second Serie A season with the club, however, his level of performance dropped due to fever, weight loss, a sore throat, and a high heart rate, but the club's manager

Helenio Herrera Helenio Herrera Gavilán (; 10 April 1910 – 9 November 1997) was an Argentine, naturalized French, football player and manager. He is best remembered for his success with the Inter Milan team known as ''Grande Inter'' in the 1960s. During ...

decided to continue to play him. On 25 January 1969, Taccola was hospitalised due to

tonsillitis Tonsillitis is inflammation of the tonsils in the upper part of the throat. It can be acute or chronic. Acute tonsillitis typically has a rapid onset. Symptoms may include sore throat, fever, enlargement of the tonsils, trouble swallowing, and en ...

; he was operated on 5 February. On 2 March 1969, he returned to the pitch but injured his ankle in a game 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 two weeks later, after a game against

Cagliari Cagliari (, also , , ; sc, Casteddu ; lat, Caralis) is an Italian municipality and the capital of the island of Sardinia, an autonomous region of Italy. Cagliari's Sardinian name ''Casteddu'' means ''castle''. It has about 155,000 inhabitant ...

, to which he accompanied the team, he suffered a seizure in the locker room. He died in an ambulance on the way to the hospital, at the age of 24, with official cause of death being heart failure due to pneumonia. He is survived by his widow, Marzia. Taccola scored 7 goals in 12 appearances for Roma during his second season with the club. According to a 2004 interview by

Ferruccio Mazzola Ferruccio Mazzola (1 February 1945 – 7 May 2013) was an Italian former professional footballer and manager, who played as a midfielder. He was the son of former footballer Valentino Mazzola, and the younger brother of retired footballer Sandro ...

in ''

L'espresso ''L'Espresso'' () is an Italian weekly news magazine. It is one of the two most prominent Italian weeklies; the other is ''Panorama''. Since 2022 it has been published by BFC Media. History and profile One of Italy's foremost newsmagazines, ''l ...

'', Taccola was a victim of performance-enhancing drugs, the use of which allegedly was widespread under Helenio Herrera.

Honours

;Savona *

Serie C The Serie C () is the third-highest division in the Italian football league system after the Serie B and Serie A. The Lega Italiana Calcio Professionistico (Lega Pro) is the governing body that runs the Serie C. The unification of the Lega Pro ...

: 1965–66 ;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 ...

: 1968–69 ;Individual *

A.S. Roma Hall of Fame This is a list of List of A.S. Roma players, A.S. Roma players who have been inducted into the club's Hall of Fame. A.S. Roma's Hall of Fame has been launched in 2012 as part of the initiatives for the club's 85th anniversary. Exceptionally for t ...

: 2018

References

1944 births 1969 deaths Italian men's footballers Serie A players Serie B players Serie C players US Alessandria Calcio 1912 players SSD Varese Calcio players Genoa CFC players AS Roma players Savona FBC players Men's association football forwards Footballers from the Province of Pisa People from Vicopisano {{Italy-footy-forward-1940s-stub