Giuseppe Favalli (; born 8 January 1972) is an Italian former 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 ...

. A versatile, consistent, tenacious and experienced defender, Favalli was capable of playing as a

centre back In the sport of association football, a defender is an outfield position whose primary role is to stop attacks during the game and prevent the opposition from scoring. Centre-backs are usually positioned in pairs, with one full-back on either s ...

as well as on the left or right flank as a full back. After beginning his career with

Cremonese Cremona (, also ; ; lmo, label= Cremunés, Cremùna; egl, Carmona) is a city and ''comune'' in northern Italy, situated in Lombardy, on the left bank of the Po river in the middle of the ''Pianura Padana'' (Po Valley). It is the capital of the ...

in 1988, he played for

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 ...

clubs

Lazio it, Laziale , population_note = , population_blank1_title = , population_blank1 = , demographics_type1 = , demographics1_footnotes = , demographics1_title1 = , demographics1_info1 = , demographics1_title2 ...

Internazionale Football Club Internazionale Milano, commonly referred to as Internazionale () or simply Inter, and colloquially known as Inter Milan in English-speaking countries, is an Italian professional football club based in Milan, Lombardy. Inter is ...

and

Milan Milan ( , , Lombard: ; it, Milano ) is a city in northern Italy, capital of Lombardy, and the second-most populous city proper in Italy after Rome. The city proper has a population of about 1.4 million, while its metropolitan city h ...

. At international level, Favalli represented the Italy national team on eight occasions between 1994 and 2004, and was a member of his nation's

UEFA Euro 2004 The 2004 UEFA European Football Championship, commonly referred to as Euro 2004, was the 12th edition of the UEFA European Championship, a quadrennial association football, football competition contested by the List of men's national associatio ...

squad. He was also a member of the under-23 side that took part at the

1992 Summer Olympics The 1992 Summer Olympics ( es, Juegos Olímpicos de Verano de 1992, ca, Jocs Olímpics d'estiu de 1992), officially known as the Games of the XXV Olympiad ( es, Juegos de la XXV Olimpiada, ca, Jocs de la XXV Olimpíada) and commonly known as ...

Club career

Cremonese

Favalli started his career with then-

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 ...

squad

in 1988. Following their promotion to

in 1989 he made his top flight debut in a 2–1 defeat to

on 27 August 1989.

Lazio

Favalli's strong performance resulted in him being signed by

during the summer of 1992. Following the departure of

Alessandro Nesta Alessandro Nesta (; born 19 March 1976) is an Italian professional football manager and former player. Usually deployed as a centre-back, he is widely considered one of the best defenders of all time. He was best known for his pace, artistic tac ...

in 2002, he became team

captain Captain is a title, an appellative for the commanding officer of a military unit; the supreme leader of a navy ship, merchant ship, aeroplane, spacecraft, or other vessel; or the commander of a port, fire or police department, election precinct, e ...

. During his time with Lazio, he won one ''

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 ...

'', three

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 ...

, two

Supercoppa Italiana The Supercoppa Italiana ( en, Italian Super Cup) is an annual football match contested by the winners of the Serie A and the Coppa Italia in the previous season. If the same team wins both the Serie A and Coppa Italia titles in the previous seaso ...

and the

UEFA Super Cup The UEFA Super Cup is an annual super cup football match organised by UEFA and contested by the winners of the two main European club competitions; the UEFA Champions League and UEFA Europa League. The competition's official name was originall ...

, as well as establishing himself as a fan favourite. In 12 seasons with the ''Biancocelesti'', he made 401 appearances in all competitions (becoming the player with second most appearances in Lazio's history), scoring six goals.

Inter

Favalli later moved to Internazionale joining the club on 1 June 2004 on a free transfer. With Inter, he won the Coppa Italia twice, in 2005 and 2006 meaning he had won the trophy in three consecutive years (2004, 2005 and 2006). He also won his second ''Scudetto'' with Inter following the ''

Calciopoli ''Calciopoli'' () was a sports scandal in Italy's top professional association football league Serie A and to a lesser extent Serie B. Involving various clubs and numerous executives, both from the same clubs and from the main Italian football b ...

'' scandal which saw

Juventus Juventus Football Club (from la, iuventūs, 'youth'; ), colloquially known as Juve (), is a professional Association football, football club based in Turin, Piedmont, Italy, that competes in the Serie A, the top tier of the Italian football leagu ...

stripped of the 2006 title and it being awarded to Inter. However, he was not always chosen to start for the team and the arrival of

Fabio Grosso Fabio Grosso (; born 28 November 1977) is an Italian former professional footballer and current manager of Frosinone Calcio. After playing for several smaller Italian clubs, such as Renato Curi, Chieti and Perugia, he made his breakthrough dur ...

after 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 the ...

meant he was deemed surplus to the squad and as a result, did not have his contract renewed at the end of the 2006 season.

Milan

Favalli was then subsequently signed by Milan on a free transfer, as a replacement for his former Lazio teammate

Giuseppe Pancaro Giuseppe Pancaro (; born 26 August 1971) is a former Italian football defender turned coach. A strong, reliable, and tenacious left-back, who was effective in the air, he was known for his stamina and work-rate, which allowed him to contribute ...

, but once again, with players such as

Kakha Kaladze Kakhaber "Kakha" Kaladze ( ka, კახაბერ (კახა) კალაძე, ; born 27 February 1978) is a Georgian politician and former footballer who serves as the Mayor of Tbilisi since November 2017. A versatile player, he was c ...

and

Paolo Maldini Paolo Cesare Maldini (; born 26 June 1968) is an Italian former professional footballer who played primarily as a left back and centre back for AC Milan and the Italy national team. He is widely regarded as one of the greatest defenders of a ...

ahead of him in the ranks playing left-back, he would spend the seasons mainly on the bench. In the

2007 UEFA Champions League Final The 2007 UEFA Champions League Final was the final match of the 2006–07 UEFA Champions League, Europe's primary club football competition. The showpiece event was contested between Liverpool of England and Milan of Italy at the Olympic Stad ...

, he appeared as a substitute late in the match which saw Milan win their seventh European Cup/UEFA Champions League in a 2–1 win over

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 ...

. He was affectionately nicknamed ''Favallinho'' by Milan supporters after he scored his only two goals of the 2006–07 Serie A campaign in back-to-back wins over

Empoli Empoli () is a town and ''comune'' in the Metropolitan City of Florence, Tuscany, Italy, about southwest of Florence, to the south of the Arno in a plain formed by the river. The plain has been usable for agriculture since Roman times. The comm ...

and

Messina Messina (, also , ) is a harbour city and the capital of the Italian Metropolitan City of Messina. It is the third largest city on the island of Sicily, and the 13th largest city in Italy, with a population of more than 219,000 inhabitants in ...

in April 2007. Towards the end of his career, he was used as a centre-back by the ''Rossoneri''. On 1 July 2010, Favalii was released by Milan at age 38, then subsequently retired.

International career

Favalli has represented Italy at under-18 level, as well winning the 1992 UEFA European Under-21 Football Championship and playing at the

Barcelona Barcelona ( , , ) is a city on the coast of northeastern Spain. It is the capital and largest city of the autonomous community of Catalonia, as well as the second most populous municipality of Spain. With a population of 1.6 million within ci ...

with the Italy under-21 side. Favalli earned eight full caps for the Italian senior side between 1994 and 2004. He was part of the Italy squad that took part at

; he made only one appearance throughout the tournament, replacing

Gennaro Gattuso Gennaro Ivan Gattuso (; born 9 January 1978) is an Italian professional football coach and former player, who currently serves as manager of La Liga club Valencia. He was born in Corigliano (Calabria). As a player, he mainly played in the cent ...

in the 76th minute of Italy's 1–1 draw with

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 the team's second group match. Italy performed below expectations and exited at the group stage on direct encounters, following a three-way five point tie with Sweden and

Denmark ) , song = ( en, "King Christian stood by the lofty mast") , song_type = National and royal anthem , image_map = EU-Denmark.svg , map_caption = , subdivision_type = Sovereign state , subdivision_name = Danish Realm, Kingdom of Denmark ...

; the later two sides qualified for the quarter-finals at their expense.

Career statistics

International

:Source:

Honours

Club

Lazio *

: 1999–2000 *

: 1997–98, 1999–2000, 2003–04 *

1998 1998 was designated as the ''International Year of the Ocean''. Events January * January 6 – The '' Lunar Prospector'' spacecraft is launched into orbit around the Moon, and later finds evidence for frozen water, in soil in permanently ...

2000 File:2000 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: Protests against Bush v. Gore after the 2000 United States presidential election; Heads of state meet for the Millennium Summit; The International Space Station in its infant form as seen from ...

UEFA Cup Winners' Cup The UEFA Cup Winners' Cup was a European football club competition contested annually by the winners of domestic cup competitions. The cup was, chronologically, the second seasonal inter-European club competition organised by UEFA. The tournam ...

: 1998–99 *

1999 File:1999 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The funeral procession of King Hussein of Jordan in Amman; the 1999 İzmit earthquake kills over 17,000 people in Turkey; the Columbine High School massacre, one of the first major school shootin ...

Internazionale * Serie A: 2005–06 * Coppa Italia: 2004–05, 2005–06 * Supercoppa Italiana:

2005 File:2005 Events Collage V2.png, From top left, clockwise: Hurricane Katrina in the Gulf of Mexico; the Funeral of Pope John Paul II is held in Vatican City; "Me at the zoo", the first video ever to be uploaded to YouTube; Eris was discovered in ...

A.C. Milan *

UEFA Champions League 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 ...

: 2006–07 * UEFA Super Cup:

2007 File:2007 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: Steve Jobs unveils Apple's first iPhone; TAM Airlines Flight 3054 overruns a runway and crashes into a gas station, killing almost 200 people; Former Pakistani Prime Minister of Pakistan, Pr ...

FIFA Club World Cup The FIFA Club World Cup is an international men's association football competition organised by the ''Fédération Internationale de Football Association'' ( FIFA), the sport's global governing body. The competition was first contested in 200 ...

International

Italy * Under-21 European Championship:

1992 File:1992 Events Collage V1.png, From left, clockwise: 1992 Los Angeles riots, Riots break out across Los Angeles, California after the Police brutality, police beating of Rodney King; El Al Flight 1862 crashes into a residential apartment buildi ...

References

External links

*
inter.it profile

National Team Statistics at FIGC official site
{{DEFAULTSORT:Favalli, Giuseppe 1972 births A.C. Milan players Inter Milan players Association football central defenders Footballers at the 1992 Summer Olympics Italian footballers Italy international footballers Living people Olympic footballers of Italy Sportspeople from the Province of Brescia S.S. Lazio players Serie A players Serie B players U.S. Cremonese players UEFA Euro 2004 players UEFA Champions League winning players Footballers from Lombardy