Igor Protti (born 24 September 1967) 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 ...

who currently works as a general manager for

Livorno Livorno () is a port city on the Ligurian Sea on the western coast of Tuscany, Italy. It is the capital of the Province of Livorno, having a population of 158,493 residents in December 2017. It is traditionally known in English as Leghorn (pronou ...

. Throughout his playing career, he made a name for himself as a prolific and opportunistic

striker Striker or The Strikers may refer to: People *A participant in a strike action *A participant in a hunger strike *Blacksmith's striker, a type of blacksmith's assistant *Striker's Independent Society, the oldest mystic krewe in America People wi ...

, who mainly operated in the penalty area. Protti started his career with his hometown club

Rimini Rimini ( , ; rgn, Rémin; la, Ariminum) is a city in the Emilia-Romagna region of northern Italy and capital city of the Province of Rimini. It sprawls along the Adriatic Sea, on the coast between the rivers Marecchia (the ancient ''Ariminu ...

in 1983; although he played for several Italian club sides throughout his career, including

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

and

Napoli Naples (; it, Napoli ; nap, Napule ), from grc, Νεάπολις, Neápolis, lit=new city. is the regional capital of Campania and the third-largest city of Italy, after Rome and Milan, with a population of 909,048 within the city's adminis ...

, he is mostly remembered for his time with

, where he established himself as a legendary figure in the club's history during his second spell with the side, and eventually remained with the team until his retirement. Along with

Dario Hübner Dario Hübner (born 28 April 1967) is an Italian former professional association football, footballer. An opportunistic forward (association football), forward, with an eye for goal, and an accurate finisher (with both his head and feet) and Pe ...

, Protti is the only player to have won the top scoring titles in

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 ...

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 ...

, and

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 ...

; he is also the only Serie A top-scorer to have suffered relegation with his club (

Bari Bari ( , ; nap, label= Barese, Bare ; lat, Barium) is the capital city of the Metropolitan City of Bari and of the Apulia region, on the Adriatic Sea, southern Italy. It is the second most important economic centre of mainland Southern Italy a ...

, at the time).

Playing career

Protti spent the majority of his early career playing for teams in lower divisions; he made his career debut in

at the age of 16, with his home-town club

, on 27 May 1984. After two seasons with the club, he later moved on to Livorno in 1985, for three seasons. After a season period with Virescit Bergamo, he was acquired by

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 1989, and he became an important figure with the club, making his

debut with Messina, and scoring 31 goals over three seasons. In 1992, he moved to

, and after two seasons in Serie B, he helped his team to achieve Serie A promotion. During the 1994–95 season, he scored his first goal in

against Napoli, as well as his first ever hat-trick, against Lazio. He came to more widespread notice during the 1995–96

season, in which he shared the top-scoring title with

Giuseppe Signori Giuseppe "Beppe" Signori (; born 17 February 1968) is an Italian former professional footballer who played as a forward. He played for several clubs in Italy throughout his career, and also had spells in Greece and Hungary with Iraklis Thessal ...

, scoring 24 goals (including a brace against

Inter Inter may refer to: Association football clubs * Inter Milan, an Italian club * SC Internacional, a Brazilian club * Inter Miami CF, an American club * FC Inter Sibiu, a Romanian club * FC Inter Turku, a Finnish club * FK Inter Bratislava, a forme ...

), despite his team, Bari, being

relegated In sports leagues, promotion and relegation is a process where teams are transferred between multiple divisions based on their performance for the completed season. Leagues that use promotion and relegation systems are often called open leagues. ...

. This achievement led to a move to

1996 File:1996 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: A Centennial Olympic Park bombing, bomb explodes at Centennial Olympic Park in Atlanta, set off by a radical Anti-abortion violence, anti-abortionist; The center fuel tank explodes on TWA Flight 8 ...

, but Protti's stay with the Rome club was not successful, and after two seasons with the club, including a loan to

during the 1997–98 season, he was eventually released from his contract in 1998. After a spell in Serie B at Reggiana ( 1998–99), helping the club to Serie A promotion, Protti returned to

in 1999, where he rapidly became one of the most popular players in that club's history, scoring 11 goals during his first season with the club. He later captained Livorno, leading the club to Serie B promotion during the 2001–02 Serie C1 season, winning the title, and finishing the campaign as the top-scorer, and the following season he was the top-scorer in Serie B. He subsequently led Livorno to

promotion during the 2003–04 season, before retiring in

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 ...

after the team had finished a surprising 9th in their first top division campaign in many years, leaving the captain's armband to

Cristiano Lucarelli Cristiano Lucarelli (; born 4 October 1975) is an Italian football manager and a former player who played as a striker from 1992 until 2012. He was most recently the manager of Serie B club Ternana. Club career Lucarelli was born in Livorno, I ...

. Protti's number 10 was then retired by the club. He has also been given the freedom of the city of Livorno in 2007. During the awarding ceremony, he asked the #10 jersey not to be retired any longer in order to "give anybody back the dream to dress it one day". The number was to be reassigned starting from the 2007–08 season, with

Francesco Tavano 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 amateurs Tuttocuoio. Playing career Tavano started his professional career with Pisa, befo ...

wearing the

number 10 shirt 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 ...

Post-playing career

On June 2015, Protti was hired as the new director of football of Tuttocuoio, with former Livorno teammate

as head coach. They were both relieved from their roles on April 2016. On June 2016, Protti returned to Livorno as a "club manager". He left Livorno by the end of the 2018–19 season. He returned to work with Livorno as a "club manager" on August 2021, following the club's exclusion from

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 ...

and successive admission to

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 ...

under a new property. In July 2022, Protti was promoted as general manager.

Honours

Lazio *

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 ...

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 ...

Livorno *

: 2001–02 Individual * Serie A top scorer: 1995–96 (24 goals, along with

) *Serie B top scorer: 2002–03 (23 goals) *Serie C1 top scorer: 2000–01 (20 goals), 2001–02 (27 goals)

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Protti, Igor 1967 births Living people Sportspeople from Rimini Association football forwards Italian footballers S.S.C. Bari players S.S. Lazio players Virtus Bergamo Alzano Seriate 1909 players A.C.R. Messina players S.S.C. Napoli players A.C. Reggiana 1919 players Rimini F.C. 1912 players U.S. Livorno 1915 players Serie A players Serie B players Serie C players Footballers from Emilia-Romagna