Marco Branca (born 6 January 1965) is an Italian former professional

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 ...

striker who was, until February 2014,

sporting director A sporting director, or director of sport, is an executive management position in a sports club. The role is well known as a manager role for European football clubs, which are sometime also "sports clubs", offering many types of sports. The sport ...

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 ...

club

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 ...

Club career

Early career

Born in

Grosseto Grosseto () is a city and ''comune'' in the central Italian region of Tuscany, the capital of the Province of Grosseto. The city lies from the Tyrrhenian Sea, in the Maremma, at the centre of an alluvial plain on the Ombrone river. It is the m ...

, Branca started his playing career with

, the then-amateur local team of his native city, but was soon signed by

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 ...

, where he made his professional debut. He then moved to

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 ...

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 then again to Udinese. Following another season with Sampdoria, he signed first for

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 ...

and then for

Parma Parma (; egl, Pärma, ) is a city in the northern Italian region of Emilia-Romagna known for its architecture, Giuseppe Verdi, music, art, prosciutto (ham), Parmigiano-Reggiano, cheese and surrounding countryside. With a population of 198,292 ...

. In 1995, he transferred to

A.S. Roma ' (''Rome Sport Association''), commonly referred to as Roma (), is a professional football club based in Rome, Italy. Founded by a merger in 1927, Roma has participated in the top tier of Italian football for all of its existence, except for ...

, who sold him in the 1996 winter transfer window to

in exchange for

Marco Delvecchio Marco Delvecchio (; born 7 April 1973) is a retired Italian footballer, who played as a forward. Although he played for several Italian clubs throughout his career, he spent most of it at A.S. Roma, where he is still remembered by the club's fan ...

Internazionale and Middlesbrough

In his first season with the Nerazzuri, Branca scored an impressive 17 goals in 24 matches, but did not repeat in his next campaign and was sold to English second-tier side

Middlesbrough Middlesbrough ( ) is a town on the southern bank of the River Tees in North Yorkshire, England. It is near the North York Moors national park. It is the namesake and main town of its local borough council area. Until the early 1800s, the a ...

. Branca scored nine goals in 12 league games for Middlesbrough, including two on his league debut in a 3–1 victory against

Sunderland Sunderland () is a port city in Tyne and Wear, England. It is the City of Sunderland's administrative centre and in the Historic counties of England, historic county of County of Durham, Durham. The city is from Newcastle-upon-Tyne and is on t ...

, a

hat-trick A hat-trick or hat trick is the achievement of a generally positive feat three times in a match, or another achievement based on the number three. Origin The term first appeared in 1858 in cricket, to describe H. H. Stephenson taking three wic ...

versus

Bury Bury may refer to: *The burial of human remains *-bury, a suffix in English placenames Places England * Bury, Cambridgeshire, a village * Bury, Greater Manchester, a town, historically in Lancashire ** Bury (UK Parliament constituency) (1832–19 ...

and another two in the 6–0 win over

Swindon Town Swindon Town Football Club is a professional Association football, football club based in Swindon, Wiltshire, England. The team currently competes in , the fourth tier of the English football league system. The club has played home matches at ...

. In addition, he played two

League Cup In several sports, most prominently association football, a league cup or secondary cup generally signifies a cup competition for which entry is restricted only to teams in a particular league. The first national association football tournament t ...

games, scoring the second goal against

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 ...

in the semi-final second leg on his debut. His nine goals aided in Boro's promotion to the Premiership, he was then injured and Middlesbrough claimed insurance on his value and he was released from his contract. He chased Middlesbrough through the courts before signing for Swiss club

FC Luzern Fussball-Club Luzern (), or simply abbreviated to FCL, is a Swiss sports club based in Lucerne (german: Luzern). It is best known for its professional football team, which plays in the Super League, the top tier of the Swiss football league syste ...

Later career

Branca saw out his playing days with FC Luzern and Italian lower-league club Monza before retiring in 2001.

International career

Branca took part in the

1996 Summer Olympics The 1996 Summer Olympics (officially the Games of the XXVI Olympiad, also known as Atlanta 1996 and commonly referred to as the Centennial Olympic Games) were an international multi-sport event held from July 19 to August 4, 1996, in Atlanta, ...

as overage player.

Management career

From 2002 until February 2014, Branca was part of

's management, working in their transfer network. He helped organise the transfers of

Lúcio Lucimar Ferreira da Silva (born 8 May 1978), commonly known as Lúcio, is a Brazilian former professional footballer who played as a centre-back. A tall and physically strong defender who excelled in the air, Lúcio was known for his long, sur ...

Diego Milito Diego Alberto Milito (born 12 June 1979) is an Argentine former professional footballer who played as a striker. He is currently a sports manager. Milito began his club career in Argentina with Racing Club in 1999, and later moved to Italian ...

Thiago Motta Thiago Motta (; ; born 28 August 1982) is a professional football manager and former player. He is currently the head coach of club Bologna. A midfielder, Motta spent his early career at Barcelona, where he was injury-prone. He played two and ...

Wesley Sneijder Wesley Sneijder (; born 9 June 1984) is a Dutch retired professional footballer. Due to his elite playmaking ability, Sneijder was considered one of the best midfielders in the world during his prime. A product of the Ajax Youth Academy, he sta ...

and

Samuel Eto'o Samuel Eto'o Fils (; born 10 March 1981) is a Cameroonian football administrator and former player who is the current president of the Cameroonian Football Federation from 11 December 2021. In his prime, Eto'o was regarded by pundits as one of ...

Honours

Club

Sampdoria *

: 1990–91 Parma *

UEFA Cup A cup is an open-top used to hold hot or cold liquids for pouring or drinking; while mainly used for drinking, it also can be used to store Solid, solids for pouring (e.g., sugar, flour, grains, salt). Cups may be made of glass, metal, porcela ...

: 1994–95

References

External links

Playing career
{{DEFAULTSORT:Branca, Marco 1965 births Living people People from Grosseto Italian footballers Association football forwards Cagliari Calcio players A.C. Monza players Udinese Calcio players ACF Fiorentina players U.C. Sampdoria players A.S. Roma players Parma Calcio 1913 players Inter Milan players Middlesbrough F.C. players FC Luzern players Serie A players Serie B players Premier League players Swiss Super League players Footballers at the 1996 Summer Olympics Olympic footballers of Italy Italian expatriate footballers Expatriate footballers in Switzerland Expatriate footballers in England Italian expatriate sportspeople in Switzerland Italian expatriate sportspeople in England UEFA Cup winning players Sportspeople from the Province of Grosseto Footballers from Tuscany