Niccolò Galli (22 May 1983 — 10 February 2001) was a promising 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

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 ...

; he died in a road traffic accident aged 17.

Career

The son of former Italian international

goalkeeper In many team sports which involve scoring goals, the goalkeeper (sometimes termed goaltender, netminder, GK, goalie or keeper) is a designated player charged with directly preventing the opposing team from scoring by blocking or intercepting o ...

Giovanni Galli Giovanni Galli (; born 29 April 1958) is an Italian former professional footballer who played as a goalkeeper, and currently a politician. In a professional career which spanned nearly two decades, he played in 496 Serie A games, mainly with F ...

, he began with his hometown club,

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 ...

, before moving to

Arsenal An arsenal is a place where arms and ammunition are made, maintained and repaired, stored, or issued, in any combination, whether privately or publicly owned. Arsenal and armoury (British English) or armory (American English) are mostly ...

in August 1999. He spent one year in London, winning the

FA Youth Cup The Football Association Youth Challenge Cup is an English football competition run by The Football Association for under-18 sides. Only those players between the age of 15 and 18 on 31 August of the current season are eligible to take part. It ...

in 2000, then returning to Italy to finish his studies. He was on loan with

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 ...

during this time. It was here that the promising young central defender's career really started to take off, featuring 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 ...

and being recognised by Italy's youth teams, before he died; during this time, he was regarded as one of the most promising young footballers in his position.

Death

On 9 February 2001, Galli died in a road accident while riding on his moped, on the way home from practice at Bologna's training centre, aged 17.

Legacy

Following his death, Arsenal manager

Arsène Wenger Arsène Charles Ernest Wenger (; born 22 October 1949) is a French former association football, football Manager (association football), manager and football player, player who is currently serving as FIFA's Chief of Global Football Developme ...

and Head of Youth Development and Academy Director Liam Brady both praised the young defender and stated he would have been a certainty to make the Arsenal first team but for his death. Wenger even went as far as to state “I have no doubt in my mind that had he lived, he would have been

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 ...

of Arsenal and of Italy.” Brady later also stated "I always remember Niccolo. Losing a boy that young was a real tragedy. He was a great footballing talent. He had a great future ahead of him." He stated that he stood out from his teammates due to his "maturity and intelligence", describing him as a "complete player", stating: "He had it all -- the ball control, passing, the physicality."
The football training centre used by Bologna FC, in the neighbourhood of Casteldebole, is named after Galli; Bologna FC also retired his number 27 shirt. Arsenal observed a minute's silence upon the news of his death. Galli's childhood friend and youth academy teammate

Fabio Quagliarella Fabio Quagliarella (; born 31 January 1983) is an Italian professional footballer who plays as a forward for Serie A club Sampdoria, whom he captains. Throughout his career, Quagliarella has played for eight different Italian clubs, winning ...

wears the

number 27 27 (twenty-seven; Roman numeral XXVII) is the natural number following 26 and preceding 28. In mathematics * Twenty-seven is a cube of 3: 3^3=3\times 3\times 3. 27 is also 23 (see tetration). There are exactly 27 straight lines on a smooth ...

in his honour. A foundation has also been dedicated to Galli in his honour.

Personal life

Niccolò's father

, was also a professional footballer; a former goalkeeper, he played for

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 ...

, Napoli,

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 ...

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 ...

, and Lucchese, as well as the Italy national team, before pursuing a career in politics after his retirement. His mother's name is Anna; he also had two sisters, Camilla and Carolina.

References

External links

Niccolò Galli Foundation
{{DEFAULTSORT:Galli, Niccolo 1983 births 2001 deaths Italian men's footballers Men's association football defenders Italy men's youth international footballers Serie A players ACF Fiorentina players Parma Calcio 1913 players Arsenal F.C. players Bologna FC 1909 players Motorcycle road incident deaths Road incident deaths in Italy Footballers from Florence