Roberto Antonio Nanni (born 20 August 1981) is an

Argentine Argentines (mistakenly translated Argentineans in the past; in Spanish (masculine) or (feminine)) are people identified with the country of Argentina. This connection may be residential, legal, historical or cultural. For most Argentines, s ...

retired

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 ...

forward Forward is a relative direction, the opposite of backward. Forward may also refer to: People * Forward (surname) Sports * Forward (association football) * Forward (basketball), including: ** Point forward ** Power forward (basketball) ** Sm ...

Club career

Nanni started playing professionally for Vélez Sársfield in 2001. While at the team, he reached the final fixture of the 2003 Clausura as the league's top scorer with 15 goals, 3 more than

Rosario Central Club Atlético Rosario Central () is a sports club based in Rosario, Argentina, that plays in the Argentine Primera División. The club was officially founded on December 24, 1889, by a group of railway workers, taking its name from the Englis ...

Luciano Figueroa Luciano Gabriel "Lucho" Figueroa Herrera (; born 19 May 1981) is an Argentine former professional footballer who played as a forward. Club career Figueroa was born in Santa Fe. He began his professional career with Primera División club Ro ...

. However, Figueroa scored 5 goals in his team's 7–2 victory over

Boca Juniors Club Atlético Boca Juniors () is an Argentine sports club headquartered in La Boca, a neighbourhood of Buenos Aires. The club is mostly known for its professional football team which, since its promotion in 1913, has always played in the A ...

, that played the game with a youth squad, frustrating Nanni's possibility of becoming the league's top scorer. During that tournament, in which Vélez finished third under

Carlos Ischia Carlos Ischia (born 28 October 1956 in Buenos Aires) is a former Argentine footballer. Playing career Ischia played for Chacarita Juniors and Vélez Sársfield in Argentina as well as representing the Argentina national football team. In 1 ...

's coaching, Nanni scored the only goal of the 1–0 victory over River Plate, ending a 12-year period without victories for the team in the

Estadio Monumental Antonio Vespucio Liberti Estadio Monumental (), officially Estadio Mâs Monumental for sponsorship reasons,FC Dynamo Kyiv Football Club Dynamo Kyiv (, ) is a Ukrainian professional football club based in Kyiv. Founded in 1927 as a Kyivan football team of republican branch of the bigger Soviet Dynamo Sports Society, the club as a separate business entity was offici ...

, for a club's record fee –at that time– of around €5 million. While in Dynamo Kyiv, he hardly play for the senior squad, participating only in reserve competitions. In October 2004 he was loaned to

UD Almería Unión Deportiva Almería, S.A.D. () is a Spanish professional football club based in Almería, in the autonomous community of Andalusia. Founded on 26 July 1989 and known as ''Almería Club de Fútbol'' until 2001, when it was renamed ''Unión D ...

Spain , image_flag = Bandera de España.svg , image_coat = Escudo de España (mazonado).svg , national_motto = ''Plus ultra'' (Latin)(English: "Further Beyond") , national_anthem = (English: "Royal March") , i ...

, starting a loan span that took him to

Siena Siena ( , ; lat, Sena Iulia) is a city in Tuscany, Italy. It is the capital of the province of Siena. The city is historically linked to commercial and banking activities, having been a major banking center until the 13th and 14th centuri ...

in July 2005,

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 January 2006 and lastly

Crotone Crotone (, ; nap, label= Crotonese, Cutrone or ) is a city and ''comune'' in Calabria, Italy. Founded as the Achaean colony of Kroton ( grc, Κρότων or ; la, Crotona) in Magna Graecia, it was known as Cotrone from the Middle Ages until ...

in August 2006 (all in

Italy Italy ( it, Italia ), officially the Italian Republic, ) or the Republic of Italy, is a country in Southern Europe. It is located in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea, and its territory largely coincides with the homonymous geographical re ...

). In January 2008 he was released by Dynamo and rejoined Vélez. Upon his return, the striker won with his team the 2009 Clausura, scoring one goal in the second game, against

Argentinos Juniors Asociación Atlética Argentinos Juniors is an Argentine sports club based in La Paternal, Buenos Aires. The club is mostly known for its football team, which currently plays in the Argentine Primera División, and was recognized as one of the ...

. Nanni played 11 games during the tournament, mostly coming on as a substitute. In July 2009, at the request of coach

Pedro Troglio Pedro Antonio Troglio (born 28 July 1965) is an Argentine football manager and former player who played as a midfielder. He is the current manager of Honduran club CD Olimpia Playing career During his career as a footballer, Troglio played for ...

, he joined

Paraguay Paraguay (; ), officially the Republic of Paraguay ( es, República del Paraguay, links=no; gn, Tavakuairetã Paraguái, links=si), is a landlocked country in South America. It is bordered by Argentina to the south and southwest, Brazil to th ...

an champions

Cerro Porteño Club Cerro Porteño is a professional Paraguayan football club, based in the neighbourhood of Obrero in Asunción. Founded in 1912, Cerro has won 34 Primera División titles and is one of the most popular football clubs in Paraguay. Its presi ...

, on a free transfer. The striker helped his team reach the semifinals of both the

2009 Copa Sudamericana The 2009 Copa Sudamericana de Clubes (officially the 2009 Copa Nissan Sudamericana de Clubes for sponsorship reasons) is the 8th edition of the CONMEBOL's secondary international club tournament. Internacional were the defending champions, having ...

and the

2011 Copa Libertadores The 2011 Copa Libertadores de América (officially the 2011 Copa Santander Libertadores de América for sponsorship reasons) was the 52nd edition of the Copa Libertadores de América, South America's premier international club football tournament ...

(being the joint top scorer in the latter, with 7 goals). Nanni also won with Cerro Porteño the 2012 Apertura and was the joint top scorer of the 2010 Clausura. After five years playing for Cerro Porteño, the Argentine forward had a fight with the club's President Juan José Zapag and his contract was terminated. With 59 goals in all competitions, Nanni is the 5th top goal scorer in the history of Cerro Porteño. After Cerro Porteño, the forward joined

Atlante F.C. Atlante Fútbol Club, is a professional football club based in Mexico City, Mexico. Founded in 1916, Atlante were original members of the Mexican Primera División when it began in 1943. Atlante has won three national league championships, t ...

, where he played for six months in 2013. In February 2014, Nanni joined Vélez Sarsfield on a free transfer for his third spell with the club, signing for one year.

Honours

Club

;Vélez Sársfield *

Argentine Primera División The Primera División (; en, "First Division"), known officialy as Liga Profesional de Fútbol, or Torneo Binance for sponsorship reasons, is a professional football league in Argentina, organised by the Argentine Football Association (AFA). Th ...

(1): 2009 Clausura ;Cerro Porteño *

Paraguayan Primera División The División Profesional de la Asociación Paraguaya de Fútbol (; "Professional Division of the Paraguayan Football Association"), also known as the Primera División (; "first division"), or due to sponsorship reasons Copa de Primera TIGO-Vis ...

(1): 2012 Apertura

Individual

* Paraguayan Primera División top scorer (1): 2010 Clausura (with Cerro Porteño) * Copa Libertadores top scorer (1):

2011 File:2011 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: a protester partaking in Occupy Wall Street heralds the beginning of the Occupy movement; protests against Libyan dictator Muammar Gaddafi, who was killed that October; a young man celebrate ...

(with Cerro Porteño)

References

Los argentinos Gracián y Nanni en los planes del Cúcuta Deportivo
�� laopinion.com.co, 20 January 2016

External links

Profile
at Vélez Sarsfield's official website
Argentine Primera statistics
at Fútbol XXI
ESPN Statistics
* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Nanni, Roberto 1981 births Living people Sportspeople from Buenos Aires Province Argentine people of Italian descent Argentine footballers Argentine Primera División players Serie A players Serie B players Ukrainian Premier League players Ukrainian First League players Segunda División players Paraguayan Primera División players Liga MX players Categoría Primera B players Club Atlético Vélez Sarsfield footballers FC Dynamo Kyiv players FC Dynamo-2 Kyiv players A.C.N. Siena 1904 players A.C.R. Messina players UD Almería players F.C. Crotone players Cerro Porteño players Atlante F.C. footballers Cúcuta Deportivo footballers Argentine expatriate footballers Expatriate footballers in Paraguay Expatriate footballers in Italy Expatriate footballers in Spain Expatriate footballers in Ukraine Expatriate footballers in Mexico Expatriate footballers in Colombia Argentine expatriate sportspeople in Paraguay Argentine expatriate sportspeople in Italy Argentine expatriate sportspeople in Spain Argentine expatriate sportspeople in Ukraine Association football forwards Club Nacional footballers