Angelo Di Livio (; born 26 July 1966) is an Italian former professional football

midfielder A midfielder is an outfield position in association football. Midfielders may play an exclusively defensive role, breaking up attacks, and are in that case known as defensive midfielders. As central midfielders often go across boundarie ...

and defender. He played for several Italian clubs 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 Cop ...

throughout his career, coming to prominence with Juventus, where he won several domestic and international titles. At international level he also played for the Italian national side in two

FIFA World Cup The FIFA World Cup, often simply called the World Cup, is an international association football competition contested by the senior men's national teams of the members of the ' ( FIFA), the sport's global governing body. The tournament ha ...

s and two

UEFA European Championship The UEFA European Football Championship, less formally the European Championship and informally the Euro, is the primary association football tournament organised by the Union of European Football Associations ( UEFA). The competition is conte ...

s, reaching the final of

UEFA Euro 2000 The 2000 UEFA European Football Championship, also known as Euro 2000, was the 11th UEFA European Championship, a football tournament held every four years and organised by UEFA, the sport's governing body in Europe. The finals tournament wa ...

. During his playing career he was known as ''soldatino'' (toy soldier) or ''soldatino Di Livio'', a nickname his Juventus teammate at the time Roberto Baggio gave him because of Di Livio's diminutive stature, posture, and characteristic way of running up and down the flank.

Club career

Born in

Rome , established_title = Founded , established_date = 753 BC , founder = King Romulus (legendary) , image_map = Map of comune of Rome (metropolitan city of Capital Rome, region Lazio, Italy).svg , map_caption ...

, Di Livio began his career with Roma in 1984. Having failed to make an appearance in his only season for the club, Di Livio played for Reggiana (1985–86), Nocerina (1986–87),

Perugia Perugia (, , ; lat, Perusia) is the capital city of Umbria in central Italy, crossed by the River Tiber, and of the province of Perugia. The city is located about north of Rome and southeast of Florence. It covers a high hilltop and pa ...

(1987–89),

Padova Padua ( ; it, Padova ; vec, Pàdova) is a city and ''comune'' in Veneto, northern Italy. Padua is on the river Bacchiglione, west of Venice. It is the capital of the province of Padua. It is also the economic and communications hub of the ...

(1989–93), Juventus (1993–99) and

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 fol ...

(1999–2005). His tireless running and quality crossing made him an important element in the dominant Juventus starting lineup from 1993 to 1999, during one of the most successful periods in the club's history. With Juventus, he won three '' scudetti'' (Italian A League;

1995 File:1995 Events Collage V2.png, From left, clockwise: O.J. Simpson is acquitted of the murders of Nicole Brown Simpson and Ronald Goldman from the year prior in "The Trial of the Century" in the United States; The Great Hanshin earthquake str ...

1997 File:1997 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The movie set of ''Titanic'', the highest-grossing movie in history at the time; '' Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone'', is published; Comet Hale-Bopp passes by Earth and becomes one of ...

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 s ...

) and one Champions League title ( 1996), in addition to two

Italian Supercup 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 ...

s (

), a

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 ...

, an

UEFA Supercup 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 ...

( 1996), and an Intercontinental Cup ( 1996); he also reached the final of the

1994–95 UEFA Cup The 1994–95 UEFA Cup was won by Parma on aggregate over Juventus. Internazionale were the defending champions with a wild card, but were knocked out in the first round by Aston Villa. New format Twenty-two national champions were demoted to ...

. In 1999, he moved to Fiorentina, where he captained the team to win the

during the 2000–01 season. In 2002, when AC Fiorentina went bankrupt and was reborn as ''Florentia Viola'' in Serie C2, Di Livio showed his dedication by being the only player to stay with the team, as he played through the depths of Italian football on the climb back to

in 2004, finally retiring after the conclusion of the 2004–05 Serie A season.

International career

Di Livio was capped 40 times for

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 ...

. He played for Italy at

Euro 96 The 1996 UEFA European Football Championship, commonly referred to as Euro 96, was the 10th UEFA European Championship, a quadrennial football tournament contested by European nations and organised by UEFA. It took place in England from 8 to 30 ...

, the 1998 FIFA World Cup,

Euro 2000 The 2000 UEFA European Football Championship, also known as Euro 2000, was the 11th UEFA European Championship, a football tournament held every four years and organised by UEFA, the sport's governing body in Europe. The finals tournament was ...

(where Italy finished in 2nd place), and the

2002 FIFA World Cup The 2002 FIFA World Cup, also branded as Korea Japan 2002, was the 17th FIFA World Cup, the quadrennial football world championship for men's national teams organized by FIFA. It was held from 31 May to 30 June 2002 at sites in South Korea an ...

. His first cap came on 6 September 1995 against

Slovenia Slovenia ( ; sl, Slovenija ), officially the Republic of Slovenia (Slovene: , abbr.: ''RS''), is a country in Central Europe. It is bordered by Italy to the west, Austria to the north, Hungary to the northeast, Croatia to the southeast, an ...

; his last on 18 June 2002 against

South Korea South Korea, officially the Republic of Korea (ROK), is a country in East Asia, constituting the southern part of the Korean Peninsula and sharing a land border with North Korea. Its western border is formed by the Yellow Sea, while its eas ...

. At Euro 1996, he set-up

Pierluigi Casiraghi Pierluigi Casiraghi (; born 4 March 1969) is an Italian professional football coach and former player who played as a striker. Casiraghi began his playing career in Italy in 1985, with Monza. He later played for Juventus, and Lazio, before endi ...

's first goal in the team's 2–1 win in the opening group match against

Russia Russia (, , ), or the Russian Federation, is a transcontinental country spanning Eastern Europe and Northern Asia. It is the largest country in the world, with its internationally recognised territory covering , and encompassing one-eig ...

. For Italy, he was often used as a holding player to shut down games when the team was ahead, thus sealing the win.

After retirement

After retiring, Di Livio worked as a coach in the A.S. Roma Youth System (''Allievi "Coppa Lazio"'').

Style of play

A quick, experienced, energetic, combative, reliable, and tactically versatile player, Di Livio was usually deployed on the right wing, although he was capable of playing on either flank, as either a

wide midfielder A midfielder is an outfield position in association football. Midfielders may play an exclusively defensive role, breaking up attacks, and are in that case known as defensive midfielders. As central midfielders often go across boundarie ...

, or as a full-back or wing-back, courtesy of his ability with either foot; he was also capable of playing in the

centre Center or centre may refer to: Mathematics * Center (geometry), the middle of an object * Center (algebra), used in various contexts ** Center (group theory) ** Center (ring theory) * Graph center, the set of all vertices of minimum eccentri ...

, as a

box-to-box A midfielder is an outfield position in association football. Midfielders may play an exclusively defensive role, breaking up attacks, and are in that case known as defensive midfielders. As central midfielders often go across boundarie ...

defensive midfielder A midfielder is an outfield position in association football. Midfielders may play an exclusively defensive role, breaking up attacks, and are in that case known as defensive midfielders. As central midfielders often go across boundari ...

, or even in

defence Defense or defence may refer to: Tactical, martial, and political acts or groups * Defense (military), forces primarily intended for warfare * Civil defense, the organizing of civilians to deal with emergencies or enemy attacks * Defense indus ...

. Although he was not the most naturally talented or skilled footballer from a technical standpoint, he was a highly consistent, intelligent, and disciplined player, who was known for his pace, stamina, work-rate, and strength, despite his diminutive stature. He also stood out for his tenacity, mentality, professionalism, man-marking ability, and crossing accuracy, as well as his ability to make attacking runs down the flank, but also track back, which enabled him to cover the wing effectively, and have a successful career.

Personal life

Angelo's son, Lorenzo, is also a footballer; a Roma youth product, he currently plays for Latina. His daughter, Alessia, is an electronic music producer and DJ, performing under the name ADIEL.

Endorsements

As one of the most popular footballers from his generation, Di Livio has kept his public influence and positive reputation till today. In 2011, Angelo Di Livio was named as "Brand ambassador" for SKS365's brand planetwin365.planetwin365 renews cooperation with Angelo Di Livio
sks365 - planetwin365 renews cooperation with Angelo Di Livio
accessdate: 26 August 2015

Career statistics

Club

:Source:

International

:Source:

Honours

Club

Juventus *

: 1994–95, 1996–97, 1997–98 *

: 1994–95 * Supercoppa Italiana:

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 competi ...

: 1995–96 *

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 original ...

: 1996 * Intercontinental Cup: 1996 Fiorentina *

: 2000–01 * Serie C2: 2002–03 Perugia * Serie C2: 1987–88

International

Italy *

(Runner Up):

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 S ...

Orders

:* 5th Class / Knight: '' Cavaliere Ordine al Merito della Repubblica Italiana'': 2000

References

External links

*
FIGC Profile
{{DEFAULTSORT:Di Livio, Angelo 1966 births Living people Footballers from Rome Association football midfielders Association football defenders Italian footballers Italy international footballers A.C. Reggiana 1919 players A.S. Roma players A.C. Perugia Calcio players Calcio Padova players Juventus F.C. players ACF Fiorentina players Serie A players Serie B players Serie C players UEFA Euro 1996 players 1998 FIFA World Cup players UEFA Euro 2000 players 2002 FIFA World Cup players UEFA Champions League winning players Knights of the Order of Merit of the Italian Republic