Cristiano Zanetti (; born 10 April 1977) is a retired

Italian Italian(s) may refer to: * Anything of, from, or related to the people of Italy over the centuries ** Italians, an ethnic group or simply a citizen of the Italian Republic or Italian Kingdom ** Italian language, a Romance language *** Regional Ita ...

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 ...

who played as a

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 current football coach. He was most recently in charge of Massese. Zanetti played for several Italian clubs throughout his career, winning titles with

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 ...

, Roma,

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 form ...

, and Juventus. At international level, he represented the

Italy national football team The Italy national football team ( it, Nazionale di calcio dell'Italia) has represented Italy in international football since its first match in 1910. The national team is controlled by the Italian Football Federation (FIGC), the governing bo ...

at the

2000 Summer Olympics The 2000 Summer Olympics, officially the Games of the XXVII Olympiad and also known as Sydney 2000 ( Dharug: ''Gadigal 2000''), the Millennium Olympic Games or the Games of the New Millennium, was an international multi-sport event held from ...

, at 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 ...

and at

UEFA Euro 2004 The 2004 UEFA European Football Championship, commonly referred to as Euro 2004, was the 12th edition of the UEFA European Championship, a quadrennial football competition contested by the men's national teams of UEFA member associations. The ...

Club career

Early career

He played for

(1993–96),

Venezia Venice ( ; it, Venezia ; vec, Venesia or ) is a city in northeastern Italy and the capital of the Veneto region. It is built on a group of 118 small islands that are separated by canals and linked by over 400 bridges. The islan ...

(1996–97), and Reggiana (1997–98), before he joined the defending UEFA Cup Champions

Inter Milan 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 ...

at age of 21, in 1998, where he played alongside his unrelated namesake, Argentine fullback Javier Zanetti. Zanetti made his club debut for Internazionale on 26 August 1998 against FC Skonto before joining Cagliari along with

Mohamed Kallon Mohamed Kallon MOR (born 6 October 1979) is a Sierra Leonean football manager and former player who played as a striker. He is widely considered the most famous footballer from Sierra Leone. He made 39 appearances for the Sierra Leone nationa ...

. During his time with Fiorentina, he won 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 ...

in 1996.

Roma

In the summer of 1999, he was signed by Roma in a joint-ownership bid for 7 billion

Italian lire The lira (; plural lire) was the currency of Italy between 1861 and 2002. It was first introduced by the Napoleonic Kingdom of Italy in 1807 at par with the French franc, and was subsequently adopted by the different states that would eventually f ...

. Under manager Fabio Capello, he soon became a member of the starting line-up and he won a '' Scudetto'' with Roma during the 2000–01 season.

Inter Milan

In June 2001, Zanetti re-joined

under manager

Héctor Cúper Héctor Raúl Cúper (; born 16 November 1955) is an Argentine football manager and former player. As a player, he was a defender who spent most of his career at Club Ferro Carril Oeste, where played 463 games. His nickname was "Cabezón" ("Big ...

; Inter paid 10 billion

to buy back Zanetti. He was a regular starter under Cuper, and with the club he managed to the reach of the semi-finals of the 2001–02 UEFA Cup and the

2002–03 UEFA Champions League The 2002–03 UEFA Champions League was the 11th season of UEFA's premier European club football tournament, the UEFA Champions League, since its rebranding in 1992, and the 48th European Cup tournament overall. The competition was won by Milan, ...

, also narrowly missing out on the

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 ...

title both of those seasons. The 2003–04 season was more disappointing, however, and upon the arrival of new manager

Roberto Mancini Roberto Mancini (; born 27 November 1964) is an Italian football manager and former player. He is currently the manager of the Italy national team. As a player, Mancini operated as a deep-lying forward, and was best known for his time at Sa ...

, he was deployed with less frequency due to injuries, as well as the arrivals of Edgar Davids and

Esteban Cambiasso Esteban Matías Cambiasso Deleau (; born 18 August 1980), nicknamed ''"Cuchu"'', is an Argentine former professional footballer who played as a midfielder. During his career, Cambiasso won 21 official titles, the majority of which were won dur ...

in midfield, although he was finally able to capture some silverware during his final two seasons at the club. During his second stint with Inter, he won two

trophies in 2005 and 2006, a Supercoppa Italiana in 2005, and he was also awarded a

title after the Calciopoli scandal in 2006.

Juventus

Zanetti moved to Juventus in 2006 on a free transfer, despite the match-fixing controversy surrounding the

Turin 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. The ...

giants and their subsequent relegation. Zanetti was Luciano Moggi's final signing as the Juventus transfer director before his five-year ban due to his role in the Calciopoli scandal. Zanetti won the

Serie B The Serie B (), currently named Serie 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 season. It had been ...

title with ''Le Zebre'' in 2007, earning Juventus Serie A promotion. The following season, he helped Juventus to a third place in Serie A, which allowed them to qualify for the

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 ...

in 2008. Juventus were eliminated in the

round of 16 A single-elimination, knockout, or sudden death tournament is a type of elimination tournament where the loser of each match-up is immediately eliminated from the tournament. Each winner will play another in the next round, until the final matc ...

, and they reached the semi-finals of the

, also finishing second in

Fiorentina

Zanetti signed with his first professional club

on 10 August 2009, as the club was preparing to play in

2009–10 UEFA Champions League The 2009–10 UEFA Champions League was the 55th season of Europe's premier club football tournament organised by UEFA, and the 18th under the current UEFA Champions League format. The final was played on 22 May 2010, at the Santiago Bernabéu St ...

play-off round. He signed a 2+1 contract. He is the second player to join ''La Viola'' from Juventus in 2009–10 season after

Marco Marchionni Marco Marchionni (; born 22 July 1980) is an Italian professional football coach and former Italian professional footballer who played as a midfielder. He is the head coach of club Potenza. A versatile player, he was capable of playing in seve ...

. Zanetti was tagged for €2 million and deducted from

Felipe Melo Felipe Melo de Carvalho (born 26 June 1983), known as Felipe Melo, is a Brazilian professional footballer who plays as a defensive midfielder for Fluminense. He began his career with Campeonato Brasileiro Série A teams Flamengo, Cruzeiro a ...

transfer fee. He made his debut for ACF Fiorentina on 29 September 2009 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 populat ...

in the group stage of the

. His assist led to Fiorentina's first goal, scored by young Montenegrin Stevan Jovetić. Fiorentina eventually won the match 2–0.

Brescia

On 31 January 2011, Zanetti signed for Brescia on a two-year contract. He retired before the conclusion of the 2011–12 Serie B season, however, after cancelling his contract with the club.

International career

Zanetti represented Italy at Under-21 level on 19 occasions, winning the

2000 UEFA European Under-21 Championship The 2000 UEFA European Under-21 Championship was the 12th staging of UEFA's European Under-21 Championship. The final tournament was hosted by Slovakia from 27 May to 4 June 2000. The tournament had 47 entrants. Northern Ireland competed for th ...

under manager

Marco Tardelli Marco Tardelli (; born 24 September 1954) is an Italian former football player and manager. At club level, he played as a midfielder for several Italian clubs; he began his career with Pisa, and later played for Como, Juventus, and Internaziona ...

; he also took part in the

in Sydney with Italy, where the team was eliminated in the quarter-finals. He subsequently played for the Italian senior national team at the

and at

. In total, he won 17 caps for the national side between 2001 and 2004, under

Giovanni Trapattoni Giovanni Trapattoni (; born 17 March 1939), sometimes popularly known as "Trap" or "Il Trap", is an Italian football manager and former player, considered the most successful club coach of Italian football. A former defensive midfielder, as a p ...

, and he scored one goal in a 2–1 friendly away win over Switzerland, on 30 April 2003.

Style of play

Zanetti has been described as a hardworking and tough tackling

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 ...

, with good vision, technique, passing ability, and a controlling influence on the midfield, and was known in particular for his ability to break down possession and subsequently start attacking plays, which also enabled him to be deployed as a

central 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 even as a deep-lying playmaker in front of the defence; he was also deployed as a left-sided offensive-minded central midfielder on occasion, known as the '' mezzala'' role in Italian football jargon. Despite his talents, he was often injury-prone throughout his career.

Managerial career

In 2013 Zanetti accepted an offer to become youth coach at Pisa, heading the ''Giovanissimi Nazionali'' (Under-16). In 2014, he became a coaching graduate and obtained a

UEFA Pro Licence UEFA, the governing body for football in Europe, mandates several coaching licences for professional managers, each valid for coaching at a certain level. These include the UEFA Pro Licence, the UEFA A Licence, and the UEFA B Licence. They are is ...

. In 2014 become youth coach at Prato.

Career statistics

Club

International

:''Scores and results list Italy's goal tally first, score column indicates score after each Zanetti goal.''

Managerial statistics

''Updated 10 April 2021''

Honours

Fiorentina *

: 1995–96 Roma *

: 2000–01 Inter Milan *Serie A: 2005–06 *Coppa Italia: 2004–05, 2005–06 * Supercoppa Italiana: 2005 Juventus *

: 2006–07 Italy U21 *

UEFA European Under-21 Championship The UEFA European Under-21 Championship, the UEFA Under-21 Championship or simply the Euro Under-21, is a biennial football competition contested by the European men's under-21 national teams of the UEFA member associations. Since 1992, the comp ...

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 ...

References

External links

*
FIGC
{{DEFAULTSORT:Zanetti, Cristiano 1977 births Living people People from Carrara Association football midfielders Italian footballers Italy international footballers Olympic footballers of Italy Italy under-21 international footballers Italy youth international footballers Footballers at the 2000 Summer Olympics 2002 FIFA World Cup players UEFA Euro 2004 players ACF Fiorentina players Venezia F.C. players A.C. Reggiana 1919 players Cagliari Calcio players Inter Milan players A.S. Roma players Juventus F.C. players Brescia Calcio players Serie A players Serie B players Sportspeople from the Province of Massa-Carrara Footballers from Tuscany