Pierluigi Casiraghi (; born 4 March 1969) is an Italian 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 ...

coach and former player who played as a striker. Casiraghi began his playing career in Italy in 1985, with

Monza Monza (, ; lmo, label= Lombard, Monça, locally ; lat, Modoetia) is a city and ''comune'' on the River Lambro, a tributary of the Po in the Lombardy region of Italy, about north-northeast of Milan. It is the capital of the Province of Mo ...

. He later played for

Juventus Juventus Football Club (from la, iuventūs, 'youth'; ), colloquially known as Juve (), is a professional football club based in Turin, Piedmont, Italy, that competes in the Serie A, the top tier of the Italian football league system. Founded in ...

, and

Lazio it, Laziale , population_note = , population_blank1_title = , population_blank1 = , demographics_type1 = , demographics1_footnotes = , demographics1_title1 = , demographics1_info1 = , demographics1_title2 ...

, before ending his career with Chelsea in the

Premier League The Premier League (legal name: The Football Association Premier League Limited) is the highest level of the men's English football league system. Contested by 20 clubs, it operates on a system of promotion and relegation with the English Fo ...

. He retired after failing to recover from a

cruciate ligament Cruciate ligaments (also cruciform ligaments) are pairs of ligaments arranged like a letter X. They occur in several joints of the body, such as the knee joint and the atlanto-axial joint. In a fashion similar to the cords in a toy Jacob's la ...

injury sustained in 1998. Casiraghi was a member of 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 b ...

that reached the 1994 FIFA World Cup Final, and was also a member of Italy's

UEFA Euro 1996 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 ...

squad. After retiring, he began his managerial career in 2002, first with the Monza youth side, later also coaching

Legnano Legnano (; or ''Lignàn'') is an Italian town and ''comune'' in the north-westernmost part of the Metropolitan City of Milan, Province of Milan, about from central Milan. With 60,259, it is the thirteenth-most populous township in Lombardy. Le ...

, and the Italy U-21 side. In 2014, he worked as an assistant manager for

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 ...

. Casiraghi was Gianfranco Zola's assistant manager at

Birmingham City Birmingham City Football Club is a professional football club based in Birmingham, England. Formed in 1875 as Small Heath Alliance, it was renamed Small Heath in 1888, Birmingham in 1905, and Birmingham City in 1943. Since 2011, the first te ...

until Zola's resignation in 2017.

Club career

Italy

Casiraghi was born in

, Lombardy, and began his career with his hometown side, AC Monza, in 1985. The side were relegated to

Serie C The Serie C () is the third-highest division in the Italian football league system after the Serie B and Serie A. The Lega Italiana Calcio Professionistico (Lega Pro) is the governing body that runs the Serie C. The unification of the Lega P ...

in his first season, but he helped them achieve promotion back to

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 ...

in 1988. He moved to

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 ...

giants

in 1989, having scored 28 goals in 94 games for Monza. His goalscoring record in

Turin Turin ( , Piedmontese language, 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 ...

was modest, achieving a best tally of 8 goals in 24 appearances in the 1990–91 season and a total of 20 in 98 games for the club. While at Juventus, he helped the side win two

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 solids for pouring (e.g., sugar, flour, grains, salt). Cups may be made of glass, metal, china, clay ...

s (in 1990 and 1993) and one

Italian Cup 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 It ...

, also in

1990 File:1990 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The 1990 FIFA World Cup is played in Italy; The Human Genome Project is launched; Voyager I takes the famous Pale Blue Dot image- speaking on the fragility of humanity on Earth, astrophysicis ...

. He scored in the first leg of the 1990 UEFA Cup Final to help the Turin club defeat rivals

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 ...

. He earned his first international cap 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 ...

during his spell with Juventus. He signed for

in 1993 and scored 41 goals in a five-year spell. His most successful season was in 1996–97, when he scored 14 goals in 28 Serie A games. With Lazio, he won another Italian Cup, in 1998. He found his opportunities limited in his final season, with manager

Sven-Göran Eriksson Sven-Göran Eriksson (; born 5 February 1948) is a Swedish football manager and former player. After an unassuming playing career as a right-back, Eriksson went on to experience major success in club management between 1977 and 2001, winning 18 ...

preferring Alen Bokšić and

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 Sam ...

in attack and sought a move away.

Chelsea

Casiraghi joined English side Chelsea in May 1998 for £5.4 million. His time in west London proved luckless, and ultimately only scored one competitive goal for the club in ten appearances, which came against

Liverpool Liverpool is a City status in the United Kingdom, city and metropolitan borough in Merseyside, England. With a population of in 2019, it is the List of English districts by population, 10th largest English district by population and its E ...

in a 1–1 draw at

Anfield Anfield is a football stadium in Anfield, Liverpool, Merseyside, England, which has a seating capacity of 53,394, making it the seventh largest football stadium in England. It has been the home of Liverpool F.C. since their formation in 1892 ...

. His Chelsea career was cut short by a

injury sustained during a collision with

West Ham West Ham is an area in East London, located east of Charing Cross in the west of the modern London Borough of Newham. The area, which lies immediately to the north of the River Thames and east of the River Lea, was originally an ancient ...

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 ...

Shaka Hislop in November 1998. Despite going through ten operations, he was unable to make a comeback and his contract with the club was terminated in July 2000, with Chelsea receiving an insurance payout. Casiraghi criticised the club for not helping him, and in August 2000 Casiraghi explored legal action against Chelsea for unpaid wages after his contract was terminated early.

International career

As an Italian international, Casiraghi won 7 caps, scoring 1 goal, for the

Italy national under-21 football team The Italy national under-21 football team is the national under-21 football team of Italy and is controlled by the Italian Football Federation. The team competes in the UEFA European Under-21 Championship, held every two years. Italy (along w ...

between 1988 and 1990, and 44 caps, scoring 13 goals, for the Italy senior side between 1991 and 1998. He made his senior international debut on 13 February 1991, in a 1–0 win against

Belgium Belgium, ; french: Belgique ; german: Belgien officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a country in Northwestern Europe. The country is bordered by the Netherlands to the north, Germany to the east, Luxembourg to the southeast, France to ...

, scoring his first goal for Italy in a 4–0 win over

San Marino San Marino (, ), officially the Republic of San Marino ( it, Repubblica di San Marino; ), also known as the Most Serene Republic of San Marino ( it, Serenissima Repubblica di San Marino, links=no), is the fifth-smallest country in the world an ...

on 19 February 1992. He was a member of the Italy squad that reached the

final Final, Finals or The Final may refer to: *Final (competition), the last or championship round of a sporting competition, match, game, or other contest which decides a winner for an event ** Another term for playoffs, describing a sequence of con ...

of USA 94 under manager

Arrigo Sacchi Arrigo Sacchi (born 1 April 1946) is an Italian former professional football coach. He has twice managed AC Milan (1987–1991, 1996–1997), with great success. He won the Serie A title in his 1987–88 debut season and then dominated European ...

, playing in the group games against

Norway Norway, officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic countries, Nordic country in Northern Europe, the mainland territory of which comprises the western and northernmost portion of the Scandinavian Peninsula. The remote Arctic island of ...

and

Mexico Mexico (Spanish language, Spanish: México), officially the United Mexican States, is a List of sovereign states, country in the southern portion of North America. It is borders of Mexico, bordered to the north by the United States; to the so ...

and the semi-final against

Bulgaria Bulgaria (; bg, България, Bǎlgariya), officially the Republic of Bulgaria,, ) is a country in Southeast Europe. It is situated on the eastern flank of the Balkans, and is bordered by Romania to the north, Serbia and North Macedo ...

. He was also a member of the Italy side 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 ...

, scoring both goals in a 2–1 win 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-ei ...

, but was guilty of missing a late chance against the

Czech Republic The Czech Republic, or simply Czechia, is a landlocked country in Central Europe. Historically known as Bohemia, it is bordered by Austria to the south, Germany to the west, Poland to the northeast, and Slovakia to the southeast. The ...

that could have proved vital to the group standings, and as such the side was knocked out in the first round. Despite sealing Italy's qualification for the

1998 World Cup The 1998 FIFA World Cup was the 16th FIFA World Cup, the football world championship for men's national teams. The finals tournament was held in France from 10 June to 12 July 1998. The country was chosen as the host nation by FIFA for the ...

with the only goal in the second leg play-off against

to advance 2–1 on aggregate on 15 November 1997, he failed to make the squad for the final tournament under

Cesare Maldini Cesare Maldini (; 5 February 1932 – 3 April 2016) was an Italian professional football manager and player who played as a defender. Father to Paolo Maldini and grandfather to Daniel Maldini, Cesare began his career with Italian side Tries ...

Style of play

Although he was primarily deployed as a

centre-forward Forwards (also known as attackers) are outfield positions in an association football team who play the furthest up the pitch and are therefore most responsible for scoring goals as well as assisting them. As with any attacking player, the role ...

, Casiraghi was an athletic player, who was also capable of playing anywhere along the

front line A front line (alternatively front-line or frontline) in military terminology is the position(s) closest to the area of conflict of an armed force's personnel and equipment, usually referring to land forces. When a front (an intentional or unin ...

, due to his versatility. Throughout his career, he became renowned for his ability in the air, and for having a penchant for scoring acrobatic goals as a striker. Although he was not particularly skilful from a technical standpoint, he was a strong, hardworking, and prolific forward, with good movement off the ball, who often utilised his physical strength to hold up the ball with his back to goal in order to open up defences, and was also capable of creating space for his teammates with his attacking runs, which in turn enabled him to provide them with assists.

Managerial career

Casiraghi became manager of Italian

Serie C2 Lega Pro Seconda Divisione was the fourth highest football league in Italy, the lowest with a professional status. Usually it consisted of 36 teams, but in the 2011–12 season, there were 41 teams divided geographically into two divisions of 2 ...

side

A.C. Legnano Associazione Calcio Dilettantistica Legnano, commonly referred to as Legnano, is an Italian football club based in Legnano, Lombardy. Founded in 1913, Legnano played three seasons in Serie A and a total of eleven seasons in the top tier of the It ...

in May 2003. On 24 July 2006, he was appointed joint coach of the Italian Under-21 national team alongside former Chelsea teammate Gianfranco Zola, succeeding Claudio Gentile. In his coaching tenure, Casiraghi led the ''Azzurrini'' into the 2007 UEFA European Under-21 Football Championship, ending in fifth place after having eliminated Spain U-21 in the qualifying phase. He was successively confirmed for the

2008 Olympic Games The 2008 Summer Olympics (), officially the Games of the XXIX Olympiad () and also known as Beijing 2008 (), were an international multisport event held from 8 to 24 August 2008, in Beijing, China. A total of 10,942 athletes from 204 Nat ...

campaign, which ended in the quarter-finals with a 3–2 loss to

. He also helped the Italian youth side to win the

2008 Toulon tournament The 2008 Toulon Tournament was the 36th edition of the Toulon Tournament, and was held from 20 May to 29 May 2008. Tournament finished with the final between Italy and Chile at Stade Mayol in Toulon as Italy had the title after the final score ...

. In the 2009 UEFA European Under-21 Football Championship, his side, having lost several key players through injury and suspension, narrowly lost 1–0 to Germany in the semi-finals. In December 2016, he joined

EFL Championship The English Football League Championship (often referred to as the Championship for short or the Sky Bet Championship for sponsorship purposes) is the highest division of the English Football League (EFL) and second-highest overall in the E ...

club

, again reuniting with Gianfranco Zola, as he done at Al-Arabi in Qatar.

Career statistics

Club

*¹ Including 1 match in 1990 Supercoppa Italiana. *² Including 1 match in 1998 UEFA Super Cup.

International

:Source:

Honours

Club

Monza *

Coppa Italia Serie C Coppa Italia Serie C ( it, Serie C Italian Cup), formerly named Coppa Italia Lega Pro, is a straight knock-out based competition involving teams from Serie C in Italian football first held in 1972. Format There are a total of six rounds in the ...

: 1987–88 Juventus *

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 ...

: 1989–90 *

: 1989–90, 1992–93 *

Supercoppa Italiana The Supercoppa Italiana ( en, Italian Super Cup) is an annual association football, 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 ...

runner-up:

Lazio *Coppa Italia: 1997–98 Chelsea *

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 ...

: 1998

International

Italy *

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 has ...

1994 File:1994 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The 1994 Winter Olympics are held in Lillehammer, Norway; The Kaiser Permanente building after the 1994 Northridge earthquake; A model of the MS Estonia, which sank in the Baltic Sea; Nels ...

(runners-up)

References

External links

FIGC Profile
{{DEFAULTSORT:Casiraghi, Pierluigi 1969 births Living people People from Brianza Sportspeople from Monza Association football forwards Italian footballers Italy international footballers Italy under-21 international footballers Italian football managers A.C. Monza players Chelsea F.C. players Juventus F.C. players S.S. Lazio players Serie A players Serie B players Premier League players A.C. Legnano managers 1994 FIFA World Cup players UEFA Euro 1996 players Italian expatriate footballers Expatriate footballers in England Italian expatriate sportspeople in England Birmingham City F.C. non-playing staff UEFA Cup winning players Footballers from Lombardy