About

Alessandro Del Piero is an Italian striker who was born in Conegliano on November 9, 1974. Captain of Juventus, he has been playing for them since 1993, and currently holds an impressive list of records and awards! Main striker of the Italian National Team, he won the 2006 World Cup and was runner-up in the 2000 Euro. Today, despite his age, Del Piero is considered as one of the best player in Italian football’s history.

Background

Del Piero was born on November 9, 1974, in Conegliano, Veneto, Italy. His father, Gino Del Piero, was an electrician and his mother, Bruna Del Piero, was a housekeeper. He started playing football with his friends Nelso, Pierpaolo, and Giovanni-Paolo in his backyard, when he was around 5 years old. All of them were dreaming about football, but only Alessandro would eventually become a professional player. Stefano, Alessandro’s brother, also loved football, and even briefly played as a professional for Sampdoria before injuries ended his career. The Del Piero family lived in San Vendemiano, a small rural town. At the age of 7, he started playing for local club AC San Vendemiano as a goalkeeper, because his mother didn’t want him to be injured. But one day, his brother told their mother : Don't you see that Alex is good in the attack?" and Del Piero started playing as a striker. In 1988, Alessandro was spotted and left his home when he was 13 to join Padova’s youth centre. In 1991, he played his first professional game in Serie B, and scored his first goal in 1992. In 1993, his dreams came true. He was transferred to Juventus, and has been playing for them since then! He currently holds an impressive list of records and awards, such as the all-time top scorer for Juventus in all competitions!

Club Football

Juventus
Del Piero has been playing with Juventus since his transfer in 1993! He played his first game in Serie A in September 1993 against Foggia, and scored his first goal in his second game against Reggiana. In his third game, he scored his first hat-trick! He scored a total of 5 goals in 11 games in his first season.

In the 1994-1995 season, Del Piero started to find his mark perfectly, and started in 29 games, scoring 8 goals. That year, he won his first league title, which was also Juventus’s first one in 8 years! It was also his debut in UEFA, scoring 1 goal in 11 games and finishing runner-up of the competition!

The 1995-1996 season was very successful for him.! He scored 6 goals in 29 games, but it was not enough for him. He led his team to win the 1995 Italian Supercup and Cup of Italy. Moreover, it was his first participation in the UEFA Champions League, and he simply led his team to win it against AFC Ajax, scoring 6 goals in 11 European appearances!

In the 1996-1997 season, he did an amazing performance, wining the Italian championship and the Supercup. He also won an Intercontinental Cup and a European Supercup! In the UEFA Champions League, he scored 8 goals and was the top scorer of the competition, but Juventus lost in final 3-1 over Borussia Dortmund.

For the second year in a row, Juventus won the Scudetto (Italian championship) after Del Piero scored a record of 21 goals in 32 games! In the UEFA Champions League, he finished again top scorer with 10 goals in 10 games! However, his team lost in final 1-0 over Real Madrid. He was named Best Italian Player of 1998!

Del Piero suffered from a serious knee injury at the beginning of the 1998-1999 season, and was enable to play the rest of it. Juventus struggled, finishing at the 6th place in Serie A and didn’t win any big tournaments, except the Intertoto Cup. The next 2 seasons were really hard for Del Piero, who was trying to recover from his injury. That’s why he changed his role in the team, becoming a leader, a playmaker, improving his passing skills and his vision of the game. Or Maybe it is because he has never fully recovered…..

The next title for Alex will eventually comes during the 2001-2002 season, when Juventus won the Scudetto and the Italian Supercup. He started in 46 games and scored 21 goals, in all competitions.

Winner of the 2003 Scudetto and Italian Supercup, Juventus lost the final of the UEFA Champions League against Milan AC in a shootout session. That season, Alessandro scored 23 goals and started in 38 games, in all competitions.

Most of football experts says Del Piero was back to his best for the 2004-2005 season, when he won his 6th Scudetto. Scoring 17 goals in 41 appearances, "Il Fenomeno Vero" (the “Phenomenon”) was back. Despite his great season, his role in the team changed the next season, as he was used as a substitute for an “immediate impact", as coach Capello said. And it worked! On January 10, 2006, Del Piero became the all time best scorer for Juventus with 185 goals, after scoring a hat-trick against Fiorentina. He scored a total of 20 goals in 45 appearances during that season, and won his 7th Serie A title. However, due to the Calciopoli scandal, Juventus were relegated to Serie B and their last 2 Serie A titles were revoked! Even if, in March 2006, Del Piero said that "I want people to know me for more than being able to come off the bench to change a game", he later on announced he will stay to captain the team in Serie B, and asked other players to stay, saying “The Agnelli family deserve this, as do the fans and the new directors".

The Cup of Italy became really important for Juventus to qualified for the 2007 UEFA Cup, since they were playing in Serie B. On August 23, 2006, Alex started from the bench against Cesena and the game was locked on 1-1. In the 74th minute, Del Piero came in the match and scored the wining goal 10 seconds later! A week later, against Napoli, he entered in the 61st minute and scored twice, but the game went to penalty and Juventus lost. Juventus won the Serie B title and was back in Serie for the 2007-2008 season.

On October 16, 2007, Alessandro signed a new contract with his team that will linked him to them until 2010. Since 1993 and his debut with Juventus, Del Piero played 546 games and scored 231 goals, in all competitions, as of February 2008.

International Football

Del Piero played his first international game in March 1995 against Estonia. However, Alessandro has never been as good with Italy as he is with Juventus. His first "big" competition was the 1996 Euro, but Italy didn't qualified for the final stage of the competition. In the 1998 World Cup, Del Piero was fighting for a place in the national team against fan's favorite Roberto Baggio but didn't really get a chance to show his potentiel. The Azzuri were eliminated in the quarter-finals against France after Roberto Baggio missed to score his penalty in the shootout session. In the 2000 Euro, Del Piero scored the wining goal against Sweden and led his team to the final stage of the competition. However, Italy lost 2-1 over France in the final and Del Piero missed twice to score for the Azzuri. In the 2002 World Cup, Del Piero scored the equalizing goal in a 1-1 draw with Mexico, which was enough for the Azzuri to advance to the knockout stages. Italy will eventually lost against South Korea in the Round of 16 and were eliminated. In the 2004 Euro, Italy didn't qualified for the quarter-finals, finishing behind Sweden and Denmark in the group stage. Del Piero's first success in his national team was in the 2006 World Cup. In the semi-finals against Germany, he scored the second goal of his team in the last seconds of the game, after coming in as a substitute. In the final against France, he scored a penalty in the shootout as Italy won the tournament for the fourth time. It was Del Piero's first international title, and wining the World Cup was his childhood dream.

Del Piero earns a personal record of 91 caps with his national team, and scored 27 goals.

Awards and Honours

Juventus
Italian Serie A: 1994-95, 1996-97, 1997-98, 2001-02, 2002-03 (2004-2005, 2005-2006 : revoked due to Calciopoli scandal)
Italian Serie A: Runner Up: 1993-1994, 1995-1996, 1999-2000, 2000-2001
Italian Serie B: 2006-2007
Italian Super Cups: 1995, 1997, 2002, 2003
Italian Super Cups: Runner-Up: 1998, 2005
Cup of Italy: 1994-1995
Cup of Italy: Runner-Up: 2001-2002, 2003-2004
UEFA Champions League: 1995-1996
UEFA Champions League: Runner-Up: 1996-97, 1997-98, 2002-03
European Super Cup: 1996
Intercontinental Cup: 1996
Intertoto Cup: 1999
UEFA Cup: Runner-Up: 1995

Italy national team
UEFA European Championship 2000: Runner-up
FIFA World Cup 2006: Winner

Personal Awards

Career Statistics

M = Matches, G = Goals, A = Assists

Personal Info

Del Piero met Sonia Amoruso in 1999, and they got married in 2005. The couple gave birth to their first child name Tobias Del Piero on October 22, 2007. Cancer reaserch is really important for Del Piero, who uses his fame and money to promote that noble cause. Alessandro is not only a footballer, he is also a musician. He appeared on stage at a Rolling Stones show in Milan, and he is a fan of Oasis. He has even recorded his own album!

Wife / Girlfriend

Sonia Amoruso
Del Piero met Sonia Amoruso in 1999, and they got married in 2005. The couple gave birth to their first child name Tobias Del Piero on October 22, 2007.

Sponsors

Important Links

http://www.alessandrodelpiero.com/ http://profile.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=user.viewprofile&friendid=58605971

References

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Del_Piero http://www.footballdatabase.com/index.php?page=player&Id=6&pn=Alessandro_Del_Piero http://www.lequipe.fr/Football/FootballFicheJoueur4307.html