Francesco Totti

About Francesco Totti

Francesco Totti was born in the very city he has played with his entire life, Rome, Italy on September 27, 1975. He was raised in a small neighborhood, Porta Metronia where he enjoyed playing soccer with neighborhood boys. He loved AS Roma his home team, and their captain Giuseppe Giannini. His career began when he joined the youth squad of Roma in 1989, at 14 years old.

Club Football

AS Roma
Roma bred Totti from a young age, and knew his natural talent was a diamond in the rough. After three years of experience with the youth team, he joined Roma’s A team at only 16. In March 1993 he played his first game against Brescia Calcio under Roma head coach, Vujadin Boskov. As he grew as a player becoming more comfortable with higher competition, his playing time increased. On September 24, 1994 in a Serie A match against Foggia Calcio, Totti scored his first goal leaving the game a 1-1 tie. Totti became one of the most recognizable faces in Serie A soccer, and was a permanent name on the starting roster after his 1994 season. By 1997, with 16 goals under his belt for the club, Totti was given the captain band. During the 1997-98 an 1998-99 seasons Totti scored 30 goals, under the game plan of manager Zdenek Zeman where he would strike from the left side, as a forward. It was during this amazing goal stints that he was given the Serie A Young Footballer of the year award.
In 2000 Fabio Capello, the well renowned coach took over the Roma squad. He found Totti’s skill vital to the success of Roma, and altered his attack mode to fit that. He began playing with a deep lying forward. Using what is called trequartista, in the Italian game, Tottle became somewhat of a floater between midfield and forwards. It gave Totti the opportunity to control the forwards with his passing and laying off skill and score goals himself. It was these new tactics that won Roma the Scudetto in June 2001 taking the top spot in Serie A. Then Roma won the Italian Super Cup in a 3-0 victory against Fiorentina where Totti scored one of the three goals. After the victories, Roma went into celebration and Totti, a roman native, became a superstar. He was given the Italian Football Player of the year award in 2001 and 2002. In 2003, Roma almost took the Scudetto again, as runner up in Serie A against A.C. Milan. Totti scored more goals than he had in any other season putting 20 goals in the net. This resulted in his third honor as Italian Footballer of the Year. The formation on the field had changed, as Totti was one of two strikers in a 3-5-2 formation.
2004 did not prove to be one to remember for Roma. Totti did score 15 goals, one of which gave him his 100th Serie A goal on October 3, 2004. Roma did lose Capello as he took a coaching position for Juventus, and struggled to find a strong replacement, going through four coaches within one season. Roma dropped down to eighth place in Serie A. Totti on the other hand broke Roma’s all time leading scorer record with his 107th goal against Parma, taking the record from Roberto Pruzzo.
In no time, the field formation for Roma had changed yet again, and this time Totti was not the last offensive man. With the Luciano Spalletti coaching the 2005 season they played in a 4-2-3-1 formation. Totti would now be responsible for creating space for his fellow midfielders. The formation proved to be successful as Roma won 11 consecutive games, and Totti scored 15 goals. It was during this season that Totti was fouled by Empoli’s Richard Vanigli and he fractured his left fibula. Surgery to repair the break, left Totti with a metal plate attached to his ankle, but Totti proved it did not affect his play. After much recovery he returned in March, in the finals of Coppa Italia where Roma lost to take Inter 3-1. Totti recovered well from the injury in the following season scoring 26 goals, the most in Serie A for the 2006-2007 season. Roma was runner up in Serie A behind Inter. Totti received the ESM European Golden Boot for all of Europe as top goal scorer. Roma was also able to show scudetto winners, Inter they were not giving up, by winning the Coppa Italia 2007. 2008 proved to be quite the achievement for Totti, when on January 16, he scored his 200th Serie A goal. With this success, the Italian Footballer of the Year award once again fell into Totti’s hands. After 15 seasons with Roma, he still holds up his hometown team.

International Football

Italy
With a career starting in October 10, 1998 in a Euro 2000 qualifying match against Switzerland with the Under 18 Italian squad. Totti received huge recognition being names man of the final match of Euro 2000, in a loss agaist France. His time with the Under 18 and Under 21 squad ended when he was moved up to the Italian National Team’s A squad for the 2002 FIFA World Cup. The 2002 World Cup proved to be a blow for the Italian National Team. Italy did not make it past the second round and Totti received two yellow cards in a second round match versus South Korea, where he was removed from the game. Totti ran into some scandal during June 14 match at the Euro Cup 2004. A frustrated Totti spit on Denmark player, Christian Poulsen. The game ended in a 0-0 tie and Totti’s play ended as he was banned from all games until the semifinals. Italy’s play ended in the first round, as they were eliminated from the Cup.

FIFA 2006 World Cup Champions
A fractured Fibula from the 2006 Roma Season left Totti in less than superb shape for the World Cup. None the less, Totti played many minutes in the cup and scored a penalty kick against Australia, for a 1-0 victory for Italy. Italy’s performance’s were full of strength, and the team found themselves at the forefront of the Final match against France. Totti started the game, but was substituted in the 61st minute. With a 1-1 tie at the end of 90 minutes and a scoreless over time, the game ended with Penalty kicks, where Italy were victorious over France. Totti was recognized, by being chosen in the 23 man Mastercard All Star Team.

International Goals

Awards and Honours

Personal Awards

Career Statistics

M = Matches, G = Goals, A = Assists

Personal Info

Ilary Blasi

Ilary Blasi is Francesco Totti's wife. She is a smoking hot model and poses for advertisers and fashion magazines.

Sponsors

Important Links

References