Francesco Graziani

Francesco "Ciccio" Graziani (; born 16 December 1952) is an Italian football manager and former football player who played as a forward.

He began his career with Arezzo in 1970, and later joined Torino in 1973, where he remained until 1981, winning a Serie A title in 1976 and the Capocannoniere title as the Serie A top goalscorer in 1977; with 122 total goals scored for Torino, he is the seventh-highest scorer in the history of the Torinese club behind Valentino Mazzola (123). He subsequently moved to Fiorentina, where he narrowly missed out on the Serie A title in his first season, and later also played for Roma between 1983 and 1986, winning two Coppa Italia titles and reaching the 1984 European Cup Final. He later spent two seasons with Udinese, before ending his career with Australian club APIA Leichhardt in 1988.

At international level with the Italy national team, they won the 1982 FIFA World Cup, and made fourth-place finishes at the 1978 FIFA World Cup and UEFA Euro 1980. With 23 official goals, he is the ninth-highest all-time scorer for the Italy national team (tied with Christian Vieri).

He is the father of , who was also a professional footballer. He considers himself Roman Catholic.

Club career

Graziani was born in Subiaco, in the province of Rome. A prolific and physical striker, he started his footballing career in Bettini Quadraro before moving to Arezzo and then to Torino in 1973. Graziani played eight seasons for Torino, making his debut in Serie A on 18 November 1973 against Sampdoria and scoring his first goal in the top flight on 16 December of that same year against Bologna. In total, Graziani scored 122 goals in 289 games for Torino, divided as follows: 221 appearances (97 goals) in the league, 45 appearances (17 goals) in the Coppa Italia and 23 appearances (8 goals) in European competition. He won the Scudetto in 1975–76. He helped Torino reach the Coppa Italia final in 1980, but was one of the players who failed to score his penalty in the resulting shoot-out defeat to Roma at the Stadio Olimpico in Rome. Graziani's final official appearance for Italy came on 29 May 1983, in a 2–0 away defeat to Sweden in a UEFA Euro 1984 qualifying match. he is ranked as the ninth-highest all-time scorer for his national team.

Style of play Graziani was a prolific and versatile forward, known for his composure in front of goal, and was capable of playing as a main striker, in a creative midfield role, or even on the wing, due to his ability to play off of his teammates. Although in his youth he was not known for being particularly skilful, he showed great technical improvements throughout his career; these characteristics, along with his determination, work-rate, eye for goal, heading accuracy, ability in the air, and physical attributes, enabled him to excel as a centre-forward.

Managerial career Graziani coached a number of teams with little fortune: he managed his former club Fiorentina during the 1989–90 season, in which they narrowly avoided relegation but reached the 1990 UEFA Cup Final, and later coached Reggina in 1990, and Avellino in 1993. In the 2001–02 season, Graziani, who was the managing director of Catania in Serie C1, was successively appointed as manager, and led the Sicilian team to a historic promotion in Serie B.

Career statistics International Scores and results list Italy's goal tally first, score column indicates score after each Baloncieri goal.

Honours

Player Torino Serie A: 1975–76 Coppa Italia: runner-up 1979–80, 1980–81

Roma Coppa Italia: 1983–84, 1985–86 European Cup: runner-up 1983–84

Italy FIFA World Cup: 1982

Individual Serie A Top scorer: 1976–77 (21 goals) Coppa Italia Top scorer: 1980–81 (5 goals) Torino FC Hall of Fame: 2017 ACF Fiorentina Hall of Fame: 2019

Manager Cervia Eccellenza: 2004–05 (Group B)