Fabio Grosso

Fabio Grosso

Personal information
Full name	Fabio Grosso
Date of birth	28 November 1977 (1977-11-28)
Place of birth	Rome, Italy
Height	1.90 m (6 ft 3 in)
Playing position	Left back
Club information
Current club	Juventus
Number	6
Youth career
1994–1995	Renato Curi
Senior career*
Years	Team	Apps†	(Gls)†
1995–1998	Renato Curi	57	(13)
1998–2001	Chieti	68	(8)
2001–2004	Perugia	67	(6)
2004–2006	Palermo	90	(2)
2006–2007	Internazionale	23	(2)
2007–2009	Lyon	52	(2)
2009–	Juventus	47	(2)
National team‡
2003–2009	Italy	48	(4)
* Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only and correct as of 18 September 2011. † Appearances (Goals). ‡ National team caps and goals correct as of 14 November 2009

Fabio Grosso, Ufficiale OMRI (Italian pronunciation: [ˈfabjo ˈɡrɔsso]; born 28 November 1977 in Rome, Italy) is an Italian World Cup-winning footballer who currently plays for Serie A club Juventus. Grosso is primarily a left wingback, but can also play as left back. He is also a free kick, penalty kick and corner kick specialist. He scored the decisive late first goal against Germany in the 2006 World Cup semi-final and also scored the winning penalty in the penalty shootout against France in the final that won the trophy for the Azzurri.

Club career

Renato Curi

Grosso was born in Rome, but hails from Chieti in Abruzzo, where his family soon returned. Grosso joined Renato Curi Angolana in 1994, and played in the club's youth system until 1995. He was promoted to the senior squad for the 1995–1996 season, and soon became a key part of the first team. Following the 1997–1998 season, he left the Eccellenza club, to join Calcio Chieti for an undisclosed transfer fee. Grosso made 108 official appearances for Renato Curi, scoring a very impressive 47 goals as an attacking midfielder and left winger.

Chieti

Grosso transferred to Calcio Chieti of Serie C2 in the summer of 1998. An attacking midfielder at the time, he again impressed in his three season spell with Chieti. He scored 17 goals in 68 league appearances. Following several impressive performances, he was scouted by Serie A club, Perugia Calcio in 2001, and in mid-summer, Grosso officially transferred to the club.

Perugia

He officially joined Perugia Calcio of the Serie A in July 2001, and in his debut Serie A season, Grosso managed an impressive 24 appearances with a single goal. By now he had been converted into a left wing back by coach Serse Cosmi, and in his second season in Perugia, Grosso maintained a starting position and made 30 league appearances with 4 goals. In his third season with Perugia, Grosso made just 12 appearances in the first 6 months of the 2003–04 season. To some surprise, Grosso transferred away from Perugia in January 2004, and was sold to Palermo, who, at the time, played in the Italian Serie B. During his time with Perugia, Grosso earned his first Italy cap in 2003 and has since become an integral part of the national set-up.

Palermo

In January 2004, during the winter transfer window, Grosso transferred to the Sicilian side, and they earned promotion at the conclusion to the season, and Grosso made 21 appearances for his new club in the latter portion of the 2003–2004 season, scoring 1 goal. Palermo's first season in Serie A was very successful as the club managed a very impressive 6th place finish, with just 9 losses, also qualifying for the UEFA Cup. Grosso contributed as a regular starter, making 36 league appearances, also scoring a single goal. Grosso made 33 appearances for his club, during the 2005–2006 Serie A season, and Palermo impressed, finishing a solid 8th in the league. He was one of 4 Palermo players who made Marcello Lippi's FIFA World Cup winning squad, but at the conclusion of the tournament, Grosso was sold to Internazionale.

Internazionale

Grosso joined Inter for a fee reported of €5 million plus Hernán Paolo Dellafiore on 6 July 2006. Grosso, however, was in and out of the club's starting line-up and was mostly used as a substitute. He made just 23 appearances for Inter in the league, and scored two goals. Following the disappointing season with Inter, Grosso opted to move abroad, and was sold to Olympique Lyonnais in the summer of 2007, just one year after his move to Inter.

Olympique Lyonnais

In July 2007, Grosso officially signed a four-year deal with French team Olympique Lyonnais after passing a medical and agreeing personal terms. The transfer fee was €7.5 million He was given the number 11 shirt. His first season with the club proved a successful one as he was a key part of the club's starting line-up in both the UEFA Champions League and Ligue 1. In his second season with Lyon, Grosso was limited to just 22 league appearances, partially due to injury, but was heavily linked with a move back to Italy during the 2009 summer transfer window, and in August 2009, he officially returned to Italy, with the most successful club on the peninsula, Juventus.

Juventus

On 31 August 2009 it was confirmed that Grosso had returned to Serie A following his two-year spell in France. After chasing the defender all summer long a deal was met on the final day of the transfer market at a €2 million plus bonus up to 1 million. He was instantly inserted into Juventus' starting eleven, and began the season in good form. He scored his first goal in a league game against Udinese Calcio in November 2009. He has made 28 appearances this season thus far and has scored two goals.

In 2010–11 season Juventus released several elder players, but Grosso reported refused any transfer. Paolo De Ceglie took back the starting place and Grosso was frozen from the start of season and excluded from 25-men squad for 2010–11 UEFA Europa League. However, after Juventus lost numbers of players due to injury, Grosso and Hasan Salihamidžić were recalled for the first time on 6 November.

International career

Grosso playing for Italy against Belgium

Grosso was a member of the 2006 FIFA World Cup winning team. In the Round of 16, against Australia, Lucas Neill was ruled to have fouled Grosso during stoppage time and Italy was awarded a penalty. In a 2008 interview for Fifa.com Grosso described the incident that led to the penalty: "With only a few seconds to go, Francesco (Totti) slipped a wonderful ball to me down the left. Instinctively, despite the fatigue, I forced myself to dive in the opposing box and, I swear this is true even though many people don't believe it, the Australian player would have caught me, so I went down. An easy penalty. And Totti made no mistake". However in a 2010 interview for Football+, Grosso told the magazine "It’s been a long time since 2006 but I say this with as much sincerity as I possibly can, in this instance when Neill slid in, maybe I accentuated it a little bit. However you must remember it was the last minute of an extremely difficult game and everyone was tired. I felt the contact so I went down. Therefore, I say again, I didn't initiate it … it’s true that I felt the contact and didn’t have the strength to go forward. Some people believe me and some don’t. However for me, even after seeing the video images, it’s a penalty. I admit that it wasn’t glamorous, but it wasn't a scandal.". There were reports in world media that FIFA president Sepp Blatter initially stated in an interview on Australian TV that the decision to award a penalty to Grosso was incorrect and unfortunate.

On 4 July 2006, Grosso scored the first goal against Germany in the 119th minute, with a curling left-footed strike beyond the reach of Jens Lehmann into the Germans' net from the edge of the box and famously ran around screaming "I don't believe it!" as his teammates celebrated. In the final five days later, he scored the winning penalty against France, giving Italy their fourth World Cup.

Grosso was also included in Roberto Donadoni's European Cup team in 2008 and was the first choice left back in Marcello Lippi's Azzurri squad.

He was called up to the pre-World Cup training camp along with team-mates Gianluigi Buffon, Giorgio Chiellini, Fabio Cannavaro, Nicola Legrottaglie, Mauro Camoranesi, Antonio Candreva, Claudio Marchisio and Vincenzo Iaquinta on 4–5 May and was included in the 30-men preliminary squad announced on 11 May. However in the second training camp, he was dropped along with Juventus team-mate Candreva.

International goals

#	Date	Venue	Opponent	Score	Result	Competition
1.	3 September 2005	Hampden Park, Glasgow, Scotland	Scotland	1 – 1	1 – 1	2006 FIFA World Cup Qualification
2.	7 July 2006	Westfalenstadion, Dortmund, Germany	Germany	1 – 0	2 – 0	2006 FIFA World Cup
3.	13 October 2006	Stadio Luigi Ferraris, Genoa, Italy	Georgia	2 – 0	2 – 0	UEFA Euro 2008 qualification
4.	9 September 2009	Stadio Olimpico di Torino, Turin, Italy	Bulgaria	1 – 0	2 – 0	2010 FIFA World Cup Qualification

Personal life

Fabio Grosso is married to Jessica Repetto. They have two sons: Filippo, who was born shortly after World Cup 2006, and Giacomo, who was born on 26 October 2009.

Grosso studied political science and is fluent in French.^{[citation needed]}

Honours

Clubs

Internazionale

• Serie A: 2007

• Supercoppa Italiana: 2006

Lyon

• Ligue 1: 2007–08

• Coupe de France: 2007–08

• Trophée des champions: 2007

National team

• FIFA World Cup: 2006

External links

• Fabio Grosso – FIFA competition record
• FootballDatabase.com provides Grosso's profile and stats
• ESPN Profile