Luca Bucci

Luca Bucci

Personal information
Date of birth	March 13, 1969 (1969-03-13)
Place of birth	Bologna, Italy
Height	1.80 m (5 ft 11 in)
Playing position	Goalkeeper (retired)
Youth career
1984–1986	Parma
Senior career*
Years	Team	Apps†	(Gls)†
1986–1987	Parma	1	(0)
1987	Pro Patria	1	(0)
1987–1988	Rimini	1	(0)
1988–1990	Parma	4	(0)
1990–1992	Casertana	67	(0)
1992–1993	Reggiana	36	(0)
1993–1997	Parma	95	(0)
1997	Perugia	17	(0)
1997–2003	Torino	160	(0)
2003–2004	Empoli	17	(0)
2005–2008	Parma	81	(0)
2009	Napoli	1	(0)
National team‡
1994–1995	Italy	3	(0)
* Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only and correct as of April 30, 2009. † Appearances (Goals). ‡ National team caps and goals correct as of April 30, 2009

Luca Bucci (born March 13, 1969 in Bologna) is a retired Italian football goalkeeper.

Club career

After a few years in the third and second levels, Bucci made his Serie A debut playing for Parma F.C., in a league match against Udinese Calcio on August 29, 1993. At Parma, however, Bucci was soon overtaken by 17-year-old Primavera keeper Gianluigi Buffon, and he then decided to leave the team in order to play more regularly.

After playing six months for Perugia Calcio, Bucci joined second division's Torino F.C. in 1997, remaining with the granata for six seasons, when his contract expired. He then decided to join Empoli F.C.. However, he only managed to play in half of the games, as the club were eventually relegated, with Bucci leaving at the season's end.

After six months of inactivity, Bucci moved back to Parma in January 2005 to replace Gianluca Berti who left for Torino F.C., initially as a reserve goalkeeper. He was the first choice after the left of Sébastien Frey, ahead Cristiano Lupatelli and Matteo Guardalben in 2005-06 season, Alfonso De Lucia and Fabio Virgili in 2006–07 season, Nicola Pavarini and Radek Petr in 2007-08 season. After Parma relegated, he was released.

He left Parma in June 2008 as a free agent and, after another seven months without football, he joined S.S.C. Napoli, following an injury crisis that hit the club. He made his debut with Napoli on April 19, in a 2–0 away loss to Cagliari, becoming the fifth goalkeeper to be used by the azzurri in the 2008–09 season (the other four being Gennaro Iezzo, Nicolás Navarro, Matteo Gianello and Luigi Sepe).

After the season, he decided to retire and became one of the youth team goalkeeper coach of Parma.

International career

Uncapped, Bucci was called by Italy for the 1994 FIFA World Cup in the United States. He would make his full debut on December 21 of that year, appearing in a 3-1 friendly win over Turkey.

External links

• National team data (Italian)
• Gazzetta profile (Italian)