Tony Dorigo

Tony Dorigo

Personal information
Full name	Anthony Robert Dorigo
Date of birth	31 December 1965 (1965-12-31)
Place of birth	Melbourne, Victoria, Australia
Height	5 ft 9 in (1.75 m)
Playing position	Defender
Senior career*
Years	Team	Apps†	(Gls)†
1983–1987	Aston Villa	111	(1)
1987–1991	Chelsea	146	(11)
1991–1997	Leeds United	171	(5)
1997–1998	Torino	30	(2)
1998–2000	Derby County	41	(1)
2000–2001	Stoke City	36	(0)
Total		535	(20)
National team
1986–1988	England U21	11	(0)
1989–1993	England	15	(0)
1989–1992	England B	7	(0)
* Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only. † Appearances (Goals).

Anthony Robert Dorigo (born 31 December 1965) is a retired Australian-born English football player who played for Aston Villa, Chelsea, Leeds United and the England national side as a left-back.

Career

Despite being born in Australia, Dorigo holds a British passport and during his playing career he represented the England team on 15 occasions. He also made 7 appearances for the England B team and 11 for the England under-21s.

He made his league debut for Aston Villa against Ipswich in 1984 as an 18 year old and would go on to win the clubs player of the year award during his time at Villa Park.

He signed for Chelsea from Aston Villa for £475,000 and he won the club's player of the year award in his first season, though they were also relegated. He helped the club win promotion back to the First Division at the first attempt. He left Chelsea in somewhat acrimonious circumstances in the summer of 1991, having made and then withdrawn a transfer request, and then seemingly fallen out with manager Bobby Campbell after being dropped from the side due to declining a new contract. He was sold to Leeds for £1.3m. He made 180 appearances for Chelsea, scoring 11 goals.

Dorigo won the First Division with Leeds in his first season at the club as well as winning the Fans Player of the Year award for the same year. He stayed with the club until 1997, when he joined Italian side Torino. At Torino he helped the side reach the promotion play-offs as well as being awarded the club's player of the year, although he missed a penalty in the play off final.

Due to financial reasons Torino were forced let him go, with Dorigo closing his career with two years at Derby County. He scored three goals during his spell at Derby, with one in the league against Nottingham Forest and two in the FA Cup against Huddersfield Town, one in the original tie and again in the replay. He spent a final season at Stoke City, where he was made club captain, before retiring in 2001 at the age of 35. In his final season he was playing in Division Two (the third tier of the English senior leagues).

He won 15 England caps and made his debut in 1989 against Yugoslavia. A year earlier he was a surprise inclusion in the squad for the European Championships as cover for Kenny Sansom, after regular deputy Stuart Pearce withdrew through injury. Dorigo was also part of the 1990 World Cup squad. He played in the third place play-off defeat to Italy, crossing for David Platt to score an equaliser for 1-1. England lost 2-1.

Since retiring he has been a football pundit with various TV and Radio networks starting with ITV Digital covering the Championship in 2001/02. He has since worked with Radio Aire covering Leeds United's Premier League campaign as well as TV punditry for Eurosport, Bravo, Channel 5, ESPN and Sky amongst others.

He appeared on the James Corden Show on the 16th June prior to the England and Germany second round match of the World Cup 2010.

His regular TV work includes La Liga, Serie A and Internationals for Al Jazeera as well as commentating for ESPN. He also commentates for Absolute Radio as part of their live Barclays Premier League coverage as well as appearing a number of times on BBC Radio 5 Live show Fighting Talk.

Career statistics

Club	Season	League		FA Cup		League Cup		Other		Total
		Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals
Aston Villa	1983–84
	1984–85
	1985–86
	1986–87
	Total	111	1	7	0	15	0	2	0	135	1
Chelsea	1987–88
	1988–89
	1989–90
	1990–91
	Total	146	11	4	0	14	0	16	1	180	12
Leeds United	1991–92
	1992–93
	1993–94
	1994–95
	1995–96
	1996–97
	Total	171	5	16	0	13	0	9	1	194	6
Torino	1997–98	30	2							30	2
	Total	30	2							30	2
Derby County	1998–99	18	1	3	2	1	0	0	0	22	3
	1999–2000	23	0	1	0	3	0	0	0	27	0
	Total	41	1	4	2	4	0	0	0	49	3
Stoke City	2000–01	36	0	1	0	3	0	1	0	41	0
	Total	36	0	1	0	3	0	1	0	41	0
Career Total		535	20	32	2	49	0	24	2	640	24

External links

• Tony Dorigo at National-Football-Teams.com