Gianfranco Zola

Gianfranco Zola ( born July 5, 1966 in Oliena, Sardinia ) is a retired Italian footballer and current coach. Most recently, he coached the English second division side FC Watford.

Gianfranco Zola was forward and active mainly as a Attacking Allrounder. His technique was considered to be his greatest strength.

  • 3.1 As a player
  • 3.2 Individual

Career as a player

Association

Zola signed his first professional contract in 1984 with Nuorese Calcio (Nuoro, Sardinia ) in the Serie C2. There he came in his first year to seven games and scored one goal. The following season Zola came to more bets and won through. At the Club from Nuoro he remained for two years before he moved to the ASD Torres Calcio (Sassari, Sardinia ) in 1987. There he became performers and regulars and rose with the club in 1987 to Serie C1. He achieved fame for his signing of the contract with the Serie A club SSC Napoli. There Zola should be built from 1989 to succeed Diego Maradona, who played until 1991 at the SSC. In the first year, the then youngster was used seven times. In 1990, he won the Italian championship with the Partenopei. It was Zola's first major title at the national level. The following year, the Supercoppa Italiana was recovered, and Zola made ​​the breakthrough in Italy's highest class. In 1993 he moved to the emerging AC Parma, where he experienced arguably the best time of his career. With the yellow and blues of good technicians won the UEFA Awards 1994 / 95th

In the current tournament the team teams like Vitesse Arnhem, Athletic Bilbao and Bayer 04 Leverkusen turned off. In purely Italian final on 3 May 1995 at the Stadio Ennio Tardini the domestic Gialloblu Juventus defeated 1-0. The same year she finished second in the league and reached the Italian Cup final. In the two national competitions, they were each defeated by the Juve. After Carlo Ancelotti had become 1996 's new coach of Parma, he had no more use for Zola and wanted to sell him. So it happened that at Chelsea, he moved to England where he became one of the most popular players in the club. The transfer was only in November, so not even the beginning of the season, performed. In London Zola met the player-manager Ruud Gullit. His debut in the Premier League gave the striker against Tottenham Hotspur. He quickly adapted itself to the new way of playing, and excited by good performances and goals attention. In the FA Cup Zola played a key role and led the team into the final against Middlesbrough FC. This final was won 2-0. At the end of the first season in London, he was chosen by the journalists to England's Footballer of the Year. He was the first player to win this title, to have played without a full year in England, and also the first Chelsea player was awarded the honor this.

In the 1997/98 season he helped the Blues to win three more titles, the League Cup, the European Cup Winners' Cup and the European Super Cup. An injury prevented him to be in the starting lineup of the team in the final of the Cup Winners' Cup. However, he came off the bench in the second half of the game, scoring only 21 seconds for the winning goal. Also known as Chelsea 1999/ 00 which qualified for the first time for the UEFA Champions League, Zola was an important part of the team. So he secured with three goals in the group stage of the way into the quarter- finals of the competition. However, his appearances in the league reduced by the applied of new coach Gianluca Vialli rotation principle. In the 2000 final of the FA Cup, he gave a free-kick by Roberto Di Matteo's the template for goals in a 1-0 win over Aston Villa. After in 2000 the striker Eidur Gudjohnsen and Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink had been committed by the Pensioners to Zola's use of time more and more limited.

But in the season 2002 /03, there was again a renaissance in the career of dribbling player, as he was able to achieve 16 league matches, as many hits as in any other season for Londoners. He was then elected by the fans player of the year. This season should be his last for Chelsea. His last game for the Blues Zola completed on the final day in 2002/ 03, when he was a 20 -minute appearance against Liverpool. 2003 thanked his fans its good performance with the fact that he was chosen by them for the Chelsea player of the century. In November 2004 he was awarded for his achievements in the English league in the Order of the British Empire. In a total of 312 games the striker scored 80 goals for Chelsea. Zola's jersey with the number 25 has been awarded since his leaving to no other players.

His career ended Gianfranco Zola in his native Sardinia Cagliari Calcio, where he rose in 2004 to Serie A and then played a year there. In June 2005, he took his leave then finally from active professional football. His jersey number 10 was not awarded in the coming year. It was not until the 2006/07 season it was Andrea Capone.

National

To his distinguished time at Napoli Zola was appointed in 1991 for the first time for the Italian national football team. Under the former national team coach Arrigo Sacchi, the striker then gave in November against the selection of Norway made ​​his debut for the colors of his country.

For the World Cup 1994 he was nominated and came to a use in the second round against Nigeria, where he was sent off after just a few minutes. Italy reached the final, where they lost on penalties to Brazil.

At the European Championships in England in 1996, he completed all three group games. In the last game against Germany Zola missed a penalty in a 0-0 draw. This meant the end for Italy.

Although he was still playing in qualifying for the 1998 World Cup for Italy, he was no longer considered for the squad of the World Cup. His last game made ​​the striker in October 1997 against England, his last goal in the first leg against England in a 1-0 victory in February of the same year.

Gianfranco Zola played 35 times for the Italian national football team, scoring ten goals.

Career as a coach

From 2006 to September 2008, trained with Pierluigi Casiraghi Gianfranco Zola, whom he had already met Chelsea times, the Italian U-21 national team. The duo also led the Italian selection at the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing, where they reached the quarter-finals and go out there 2:3 defeated the Belgian team had.

On 9 September 2008 Zola signed with English club West Ham United as a successor to Alan Curbishley a three -year contract and officially joined on 11 September 2008 at his office. After the qualification had been missed for the European Cup at the end of the first season for English club as a table Ninth barely, he played with the team the following year against relegation. Although as the 17th of the final ranking, the class was held, the club released him shortly after the season.

On 7 July 2012, the English second division side Watford FC announced the signing of Zola. The Football League Championship 2012/13 he finished with his team in third place. After a play-off win over Leicester City Watford reached the finals, but failed there in Wembley 0-1 after extra time at Crystal Palace. After a false start in the subsequent season Zola became effective on December 16, 2013 from his post.

Achievements

As a player

  • Italian Champion 1989/1990 with Napoli
  • Italian Supercup in 1990 with Napoli
  • Italian Cup Winners' Cup in 1995 with Parma
  • UEFA Cup winner in 1995 with Parma
  • UEFA Super Cup winner in 1993 with Parma in 1998 with Chelsea FC
  • English Cup Winners 1997, 2000 with Chelsea FC
  • League Cup in 1998 with Chelsea FC
  • Community Shield 2000 Chelsea FC
  • European Cup Winners Cup Winners' Cup in 1998 with Chelsea FC
  • Vice World Champion 1994 Italy

Individual

  • England's Footballer of the Year (journalists selection): 1997
  • Chelsea Player of the Year: 1999, 2003

Others

On July 14, 2007 Zola laced his boots again for a game of A-line Allstars against Shrewsbury Town. This game was part of a sponsorship agreement between A-line and Shrewsbury. It was the same time the first game was played in New Meadowlands Stadium. Not only Zola, but his whole school class that was staying at the time on a school trip in England, played in Bonnie Tyler's surrealistic video of their hit "Total Eclipse of the Heart" with. Towards the end of the music video sang Zola, but only by playback.

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