Francesco Totti
Francesco Totti is an Italian former professional footballer who played solely for Roma and the Italy national team. He was a technically gifted and creative offensive playmaker who could play as an attacking midfielder or as a forward, mainly a striker.
Totti was a one-club man, spending his entire career at Roma and winning a Serie A title, two Coppa Italia titles, and two Supercoppa Italiana titles. As a prolific goalscorer, he is the second-highest scorer of all time in Italian league history with 250 goals, and is the seventh-highest scoring Italian in all competitions with 316 goals. Totti is the top goalscorer and the most capped player in Roma's history, holds the record for the most goals scored in Serie A while playing for a single club, and also holds the record for the youngest club captain in the history of Serie A. During his career at Roma, Totti has been referred to as Er Bimbo de Oro, Er Pupone, L'Ottavo Re di Roma, L'Imperatore and Er Capitano by the Italian sports media. In 2013, the New York Times described him as a "Roman god in his game."
Totti experienced global success on the world stage winning the 2006 FIFA World Cup and appearing in the finals of UEFA Euro 2000 with Italy. Totti was selected in the All-Star team for both tournaments; he also represented his country at the 2002 World Cup and Euro 2004. In 2007 due to recurring physical problems, Totti announced his international retirement to focus solely on club play with Roma.
Regarded as one of the greatest players of his generation, and one of the greatest Italian footballers of all time, Totti won a record eleven Oscar del Calcio awards from the Italian Footballers' Association: five Serie A Italian Footballer of the Year awards, two Serie A Footballer of the Year awards, two Serie A Goal of the Year awards, one Serie A Goalscorer of the Year award, and one Serie A Young Footballer of the Year award. He also won the 2007 European Golden Shoe and the 2010 Golden Foot. Totti was selected in the European Sports Media team of the season three times. In 2004, he was named in the FIFA 100, a list of the world's greatest living players as selected by Pelé, as part of FIFA's centenary celebrations. In 2011, Totti was recognised by IFFHS as the most popular footballer in Europe. In 2015, France Football rated him as one of the ten-best footballers in the world who are over age 36. Following his retirement in 2017, Totti was awarded the Player's Career Award and the UEFA President's Award.
Early life
Totti was born in Rome to parents Lorenzo and Fiorella Totti. He was raised in the Porta Metronia neighbourhood. As a youngster he idolised ex-Roma captain Giuseppe Giannini, and regularly played football with older boys. Totti began to play youth team football in 1984, with Fortitudo, later joining Trastevere and Lodigiani. After he came to the attention of scouts, his mother refused a lucrative offer from Milan in order to keep him in his home town. Although his youth club initially had come to an agreement to sell Totti to the Lazio youth side, one of Roma's youth coaches, Gildo Giannini, persuaded his parents to let him join the Roma youth squad in 1989.Club career
Roma
1992–1997: Early seasons
After three years in the youth team, Totti made his first appearance for Roma's senior side in Serie A at the age of 16, when coach Vujadin Boškov called him up in the 2–0 away victory against Brescia on 28 March 1993. In the following season under Carlo Mazzone, Totti began to play more regularly as a second striker, and scored his first goal on 4 September 1994 in a 1–1 draw against Foggia. By 1995, Totti had become a regular in Roma's starting line-up and scored 16 goals during the next three seasons, while creating several more, as his talent was praised by his manager Mazzone.Following Mazzone's sacking in the summer of 1996 and the departure of Giannini, Totti was expected to play a more prominent role, after several promising seasons; however, the team underperformed during the 1996–97 season, while Totti struggled to gain playing time under new manager Carlos Bianchi, and was even set to leave for Sampdoria on loan in January 1997. Roma's chairman at the time however, Franco Sensi, impeded the transfer, leading to further tensions with the manager, who eventually parted ways with the club.
1997–1999: Roma's number 10 and captain
Totti's years under Zdeněk Zeman represented a period of both physical and mental maturation as a player. From a technical and tactical standpoint, he proved to be compatible on the left wing in the rigid formations of the Bohemian coach, as his new role gave him more space to take on defenders in one on one situations, and cut into the centre to shoot on goal with his stronger foot; he also became physically more powerful, fit, hard-working, and complete. He displayed a greater responsibility for the team, and was presented with the number 10 jersey. His first season under Zeman started well, with Totti taking advantage of a 4–3–3 formation and making his breakthrough with the club. He finished the league season reaching double figures in goals scored for the first time in his career; including a goal in the club's 2–0 away win against Napoli on 22 February 1998, Totti scored 13 goals in Serie A in total, and contributed to Roma's fourth place league finish that year. Although he was not called up for the 1998 FIFA World Cup by Italy manager Cesare Maldini, his consistent performances, creativity and goalscoring throughout the course of the previous Serie A season saw him being awarded the Guerin d'Oro for the 1997–98 season, given to him for having achieved the highest average rating of any Serie A player. The following season, he began to gain recognition as a club symbol and as a leader, and on 31 October 1998, Totti became the team captain. This made him the youngest Serie A club captain ever at 22, inheriting the armband from Aldair. On 29 November 1998, Totti scored the equalising goal in a 3–3 draw against cross-city rivals Lazio; this was his first ever goal in the Rome Derby. Overall, he scored 30 goals and provided 26 assists during Zeman's two-year managerial stint. For his performances, he was named the Serie A Young Footballer of the Year for the 1998–99 season.1999–2004: The ''Scudetto'' as a playmaker
In June 1999, Roma's then-president Franco Sensi sacked Zeman and signed Fabio Capello as a replacement, with the aim of winning the league title. By the 2000–01 campaign under the new coach, Roma were building a competitive team around Totti, who was by now being utilised as a creative attacking midfielder by Capello in a 3–4–1–2 formation, due to his passing skills and playmaking abilities. Totti scored in a 2–0 home win over Bologna on his season debut on 1 October 2000. On 10 December, Totti scored the match-winning goal in a 2–1 home win against Udinese, with a powerful left-footed volley to help Roma to their fifth home win of the season. He continued his goalscoring form by scoring against Napoli at home in a 3–0 victory on 28 January 2001, as Roma finished the first half of the league season in first place. Totti continued to play an important role in keeping the club at the top of the table throughout the remainder of the season, gaining a comfortable lead over rivals Juventus. On 17 June 2001, at the Stadio Olimpico, Roma beat Parma 3–1, with their three main attackers, Totti, Vincenzo Montella and Gabriel Batistuta scoring one goal each, as Roma were crowned champions of Italy for the third time in their history. Totti finished the league season with 13 goals, equalling what was at the time his personal goalscoring record in a single Serie A season.On 19 August 2001, Totti won his first Supercoppa Italiana, scoring and assisting in the 3–0 win against Fiorentina. Totti was named the Serie A Italian Footballer of the Year for both 2000 and 2001, and won the Serie A Footballer of the Year Award for the first time in his career in 2000. He received his first Ballon d'Or nomination in 2000, finishing 14th in voting, and fifth the following year. Due to his performances and leadership, Totti had established himself as a hero to the Roma fans, who were also able to identify with his background as a Rome native and lifelong supporter.
Over the following seasons, Totti played in a free role as either a forward or second striker in a 3–5–2 formation, often alongside either Batistuta or the newly acquired youngster Antonio Cassano. He scored his first hat-trick in Serie A, in a 3–2 away win over Brescia on 30 September 2002. Totti also scored the only goal in Roma's decisive 1–0 victory at the Santiago Bernabéu against Real Madrid on 30 October 2002; this was the first time in 35 years that an Italian team had won a match in Madrid. He continued his goalscoring exploits against Valencia, scoring two goals in a 3–0 win. Despite this, Roma only finished third in their Champions League group, and in eighth position in Serie A, although they managed to reach the 2003 Coppa Italia final. In the final against Milan, Totti scored three times from free kicks over both legs, but Roma lost out to Milan 6–3 on aggregate. In 2003, Totti won his second Serie A Footballer of the Year Award.
In the 2003–04 season, Totti played a key role, as Roma finished runner-up to Milan in the Scudetto race. Throughout the league season, he scored 20 goals, his best haul in Serie A up to that point, which allowed him to win his second Guerin d'Oro, as the player with the best average rating in Serie A throughout the season. Moreover, the Roma captain notably scored trademark chipped goals on two occasions throughout the season, against Brescia and Empoli.
2004–2009: Transition to striker
Despite Roma's disappointing 2004–05 season, which saw the departure of a number of players and several managerial changes, Totti maintained consistent form by scoring twelve goals in Serie A, and 15 in all competitions, among which was his 100th Serie A goal from a free kick in a 3–3 draw against Inter Milan, on 3 October 2004. Two months later, on 19 December, he became Roma's all-time leading scorer in Serie A after netting his 107th career league goal against Parma, breaking the record previously held by Roberto Pruzzo. Although Roma finished the league season in eighth place, Totti helped the team reach the 2005 Coppa Italia final; however Roma lost to Inter.Roma's new coach for the 2005–06 season, Luciano Spalletti, went with a 4–2–3–1 formation, deploying Totti in a newer, more offensive role as a lone striker. Despite his new attacking role, Totti usually dropped deep to pick up the ball in midfield rather than operating in the penalty area, thus creating space for the attacking midfielders and wingers to making offensive runs; the resulting system was later described as a 4–6–0, while Totti's particular attacking role was dubbed the "false 9". In this new position, Totti continued to score frequently, managing 15 goals in 24 league matches. In the spring of 2005, he renewed his contract until 2010, with an annual salary of €5.4 million. On 19 February 2006, he suffered a fracture of his left fibula and ligament damage during a match against Empoli, after being fouled by Richard Vanigli. Totti was at risk of missing the 2006 World Cup, but returned to the side on 11 May 2006 as a substitute in Roma's 3–1 Coppa Italia final defeat to Inter. A metal plate had been attached to his ankle during surgery, but doctors decided not to operate again and remove it following Totti's return, concurring that the plate would not affect his game. He was given off-label treatments of teriparatide to speed-up his fracture recovery.
File:Coppa Italia 2008 premiazione.jpg|thumb|Totti lifts the 2007–08 Coppa Italia trophy presented to him by President of Italy Giorgio Napolitano.|alt=
The 2006–07 season was a personal high for Totti, as he scored 26 goals in Serie A, as well as another six between the Champions League and the Coppa Italia, in addition to 15 assists in 50 games across all competitions. Despite their elimination from the Champions League by Manchester United in the quarter-finals, and a second-place finish in the league, Roma won the Coppa Italia final against league champions Inter with a 6–2 victory at home and a 2–1 defeat at the San Siro in Milan. Totti finished the season as Serie A top scorer with 26 goals, and on 17 June, he also received the ESM European Golden Shoe award as the top European goalscorer of the season. Despite being the highest active goalscorer in Serie A, he was not among the finalists for the 2007 FIFA World Player of the Year due to his absence from the national team, although he was nominated for the 2007 Ballon d'Or, finishing tenth in the voting.
On 19 August 2007, Totti contributed to Roma's 1–0 victory over Inter in the 2007 Supercoppa Italiana, winning a penalty which was subsequently converted by Daniele De Rossi. Totti scored his 200th goal for Roma in a 4–0 victory against Torino in the Coppa Italia, on 16 January 2008. He was named the Serie A Italian Footballer of the Year for the fifth time in his career on 28 January. The following month, on 24 February, he reached 386 appearances in Serie A with Roma in a match against Fiorentina, equalling the club appearance record previously held by Giacomo Losi, Roma's captain in the 1960s. He broke the record on 27 February, in the club's following league match against Inter. On 9 March, he reached his 500th overall appearance for Roma, scoring the second goal of the match from a penalty kick in a 2–0 away win over Napoli. Totti suffered a season-ending injury to his right knee during a 1–1 draw with Livorno on 19 April. Tests revealed a tear of his anterior cruciate ligament that required surgery, ruling him out for four months. Roma won their ninth Coppa Italia with a 2–1 victory over Inter on 24 May; although Totti did not play the match, he was still allowed to lift the cup as the team's captain. With this win, Totti became the most successful captain in the club's history, with five titles and ten runners-up medals.
In the 2008–09 season, Totti recovered from the previous injury, and took part in the 2008 Supercoppa Italiana final on 24 August 2008; following a 2–2 draw with Inter after extra-time, Totti missed his penalty in the resulting shootout, which allowed Javier Zanetti to win the match for Inter with the following spot-kick. On 8 November 2008, he made his 400th appearance in Serie A, in a 1–1 away draw against Bologna, scoring the opening goal of the match. Later that month, he went on to help his team beat Lazio in the Rome derby, assisting Júlio Baptista's match-winning goal. Totti's run of good form continued as he provided assists for Mirko Vučinić, and scored a lobbed goal in a 3–0 win in a league game against Lecce on 23 November, while he netted a free kick in a 3–1 away win against CFR Cluj in the Champions League later that week, on 27 November. He also scored the second goal in a 2–0 win against Bordeaux on 10 December, which ensured Roma's passage to the round of 16 of the competition as group winners. On 19 April 2009, Totti scored his 175th Serie A goal in a 3–2 home win over Lecce, overtaking Amedeo Amadei as Roma's all-time highest goalscorer; with the goal, Totti also became one of the top-ten goalscorers in Serie A history.