Christian Vieri

Christian Vieri
	File:Vieri.jpg
Personal information
Full name	Christian Vieri
Position(s)	Striker
Team information
Current team	U.C. Sampdoria
	‡ National team caps and goals, correct as of 2006

Christian Vieri (born 12 July 1973) is an Italian football (soccer) player, a striker who currently plays for French club AS Monaco FC and used to play for the Italian national team.

Born in Bologna, Italian, Vieri was raised in Sydney, in one of the world's largest expatriate Italian communities. He attended Prairiewood High School in western Sydney. His father Roberto Vieri played for Sydney-based club Marconi Stallions. His brother, Massimiliano Vieri, is also a professional footballer, and was an Australian international in 2004. Vieri played for Marconi Juniors when he was a child but his family soon moved back to Italy. As a result of living in Australia, Vieri has stated that his greatest sporting hero is cricketer Allan Border. He also once claimed that if he "had to do it all over again", he would be a cricketer this time.

Vieri started his playing career at Prato, a small club in Serie C1 in 1989. While there, he was spotted by Torino and played his first Serie A game the next year for the Turin team. Vieri made six appearances in the league as well as in the Coppa Italia. In November 1992, he was sold to Serie B club, Pisa, scoring two goals. Another season went by, he then moved to Ravenna in Serie B, scoring 12 goals. He was subsequently sold to Venezia in Serie B, scoring 11 times. Another move followed for the youngster, this time to Atalanta where he scored seven goals. A change of luck came when he was spotted by Juventus in the 1996/1997 season. He made 23 appearances and scored eight goals in Serie A, and six goals in ten matches in Europe.

Vieri was on the move once again, this time it was to Spain and Atlético Madrid. This is where the Vieri name became a trademark for Italian football and he formed a successful partnership in the 1998 FIFA World Cup with Roberto Baggio. Amazingly, he scored a total of 24 goals in 24 appearances for Atlético, five goals from seven appearances in Europe which led him to the become the Spanish top scorer.

After the World Cup, he moved to Lazio, where he was outstanding in his first season, scoring 12 goals in Serie A and one in Europe, winning the Cup Winners' Cup. But it all changed when Vieri was spotted by Inter Milan and its chairman Massimo Moratti. Vieri move to Inter Milan was for a (then) world record transfer fee.

Vieri played for Inter Milan from 1999 to 2005. In 2003, he led Serie A in scoring with 24 goals. As of the end of 2004, he has scored 22 goals in 43 matches for Italy and played for his country at the 1998 and 2002 FIFA World Cup (he scored five in 1998 and four in 2002), as well as Template:Ec2. Vieri is still considered as Italy's greatest striker over the past decade, and is one of Italy's most prolific World Cup goalscorers. He was named by Pelé as one of the 125 greatest living footballers in March 2004.

In July 2005, both Vieri and Inter Milan came to a mutual agreement to terminate his contract with the club. He was then signed by cross-town rivals AC Milan, but left the rossoneri - where he was not a regular starter - after just six months, joining French side AS Monaco in order to play regularly and gain a place for the 2006 FIFA World Cup.

Recently after arriving at Monaco, he lost considerable form and was prone to injury. This has taken him out of contention for a place at the 2006 World Cup.

Vieri missed out of the World Cup 2006 with a foot injury, in which Italy went to the Finals.

On July 6, 2006, Vieri agreed to a one year deal with UC Sampdoria of Serie A.

Trivia

As well as being left-footed, Christian Vieri is left-handed.His favorite food was never italian, but chinese.

External links