Totti is currently the top active Serie A goalscorer, and [[Football records in Italy#Goalscoring|joint-seventh all-time]] in league history (along with [[Giuseppe Signori]]) with 188 goals.<ref>[http://www.uefa.com/footballeurope/news/kind=2/newsid=822105.html Totti fires his way into Serie A top ten]</ref>
Totti is currently the top active Serie A goalscorer, and [[Football records in Italy#Goalscoring|joint-seventh all-time]] in league history (along with [[Giuseppe Signori]]) with 188 goals.<ref>[http://www.uefa.com/footballeurope/news/kind=2/newsid=822105.html Totti fires his way into Serie A top ten]</ref>
Totti also likes singing "Pray" by Take That in the shower.
Totti also likes singing "Pray" by Take That in the shower.
Early career
Totti was born and raised in Rome's Porta Metronia neighborhood. He idolized ex-Roma captain Giuseppe Giannini, and regularly played football with older boys. His mother refused a lucrative offer from AC Milan to remain in his hometown[9], and he joined the Roma youth squad in 1989.
Club career
Early seasons
After three years on the youth team, Totti made his first appearance for Roma's senior side at the age of sixteen, when coach Vujadin Boškov let him play in the 2-0 away victory against Brescia on 28 March 1993. In the following seasons, he began to play more games, and thus he succeeded in scoring his first goal on September 24, 1994 in a 1-1 draw against Foggia. By 1995, Totti had become a regular in the starting eleven and scored 16 goals in the next three seasons. When he assumed the team captaincy in 1997, he began to gain recognition as a club symbol. Manager Zdeněk Zeman played with an offensive 4–3–3 formation, in which Totti was the left winger. Totti scored 30 goals during Zeman's two-year managerial stint.
By the 2000-01 campaign, Roma, then helmed by Fabio Capello, was building a competitive team around Totti, who had started to play as trequartista to take advantage of his passing skills, in addition to scoring thirteen goals. On 17 June 2001, he won Scudetto, and scored one goal in a 3-0 Supercoppa Italiana victory against Fiorentina.
Totti was named the Italian Footballer of the Year for 2000 and 2001, and received his first Ballon d'Or nomination, finishing fifth in the voting.[10] He had also become a widely recognized idol of the supporters, who were able to identify with him due to his being a lifelong Roma supporter and a Rome native, in addition to his prowess on the pitch.
In the following years, Totti played as second striker as part of a 3–5–2 formation, and scored a career-high twenty goals in the 2003-04 season as Roma finished runners-up to Milan in the Scudetto race, in addition to picking up his second consecutive Italian Footballer of the Year award. Despite a disappointing 2004-05 season that saw Capello leave for Juventus and Roma slip to eighth place while making four coaching changes during the course of the season, Totti maintained his consistent offensive output by scoring fifteen goals, among them his 100th Serie A goal against Internazionale on October 3, 2004. Two months later, on 19 December, he became Roma's all-time leading scorer after netting his 107th career goal against Parma, breaking the record previously held by Roberto Pruzzo.
As a striker with Spalletti
Francesco Totti during the 2006-07 season.
Roma's new coach for the 2005-06 season, Luciano Spalletti, went with a 4–2–3–1 formation, during which Totti would not remain forward waiting for crosses or passes, instead going back to take the ball, and thus creating spaces for the attacking midfielders. In this new position, Totti began to score more frequently than the past and scored 15 goals in 24 matches, during which the team won 11 consecutive games.
On 19 February 2006, Totti suffered a fracture of his left fibula and ligament damage during a match against Empoli after being fouled by Richard Vanigli. Totti risked 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 Internazionale. 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, after concurring that it would not affect his gameplay.[11]
The 2006-07 season was a personal high for Totti, as he finished as Serie A's top scorer with 26 goals as Roma finished runners-up to Inter but exacted revenge on the Nerazzurri as they took home the 2007 Coppa Italia. Totti also was the recipient of the ESMEuropean Golden Shoe award as the top European goalscorer. Despite being the highest active goalscorer in Serie A, he was not among the finalists for the 2007 FIFA World Player of the Year[12] due to his national team absence, though he was nominated for the 2007 Ballon d'Or, finishing tenth in the voting.
Francesco Totti during the 2008-09 season.
Totti scored his 200th goal with Roma in a 4-0 Coppa Italia win over Torino on 16 January 2008. He was named the Italian Footballer of the Year for the fifth time in his career on 28 January. He 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 ACL that required surgery, making him miss up to four months.[13]
Roma won their ninth Coppa Italia with a 2-1 victory over Internazionale on 24 May. Though Totti did not play, he was still allowed to lift the cup as the team's captain. With this win, Totti also became the most successful captain in team history.
Ranieri era
After Roma's difficult time in the 2008-09 season and continued with two consecutive Serie A defeats at the start of the 2009-10 season which saw Spalletti resign after his four year reign to be replaced by Claudio Ranieri, Totti had some great performances in the inaugural UEFA Europa League. He has since scored three hat-tricks, firstly in a 7-1 away win against Gent in the third qualifying round and then another with the same score against Košice at the Olimpico in the play-off round. He also scored 3 goals against Bari in Serie A on his return from a month-long injury.
On 30 November 2009, Totti confirmed he has signed a new five-year contract with the club until 30 June 2014 and then become a club director for another five years when he decides to hang up his boots.[14] The deal was officially ratified by the Board of Directors on 16 December.[15][16]
International career
Totti in the Euro 2000 final against France.
Totti first came into international prominence while playing in the UEFA youth tournaments and won the UEFA under-21 championships in 1996. After starring with the Azzurrini in Italy's Under-19 and Under-21 sides, he earned his first cap for Italy during a Euro 2000 qualifying victory against Switzerland on 10 October 1998.
Euro 2000
Italy went to Euro 2000 with and Totti was in excellent form. He scored 2 goals during the tournament. The first goal against co-host nations Belgium in the first round and the second goal against Romania in the quarter-finals. Though Italy lost to France in the final, Totti was named the man of the match[17] and he was selected for the 22-man Team of the Tournament.
2002 World Cup
Disappointment followed at the 2002 World Cup, with Totti failing to make a significant impact and then being sent off during Italy's second-round loss to South Korea after being handed a controversial second yellow card by Byron Moreno for an alleged dive in the penalty area.
Euro 2004
Totti acquired a measure of infamy at Euro 2004 after he spat at Danish midfielder Christian Poulsen in a goalless draw on 14 June 2004. He was subsequently banned until the semifinals, but never made it back to action and finished the competition scoreless due to Italy's elimination in the first round.
Though Totti recovered in time to join the national team for the 2006 World Cup, he was not completely in game shape after three months on the sidelines following his injury against Empoli, and played with metal plates in his ankle that had yet to be removed. He nonetheless was a regular fixture in the Marcello Lippi's side. During the tournament he played behind the lone striker Luca Toni rather than as a pairing, notably scoring the lone goal via a penalty in Italy's 1-0 win over Australia on 26 June, and starting in the final against France until being substituted in the 61st minute. Italy went on to win the World Cup, and Totti was selected for the 23-man All-Star Team.[18]
Retirement
Totti intended to retire from the Azzurri after the end of the World Cup, but reneged on his decision and remained undecided on his future for over a year, and was never called up in the meantime. He made his retirement official on 20 July 2007, at the beginning of the 2007–08 Serie A season in order to focus solely on club play with Roma. Italy coach at that time Roberto Donadoni's attempts to get Totti to change his mind for the remaining Euro 2008 qualifiers proved futile.[19] After the national team reunioned with Lippi, Totti announced that he would like to play in the 2010 World Cup Finals in South Africa if he gets called up.[20]
Goal celebrations
Totti is known for celebrating his goals as well as scoring them. His most famous celebration was in the second Derby della Capitale of the 1998-99 season, in which he scored during the final minutes of the game and celebrated by flashing a T-shirt under his jersey, which read "Vi ho purgato ancora" ("I've purged you guys again"), in reference to his scoring against Lazio in the previous derby on 29 November 1998. Another derby goal against Lazio saw him take over a sideline camera and aim it at the Roma fans.
As a tribute to his then-pregnant wife, Ilary Blasi, Totti imitated a childbirth scene by stuffing the ball under his shirt and laying on his back while his teammates extracted the ball. His current ritual of sucking his thumb after a goal began after his son was born and subsequently after the birth of his daughter. Blasi has revealed that Totti actually sucks his thumb in honor of her, as she has a habit of sucking on her thumb.[21]
Personal life
Totti in 2007.
Totti's wife, Ilary Blasi, is a former showgirl who currently works as commentator and host on several Mediaset TV programs. The couple had their first baby, named Cristian, on 6 November 2005. Their second child, a daughter named Chanel, was born on 13 May 2007. His brother Riccardo serves as his agent. Totti also runs a football school, "Number Ten," and owns a motorcycle racing team called "Totti Top Sport."
Totti became an ambassador for UNICEF in 2003 and the FIFA/SOS Children's Villages in January 2006. As a fundraiser for a children's charity, he published two bestselling, self-effacing joke books containing jokes the locals often told about him and his teammates. Some of the jokes were filmed in short sketches featuring himself with good friends and national teammates Alessandro Del Piero, Gianluigi Buffon, Christian Vieri, Antonio Cassano, Marco Delvecchio and Alessandro Nesta and former national team coach Giovanni Trapattoni in a short show called La sai l'ultima di Totti.
Totti is famous for his cucchiaio goalscoring technique, which inspired the title of his 2006 autobiography, Tutto Totti: Mo je faccio er cucchiaio (Romanesco for "I'll Chip Him").
Totti also collects jerseys from teams around the world. In 2003, after a Six Nations rugby match between Italy and Ireland, Irish players Brian O'Driscoll and Denis Hickie each received a Totti jersey in exchange for their own shirts.
Portugal
Belgium
Romania
Georgia
Finland
Belarus
Australia
