Christian Vieri is a retired Italian footballer who played as a centre forward for the Italy
national football team and 11 Serie A clubs, most notably Internazionale.
Vieri was named in the FIFA 100, a list of the 125 greatest living footballers selected
by Pelé as a part of FIFA's centenary celebrations.
For a number of years he was regarded as one of the finest strikers in Europe, leading
to him becoming the world's most expensive player in 1999 when Inter paid Lazio £32
million for his services.
Something of a footballing nomad, Vieri played for no fewer than 12 clubs throughout his
career.
Most notable were his spells at Juventus, Atlético Madrid, Lazio and Inter; with Inter
he hit the net on more than 100 occasions.
Vieri has often been described as an old fashioned centre forward, due to his physical presence
and outstanding aerial ability, he is the all time top scorer of headed goals in Italian
league history.
As well as picking up several winners medals during his career, Vieri also claimed many
individual honours including the Pichichi and Capocannoniere titles in Spain and Italy
and Italian Footballer of the Year twice.
He is one of Italy's highest ever goalscorers in the FIFA World Cup with a combined nine
goals from nine matches at the 1998 and 2002 tournaments.
Early life Born in Bologna, Italy, his family moved to
Australia in the 1970s, residing in the suburb of Wetherill Park in South-Western Sydney
and he attended Prairiewood High School.
His father, Roberto Vieri played for Sydney-based club Marconi Stallions.
It is from his father that he inherited his nickname Bobo which he carried with him throughout
his career.
During his time in Australia, Vieri developed a love for both football and cricket, a sport
he still follows to this day.
He stated in an interview that he would have liked to have been a professional cricketer.
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.
Club career Vieri started his playing career at Marconi
Stallions.
While there, he was spotted by Torino and played his first Serie A game the next year
for the Turin team.
Vieri made nine appearances in total for Torino, scoring two goals.
He also picked up a runners up medal as an unused substitute in the 1992 UEFA Cup Final,
as Torino lost the tie to Ajax on away goals.
In November 1992, he was sold to Serie B club, Pisa Calcio, scoring two goals from 18 appearances.
He would only stay in Pisa for one season, moving to Serie B side, Ravenna, for the 1993–94
season where he scored 12 goals in 32 appearances.
He was subsequently transferred to another Serie B club for the 1994–95 season, Venezia,
where he scored 11 goals in 29 appearances.
After three seasons in Serie B, Vieri returned to Serie A for the 1995–96 season when he
joined Atalanta where he scored nine goals in 21 appearances.
His first big move came about when he was spotted by Juventus who signed him from Atalanta
for a fee of €2.5 million for the 1996–97 season.
He made 23 appearances and scored eight goals in Serie A, and six goals in ten matches in
Europe, making him joint top scorer for Juventus that season along with Alen Bokšić.
He ended his season at Juve by winning the 'Scudetto and starting in the 3–1 UEFA Champions
League final loss to Borussia Dortmund.
Vieri's form for Juventus attracted the attention of Spanish side, Atlético Madrid who paid
€10 million to sign the striker.
He scored a total of 24 goals in 24 league appearances for Atlético and finished the
season with 29 goals from 32 appearances, which saw him receive the Pichichi Trophy
awarded to the league's top scorer.
In an interview with Marca magazine shortly after arriving at the Calderón, he named
his all-time sporting hero as Australian cricketer Allan Border.
After his performances for Atlético Madrid and at the 1998 World Cup, he returned to
the Serie A with Lazio for a fee of €25 million.
He had a successful season, scoring 14 goals in 28 appearances and won the Cup Winners'
Cup.
However, the following season he was the subject of a world record transfer of €49 million
to Internazionale after drawing the attention of chairman Massimo Moratti and manager Marcello
Lippi, who had requested the player after their successful season together at Juventus.
Inter would be Vieri's ninth club in his ninth season of being a professional footballer.
At Inter, Vieri formed a potentially dangerous partnership with Ronaldo up front, but because
of injuries to both players, they were not able to play together often.
He was impressive in his first couple of seasons, but constant managerial changes meant that
Inter could not challenge for the Scudetto.
It was under disciplined Argentinian coach Héctor Cúper, that Vieri and Inter really
began to flourish and challenge for honours.
Vieri was made the focal point of the attack and scored 22 goals in 25 games in the 2001–02
season as Inter narrowly missed out on the title after their last-day defeat to Lazio.
The following season he was Serie A Capocannoniere after scoring 24 goals in 23 appearances.
In addition, he scored three goals in Inter's Champions League campaign and formed a potent
partnership with Hernán Crespo.
He scored both of Inter's goals in the quarter-final victory over Valencia.
Vieri was injured during the second leg of this game and therefore played no part in
the semi-final defeat to city rivals Milan.
The following year, Cúper was sacked only a few games into the season and was replaced
by Alberto Zaccheroni.
Vieri did not get along with his new manager and also had many of the Inter fans turn on
him after his dip in form.
In addition, he had shown his discontent at the sale of strike partner Crespo to Chelsea.
When Roberto Mancini replaced Zaccheroni in the summer of 2004, Vieri played the majority
games upfront with Adriano.
It was clear to many though that the injury he had sustained against Valencia had taken
its toll on Vieri and he was no longer as sharp in front of goal, despite his respectable
goal output.
In July 2005, Vieri and Inter came to a mutual agreement to terminate his contract with the
club.
He was then signed by cross-town rivals Milan, but left the Rossoneri – where he was not
a regular starter – after just six months, joining French side Monaco in order to play
regularly and gain a place in Italy's squad for the 2006 World Cup.
However, he suffered a serious knee injury while playing for Monaco in 2006, which required
extensive surgery and ruled out the possibility of playing in his third consecutive FIFA World
Cup.
Vieri agreed a one-year deal with Sampdoria on 6 July 2006.
However, Vieri returned to Atalanta on 29 August, signing a one-year minimum wage contract
worth €1,500 per month.
Although he received a paltry salary, Vieri was to earn another €100,000 for every goal
he scored, leaving chairman Ivan Ruggeri to comment, "If things go well, Vieri will cost
me €2 million."
Vieri scored two goals in seven substitute appearances, including one spectacular long-range
effort.
In June 2007, Atalanta announced they would not offer a contract extension to Vieri.
His contract therefore ended on 30 June.
Vieri signed a one-year deal with Fiorentina in the summer of 2007 and he was officially
presented to the press on 21 July 2007.
He signed a one-year-contract for Atalanta on 30 June 2008.
However, in early April, both Atalanta and Vieri mutually agreed that the contract was
to be rescinded after only making nine appearances for the club.
He announced his retirement on 20 October 2009.
International career Vieri has scored 23 goals in 49 matches for
Italy and played for his country at the 1998 World Cup, scoring five times, and the 2002
World Cup, scoring four times, though he endured a less successful tournament at Euro 2004,
whilst he missed Euro 2000 and 2006 World Cup through injury.
Vieri is generally considered to be Italy's greatest pure striker of recent times despite
strong competition, and is one of Italy's most prolific World Cup goal scorers.
Appearing in a total of nine World Cup games in 1998 and 2002, he found the net nine times,
making him one of the most feared strikers in those tournaments along with Ronaldo and
Miroslav Klose.
He was named by Pelé as one of the 125 greatest living footballers in March 2004.
Vieri received his first international cap during the 1996–97 season after some impressive
displays for Juventus.
He scored a key goal for Italy in the play off against Russia during qualification for
the 1998 World Cup.
At the finals of the tournament in France he formed a strong partnership with Roberto
Baggio.
Vieri opened the scoring against Chile after an assist from his strike partner.
He went on to score three more goals against Cameroon and Austria during the group stage.
Vieri scored Italy's only goal in the round of 16 match against Norway.
He scored Italy's fourth penalty in the quarterfinal shooutout against France but Luigi Di Biagio
missed the fifth and Italy were eliminated.
That quarter-final showdown against France was the only game of the tournament in which
Vieri was unable to score.
Vieri missed out on Euro 2000 after suffering a recurrence of an old thigh injury, during
the fourth place playoff with Parma at the end of the 1999–2000 season after a collision
with Gianluigi Buffon, who would also miss out on the tournament.
Italy played Vieri as a lone striker in the 2002 World Cup, scoring an impressive four
goals in four games.
He managed a brace in the opening game against Ecuador and scored Italy's only goal in the
2–1 defeat to Croatia despite having a previous goal incorrectly ruled out for offside.
In the round-of-16 match against South Korea he opened the scoring in the 18th minute,
scoring a powerful header from a Francesco Totti corner.
Italy led the game until the Koreans equalised 3 minutes before the end.
Italy was eventually eliminated by South Korea by a golden goal.
The only game in which he failed to find the net was against Mexico in a 1–1 draw.
Vieri was once again the main striker in Italy's ill fated Euro 2004 campaign.
However, this time he did not fare so well, scoring no goals as Italy were eliminated
in the first round.
It was during this tournament that his now infamous "more of a man" press conference
took place, where he hit back at his critics in the Italian press by stating that he was
more of a man than any of them.
It is worth noting that Euro 2004 occurred at a particularly painful period of Vieri's
life, when he was being spied upon by his own club Internazionale and Telecom Italia
at the request of club owner Massimo Moratti.
In September 2012, Inter and Telecom Italia were ordered by a Milan court to pay Vieri
damages amounting to €1 million for this case of phone tapping.
More disappointment occurred when he missed the 2006 World Cup after suffering a knee
meniscus injury in a Ligue 1 match against Paris Saint-Germain on 26 March 2006.
Although Vieri would not necessarily have been a starter for Marcelo Lippi's side, Lippi
admitted that he would have picked him had he been fit.
He played in three tournaments, but failed to win a medal in each of them, missing out
on the Euro 2000 runners up medal and the glorious 2006 World Cup winners medal.
Personal life Vieri is of Italian and French descent as
his mother Nathalie was born and raised in Paris.
Christian Vieri's personal life has been subject to much media attention in Italy.
He has been involved in many high profile relationships, including those with models
Elisabetta Canalis, Elena Santarelli, Debora Salvalaggio, Fernanda Lessa and Melissa Satta
among others.
He has his own fashion label – Sweet Years – which he runs with friend and former Italy
and Milan team mate Paolo Maldini.
The pair also own a number of restaurants in the city of Milan.
Another close friend of his is current Milan forward Alessandro Matri, with whom he has
been seen holidaying in Spain, along with other friends.
His brother, Massimiliano "Max" Vieri, played for Australia.
Career statistics Club
1Includes one Champions League Serie A play-off match.
International
International goals Honours
Filmography Picasso's face,
References
External links