Roberto Baggio

Roberto Baggio born 18 February 1967 is an Italian former professional footballer who mainly played as a second striker or as an attacking midfielder although he was capable of playing in several offensive positions He is the former president of the technical sector of the Italian Football Federation A technically gifted creative playmaker and set piece specialist renowned for his curling freekicks dribbling skills and goalscoring Baggio is widely regarded as one of the greatest players of all time In 1999 he came fourth in the FIFA Player of the Century internet poll and was chosen on the FIFA World Cup Dream Team in 2002 In 1993 he was named FIFA World Player of the Year and won the Ballon dOr In 2004 he was named by Pelé in the FIFA 100 a list of the worlds greatest living players Baggio played for Italy in 56 matches scoring 27 goals He starred in the Italian team that finished third in the 1990 FIFA World Cup scoring twice At the 1994 World Cup he led Italy to the final scoring five goals received the World Cup Silver Ball and was named in the World Cup AllStar Team Although he was the star performer for Italy at the tournament he missed the decisive penalty in the shootout of the final against Brazil At the 1998 World Cup he scored twice before Italy were eliminated by eventual champions France in the quarterfinals Baggio is the only Italian to score in three World Cups In 2002 Baggio became the first Italian player in over 50 years to score more than 300 career goals he is one of the highest scoring Italians in all competitions with 318 goals In 2004 during the final season of his career Baggio became the first player in over 30 years to score 200 goals in Serie A and is one of the highest goalscorers of all time in Serie A with 205 goals In 1990 he moved from Fiorentina to Juventus for a world record transfer fee Baggio won two Serie A titles a Coppa Italia and a UEFA Cup playing for seven different Italian clubs during his career Vicenza Fiorentina Juventus AC Milan Bologna Inter Milan and Brescia Baggio is known as Il Divin Codino The Divine Ponytail for the hairstyle he wore for most of his career for his talent and for his Buddhist beliefs In 2002 Baggio was nominated Goodwill Ambassador of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations In 2003 he was the inaugural winner of the Golden Foot award In recognition of his human rights activism he received the Man of Peace award from the Nobel Peace Prize Laureates in 2010 In 2011 he was the first footballer to be inducted into the Italian Football Hall of Fame From Wikipedia the free encyclopedia