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Alessandro Del Piero

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Alessandro Del Piero
Del Piero with Sydney FC in 2014
Personal information
Full name Alessandro Del Piero
Date of birth (1974-11-09) 9 November 1974 (age 50)
Place of birth Conegliano, Italy
Height 1.74 m (5 ft 8+12 in)[1]
Position(s) Forward
Youth career
1982–1988 San Vendemiano
1988–1993 Padova
1993–1994 Juventus
Senior career*
Years Team Apps (Gls)
1991–1993 Padova 14 (1)
1993–2012 Juventus 513 (500)
2012–2014 Sydney FC 48 (24)
2014 Delhi Dynamos 10 (1)
Total 585 (234)
National team
1991 Italy U17 3 (1)
1992–1993 Italy U18 14 (12)
1993–1996 Italy U21 12 (3)
1995–2008 Italy 91 (27)
Honours
 Italy
FIFA World Cup
Winner Germany 2006
UEFA European Championship
Runner-up Belgium-Netherlands 2000
* Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only and correct as of 17:48, 9 December 2014 (UTC)

Alessandro Del Piero (born 9 November 1974 in Conegliano) is an Italian former football player. He has played for Juventus from 1993 to 2012, Sydney FC from 2012 to 2014 and Delhi Dynamos in 2014 as a striker. He was the captain of the Juventus team since 2001. He stopped playing for the national team in 2006.

Del Piero is considered among the best talents that Italian football has ever witnessed. In 2004, he was included in the FIFA 100, a list of 125 greatest living players. In 1999, he was listed 77th in the list of the best players of the 20th century published by World Soccer magazine. He is one of five Italian players to score over 300 goals (312 as pf 6 November 2010) along with Filippo Inzaghi (315), Roberto Baggio (318), Giuseppe Meazza (338) and Silvio Piola (364).

Childhood and early career

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Del Piero is the son of Gino, an electrician, and Bruna, a housekeeper. He regularly played football in the backyard with two friends, Nelso and Pierpaolo as a child. All three dreamed of becoming footballers, but only Del Piero would eventually manage to do so. Alessandro's older brother, Stefano, briefly played professional football for Sampdoria before injury struck him. The family lived in the hamlet of Saccon near San Vendemiano. While growing up, Del Piero's family did not have much money for travelling abroad, so he was considering being a truck driver in order to see the world.

Del Piero played for the local youth team of San Vendemiano since the age of 7. He used to play as a goalkeeper because he could play a lot more football that way. His mother thought it would be better for him if he played as a goalkeeper, since he would not have to run and the possibility of him getting injured was less likely. His brother told their mother that Alex was better at attacking and Del Piero switched position.

It was while playing with his local side of San Vendemiano in 1988 that Del Piero was first spotted by scouts. He left home at the age of 13 to play in the youth side of Padova Calcio.

Club career statistics

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Club statistics League CupContinentalTotal
SeasonClubLeague AppsGoals AppsGoalsAppsGoalsAppsGoals
ItalyLeague Coppa Italia EuropeTotal
1991/92 Padova Serie B 4 0 0 0 - 4 0
1992/93 10 1 0 0 - 10 1
1993/94 Juventus Serie A 11 5 1 0 2 0 14 5
1994/95 29 8 10 1 11 1 50 10
1995/96 29 6 2 1 11 6 42 13
1996/97 22 8 4 0 6 4 32 12
1997/98 32 21 4 1 10 10 46 32
1998/99 8 2 1 0 4 0 13 2
1999/00 34 9 2 1 9 2 45 12
2000/01 25 9 2 0 6 0 33 9
2001/02 32 16 4 1 10 4 46 21
2002/03 24 16 0 0 13 5 37 21
2003/04 22 8 4 3 4 3 30 14
2004/05 30 14 1 0 10 3 41 17
2005/06 33 12 4 5 7 3 44 20
2006/07 Serie B 35 20 2 3 - 37 23
2007/08 Serie A 37 21 4 3 - 41 24
2008/09 31 13 3 2 9 6 43 21
2009/10
Country Italy 448 189 48 21 112 47 608 257
Total 448 189 48 21 112 47 608 257

International career statistics

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Italy national team
YearAppsGoals
1995 7 0
1996 4 2
1997 6 4
1998 8 3
1999 2 0
2000 13 4
2001 6 3
2002 11 5
2003 4 2
2004 6 1
2005 4 0
2006 9 2
2007 5 0
2008 6 0
Total 91 26

References

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  1. "Alessandro Del Piero, passaporto". Alessandrodelpiero.com.