Francesco Totti Biography

Francesco Totti (born 27 September 1976 in Rome) is an Italian football player, who currently plays for AS Roma in Serie A and the Italian national team. A creator as well as a scorer of goals - not least from free kicks - Francesco Totti can operate from a variety of attacking positions but it is in the free role behind the strikers that his skill and technique are best showcased.

Totti was born in Rome, in the Porta Metronia city neighbourhood. His parents are Enzo and Fiorella Totti. Unlike other children his age who preferred to watch cartoons, Totti was always more interested in watching football matches instead. Totti constantly played football with older boys.
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He refused a big deal from A.C. Milan while waiting for a deal from his favorite club AS Roma, and finally joined the AS Roma junior team in 1989.

Hugely talented as a teenager, Totti scored in Italy's 4-1 defeat by Spain in the final of the UEFA European Under-18 Championship in July 1995. In the final of the Under-21 competition in 1996, Totti opened the scoring in a 1-1 draw against the Spanish before triumphing on penalties.

Totti made his senior Azzurri debut in the Euro 2000 qualifying victory against Switzerland on 10 October 1998. He played in the finals tournament and scored against Romania and Belgium and played in the finals, losing to France. Although he was on the losing side, Totti was named Man of the Match in the final. Also in this tournament, the world saw one of the best penalty kicks ever taken. In the semi-final against the Netherlands, the game went to a shootout. With Italy scoring their first two, and the Netherlands missing their first two, Totti stepped up to take Italy's third kick. With a stadium full of the Netherlands supporters silent, Totti stepped up and cheekily chipped the ball into the right-hand side of the net, while a helpless Edwin van der Sar dove to the left.

More disappointment followed at the 2002 World Cup, with Totti failing to make a significant impact and then being sent off as Italy controversially lost to the South Korea in the second round, when he received a second yellow card for alleged penalty area diving by the refree Byron Moreno.

At Euro 2004, Totti garnered negative media attention when he spat at Christian Poulsen, a midfielder for Denmark. Totti was subsequently banned until the semi-finals, but did not play in the tournament again, as Italy failed to qualify for the next round.

Decal of Francesco Totti, on the wall of a house in Rione Monti, in Rome. It celebrates 2000-01 scudetto won by Totti's club, AS Roma.Totti was just 16 when he made his first appearance for AS Roma in a 2-0 away victory at Brescia on March 28, 1993. He scored four goals in 21 outings in 1994/95 and over the ensuing seasons became a team regular. He was named Italy's Player of the Year in 2000 and in 2003. The following season (2000/1) he helped AS Roma secure their first league title since 1983, having scored 13 Serie A goals. In the 2001/02 campaign Roma finished runners-up to Juventus, but Totti returned with a personal-best of 14 goals during the 2002/3 season.

2003/04: Playing in a more advanced role, Totti hit a career-high 20 goals as Roma finished second in Serie A behind A.C. Milan.
2004/05: A very disappointing season. Although the only bright side was to finish second in the Italian Cup and qualify for the UEFA Cup, this season had Roma to replace 4 coaches starting with the departure of Fabio Capello and the resignation of Rudi Voller and Luigi Del Neri and an emergency call up for Bruno Conti. And with Roma almost being relegated, nevertheless Totti scored 12 goals.
2005/06: A strange season for A.S Roma and Totti himself, having picked up his first long time absence from Roma on February 19th, 2006. After that he came back but only to play a few remaining games. Same as the 2004/05 season, A.S Roma came in second in the Italian Cup and 5th in the Serie A, only qualifying for the UEFA Cup again. In a better side of the league, the team won 11 consecutive victories and the last match was won against their rival S.S Lazio, they won 2-0 Roma victory with a goal by Mancini and Aquilani. Coach Luciano Spalletti turned the team's line up from a defensive one to an attacking one and managed to come from 15th spot to 5th by the end of the season. An amazing feat for Roma and their supporters. Totti scored only 15 goals this season, an average number for his level of play.

Totti is married to Ilary Blasi, a former model, considered one of the most beautiful celebrities in Italy, who currently works as annoucer and host on several RAI TV shows. The couple had their first baby, named Christian, on early 2006. Totti, who always loved kids, hoped that his first baby would be a boy, so as to continue his legacy, as he said.

Totti also runs a Football school, named Number Ten, and has his own Motor bikes team called "Totti Top Sport".

His best friend is his brother, Riccardo. However, Totti always says that his brother was the better player when they were kids, but he was unlucky on his way. Riccardo now is Totti's agent.

Totti has had many hardships with people during his sporting career. One of those people is Lazio's captain Paolo Di Canio, who exploits the age-old rivalry between Lazio and Roma and always insults Totti, and their "Derby" match twice every season.

He also had a bad relationship with his previous coach Fabio Capello, who is currently coach of Juventus F.C., a heavy rival team of AS Roma. Totti accused Capello of being a traitor for leaving Roma suddenly without a warning, and left the Roman team in a very bad shape which had them almost relegated to the second division in 2004-2005 season. He even called him once an "un-true man", while praised his current coach Luciano Spalletti defining him "a real man", and pointing that he will never play for Fabio Capello again. This famous problem started on Capello's last days with Roma: according to Totti, his behaviour to most of the players changed, and once advised the younger players not take Totti as their role model player, but to take Brazilian Emerson as an idol for his hard work. Several months later, Capello, Emerson and Frenchmen Jonathan Zebina all left AS Roma for rivals Juventus suddenly. As of today, Totti and the Roma fans still treat those three men as traitors who left the club.

A goodwill ambassador for UNICEF, Totti allowed two books to be published containing jokes made at his expense to raise money for the children's charity. He was named by Pel� as one of the top 125 greatest living footballers in March 2004.

Totti's idol player in his childhood was Roma's ex-captain Giuseppe Giannini, who he considers as his elder brother: he always wished to just shake hands with Giannini, and was one of his biggest fans. Several years after, Totti himself had the opportunity to play alongside Giannini on the pitch with the AS Roma jersey.

Totti is famous for his chip shots, called in Italian il cucchiaio (in English, "spoon"). He has scored many beautiful goals using this technique. His famous early goals using this technique was in a shoot-out vs. Holland in the Euro 2000 semi-final when he scored on Netherland's keeper Edwin van der Sar, he also scored a second famous one 2 years later against Lazio in the derby, which ended 5-1 to the Romans at the time they played their best football.

Often referred to as a "dumb Roman", Totti released a book of jokes about himself, with the proceeds going to charity. The book was a hit and a bestseller for many months.

Totti criticised former teammate Antonio Cassano who recently departed to Real Madrid for failing to leave without even saying goodbye. Antonio Cassano was also vice captain at AS Roma up until a few months before his departure.

On December 2005, Totti annouced that he is 90% sure to retire from international football after the 2006 FIFA World Cup in Germany, explaining that he wants to focus more on AS Roma.

On 19 February 2006, while playing in the Italian Championship against Empoli F.C., he suffered a leg injury fracturing his left fibula and severing the interconnecting ligaments with the malleolus. He was operated the same night by Prof. Mariani, a renowned Italian orthopedic surgeon. He returned from his injury on 11 May 2006 as a subsitute in Roma's 3-1 defeat against Inter Milan in the Coppa Italia.

Totti has also met other superstars from other sports including football legend Diego Maradona. He is also sponsored by Pepsi and Pringles along with Roberto Carlos,Arjen Robben,and Steven Gerrard.

Pele also said during a FIFA World Cup conference that Francesco Totti is the best player in the world right now. That statement was also backed up by Michel Platini, one of the greatest footballers in History.

FRANCESCO TOTTI PICTURES

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FRANCESCO TOTTI BIOGRAPHY