Di Canio Paolo
Paolo Di Canio is an Italian former professional footballer. During his playing career he made over 500 league appearances and scored over one hundred goals appearing primarily as a deep-lying forward but could also play as an attacking midfielder, or as a winger. A talented yet controversial player, Di Canio was known for his creativity, technical ability, and dribbling skills, as well as his temperamental character, tenacity and aggression on the pitch. Di Canio began his career in the Italian Serie A, playing for Lazio, Juventus, Napoli and A.C. Milan, before a brief spell with the Scottish club Celtic. He subsequently spent seven years in the English Premier League with Sheffield Wednesday, West Ham United and Charlton Athletic. He returned to Italy in 2004, playing for Lazio and Cisco Romabefore retiring in 2008. He played for the Italian under-21s, making 9 appearances and scoring 2 goals, and was notably a member of the squad that finished in third place at the 1990 UEFA European Under-21 Championshipunder manager Cesare Maldini, but was never capped for the senior team.
Did you Know?
Paolo Di Canio during his whole career was almost always wearing size Small shirts. This is something not easy to manage for its teams as such a big small were not usually carried but them. S.S. Lazio for example was getting Size Small shirts for him only as no one else was wearing this size.
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Even though he had already signed an extension to his Charlton contract, in August 2004 Di Canio returned to his home team of Lazio taking a massive paycut in order to return to the economically stretched Roman team. Lazio fans were happy to have a Rome-bred Lazio supporter in the team again, something missing since the departure of Alessandro Nesta in 2002. He scored in the Rome derby, just as he had in 1989, leading the team to a 3–1 victory over A.S. Roma in January (6 January 2005). However the negative publicity that Di Canio generated for Lazio, including his intimate relationship with club’s ultras and their increased influence thanks to his presence in the team, coupled with problems with some teammates and coaches, exasperated club president and majority shareholder, Claudio Lotito, with whom he already had a difficult relationship. As a result, Di Canio’s contract was not renewed in the summer of 2006
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During several of his games for Lazio, Di Canio made a fascist salute to their right-wing fan. His use of the Roman salute toward Lazio supporters, a gesture adopted by Italian fascists in the 20th century, has created controversy. Documented uses of the salute include in matches against arch-rivals Roma and Livorno, a club inclined to left-wing politics. Di Canio received a one-match ban after the second event and was fined €7,000. He was later quoted as saying, “I will always salute as I did because it gives me a sense of belonging to my people … I saluted my people with what for me is a sign of belonging to a group that holds true values, values of civility against the standardisation that this society imposes upon us.” His salute has been featured on unofficial merchandise sold outside Stadio Olimpico after the ban.
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Di Canio signed for Lazio in 1985 and remained there until 1990. Lazio won promotion to Serie A in 1988, having narrowly escaped relegation to Serie C1 the year before. He finally made his first-team debut in October 1988 and went on to play 30 games during the 1988–89 season Di Canio scored the winner in the first Rome derby of the season, a goal which contributed to Lazio’s survival in Serie A that season and earning him hero status. In 1990, he was sold to another of Italy’s biggest clubs, Juventus; although he won the UEFA Cup with the Turin side in 1993, he struggled to gain playing time during his tenure with the club, due to the presence of other forwards and creative midfielders in the team, such as Roberto Baggio, Salvatore Schillaci, Pierluigi Casiraghi, Fabrizio Ravanelli, Gianluca Vialli, and Andreas Möller. He left Juventus after an “animated exchange” with then manager Giovanni Trapattoni and spent the 1993–94 season with Napoli. Two seasons followed at A.C. Milan, where, despite winning the Serie A title in 1996, he once again struggled to gain playing time due to heavy competition from his team-mates, culminating in another row, this time with Fabio Capello.
Paolo Di Canio was usual to play for most of his career with a hole on his left boot’s heel.
Match Worn Boots
Charlton Athletic F.C.
Did you Know?
These boots were worn by Paolo Di Canio during the season 2003/2004 with Charlton Athletic. In his one season at The Valley, Di Canio helped Charlton finish the season in seventh place, the club’s highest league finish since 1953. However, he only scored four league goals for the Addicks, all of which came from the penalty spot (one from a rebound). One of the penalty kicks was an audacious “Panenka”-style penalty kick against Arsenal. Di Canio also continued to be a provider of goals, however, notably in October 2003 when he came on as a second-half substitute with Charlton trailing 1–0 away at Portsmouth. He provided most of the spark for Charlton’s much-improved second-half display, and after Jonathan Fortune had equalised for Charlton, it was from Di Canio’s corner kick in the last minute that Shaun Bartlett headed home the winning goal.
