Christian Vieri

Christian Vieri

Vieri at Fiorentina in the 2007–08 season
Personal information
Date of birth	(1973-07-12) 12 July 1973 (age 51)
Place of birth	Bologna, Italy
Height	1.85 m (6 ft 1 in)[1]
Position(s)	Centre forward
Youth career
1987–1988	Marconi Stallions
1989–1990	Santa Lucia
1990–1991	Prato
1991–1992	Torino
Senior career*
Years	Team	Apps	(Gls)
1991–1992	Torino	7	(1)
1992–1993	Pisa	18	(2)
1993–1994	Ravenna	32	(12)
1994–1995	Venezia	29	(11)
1995–1996	Atalanta	21	(9)
1996–1997	Juventus	23	(8)
1997–1998	Atlético Madrid	24	(24)
1998–1999	Lazio	22	(12)
1999–2005	Inter Milan	143	(103)
2005–2006	AC Milan	8	(1)
2006	Monaco	7	(3)
2006	Sampdoria	0	(0)
2006–2007	Atalanta	7	(2)
2007–2008	Fiorentina	26	(6)
2008–2009	Atalanta	9	(2)
Total		374	(194)
International career
1992–1996	Italy U21	22	(11)
1997–2005	Italy	49	(23)
Medal record Representing  Italy Men's football UEFA European Under-21 Championship Winner 1994 France Winner 1996 Spain
*Club domestic league appearances and goals

Christian "Bobo" Vieri (Italian pronunciation: [ˈkristjam ˈbɔːbo ˈvjɛːri]; born 12 July 1973) is an Italian former professional footballer who played as a centre forward. Having been born in Italy, Vieri moved with his family to Australia as a child, before returning to Italy to pursue his professional career at a young age. He then spent the bulk of his career playing in the Serie A. In March 2004, he 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.^[2]

A prolific goalscorer, for a number of years, he was regarded as one of the best strikers of this generation,^[3] leading to him becoming the world's most expensive player in 1999 when Inter Milan paid Lazio £32 million (€43 million) for his services.^[4][5] Something of a footballing nomad, Vieri played for no fewer than 12 clubs throughout his career, mainly in Italy, but also in Spain and France. He started his career with Torino in 1991, but his most notable and successful spells were those at Juventus, Atlético Madrid, Lazio and Inter, clubs with which he won several honours.

As well as picking up several winners medals during his career, Vieri also claimed many individual awards including the Pichichi Trophy and Capocannoniere awards for the league's top scorer in Spain and Italy respectively, and the Serie A Italian Footballer of the Year twice. At international level, Vieri scored 23 goals in 49 appearances for Italy between 1997 and 2005, and is the joint ninth-highest goalscorer for his national team, alongside Francesco Graziani. He is also Italy's highest ever goalscorer in the FIFA World Cup, along with Roberto Baggio and Paolo Rossi, with a combined nine goals from nine matches at the 1998 and 2002 editions of the tournament; he also took part at Euro 2004.