Biography of Roberto Baggio. Roberto Baggio was born on February 18, 1967 to his mother Matilde and his father Fiorindo, in the small Italian town of Caldogno which is located north of the city of Vicenza. His brothers and sisters are Gianna, Walter, Carla, Giorgio, Anna Maria, Nadia, and Eddy. Eddy, who is named after the cycling great, Eddy Merckx, is also a professional soccer player. Fiorindo owned a store and Matilde was a busy housewife with eight children so Roberto had much freedom as a child, so as any child would have done he didn't bother studying, he only did enough to pass. He spent most of his time riding his motorcycle or playing soccer. His father often took him to a soccer field where he stayed until late evening. When he saw his father coming to get him on his bicycle he would run away because he didn't want to go home. His father was an excellent cyclist and would catch up to him. Roby's passion for soccer was evident. Roberto started his soccer career in his home town of Caldogno, at the young age of only nine. His first coach, Gian Pero Zenere, saw for the first time the greatness. Roberto, after only a few games, already was a star. He scored many goals and assisted on many more. In 1982, after Roberto scored six goals vs Leva, a scout named Antonio Mora persuaded Roberto to play for Vicenza, then a club in the serie C1 league. The fee was $500. The first season the coach of Vicenza was Cadè, and he started the 15 year old Roberto in a C1 game. He didn't score and only saw one more game in that season, an Italian Cup match vs Piacenza. The next season, new Vicenza coach, Bruno Giorgi, used young Roberto in six league matches and he got one goal, his first professional goal of his career. Giorgi also used Roberto in four Italian Cup matches. On the 15th of February 1984 Roberto was called to make his first under 16 national game. The 1984/85 season was a great one for Roberto and Vicenza. Roberto had twenty-nine games with twelve goals in the serie C1, and five games with two more goals in the Italian Cup. Vicenza was promoted to serie B. On the ninth of January Roberto played his first national juniors game. On the third day in May of 1985 Vicenza sold Roberto to Fiorentina of the serie A. His first year at Fiorentina he played five games in the Italian Cup, but he did not score. The next year, 1986/87 serie A season, Roberto played his first serie A match vs Sampdoria on the 21 of September and played a total of five games that season. However, this season will also be remembered as the year Roberto had knee surgery. Dr. Busuquet performed the surgery in St. Etienne on the eighteenth of December 1986. He got his first goal against Napoli on tenth of May 1987. He also played in four Italian Cup matches and scored twice. The next season, Roberto made a great recovery and played in 27 serie A matches and 7 Italian Cup matches for Fiorentina, with nine goals. This year will be remembered as the year Roberto converted to Buddhism, the Soka Gakkai sect. The world famous ponytail also was first seen on the pitch in 1987. The following year Roberto started to really get noticed. He played in thirty serie A matches with fifteen goals, and ten Italian Cup matches with an amazing nine goals. With such a great year, he was called up in November 1988 for his first international match in Rome vs Holland. At the end of the season Roberto married Andreina, his long time girlfriend, in their hometown of Caldogno. The 1989-90 season was another success for Roberto, he made 32 appearances for Fiorentina in the serie A and scored 17 goals. Roberto led his team into European Cup action for the first time, and made a total of twelve appearances in the UEFA Cup, and one goal. Unfortunately they lost in the final vs Juventus. Roberto played in two Italian Cup matches with a goal. At the end of the season, Fiorentina sold Roberto to rivals Juventus of Turin for a then record fee of 17 million dollars. The Fiorentina fans were very upset with the sale of there beloved "little prince" and there were riots in the streets of Florence for the following two days after the sale was announced. Before Roberto made his first appearance for Juve, he was called to play for the Italian national team in world cup '90 in Italy. He began the tournament on the bench. But after Italy showed a lack of scoring finish in its first two games (they won each game 1-0), coach Azeglio Vicini tried him on attack with striker Toto Schillaci. The pair were electric! Roberto even scored the tournaments best goal vs Czechoslovakia, and Italy roared into the semifinal against Argentina. But on the morning of the game, Vicini told Roberto he wasn't starting. "He said I looked tired," Roberto says "I was 23! I would have eaten grass to play." Roberto was inserted in the second half and converted a penalty kick during the shoot-out that followed the 1-1 tie. The Argentines, however, eliminated Italy on penalty kicks. Roberto had a great first year in Juventus where he played in 33 matches in the 1990- 91 serie A season and he got 14 goals. Juventus was also in the Italian Cup, UEFA Cup, and the Italian Super Cup. Roberto scored a total of 13 goals in those 14 games of competitions. In that same year his wife gave birth to their first child, Valentina on December 2 1990. By this time Roberto was really one of the serie A best and most consistent players. He proved it in 1991-92 with 32 matches played and 18 goals. He played in eight Italian Cup matches with four goals. 1992-93 was Robertos' best year. He played in 27 serie A matches and scored 21 goals. In that season he played seven Italian Cup matches with three goals. He also lead Juventus to the UEFA Cup in that year. In nine UEFA Cup matches, he scored six goals and Juventus won the cup. It was Robertos' first major trophy. He continued his great play the next season, 1993-94, when he got his one hundredth serie A goal vs Genoa in October and in December his great play in the past year was recognized by everyone, and Roberto was awarded the Golden Ball trophy as Europe's best player, and the sports writers voted Roberto Best Player in the World. He finished the season with 32 matches and 17 goals in serie A, two Italian Cup matches and two goals, seven European Cup matches and three goals. His wife Andreina gave birth to their second child Mattia, in June 1994. Then it was off to USA '94, and Roberto lead the team that was built around him, 'the Azzurri', right to the finals of the World Cup, with goal after important goal for Italy. Every goal Roberto scored seemed to inspire the team and he got hundreds of thousands of more admiring fans. In the semi-final Roberto suffered a serious thigh injury and even though the doctors told him not to play, Roberto knew that he could not let the Italian people down, so he risked more serious injury to his thigh and he took the field on the day of the final. With the injury holding Roberto back, he couldn't find a goal to save Italy, unfortunately the World Cup trophy was not for him then. The season after was a season of recovery for Roberto, he only played in 17 games in the serie A, but still got 8 goals. He played four Italian Cup matches and eight UEFA Cup matches with a total of six goals. Juventus won the serie A championship and the Italian Cup. On July sixth 1995 Roberto left Juventus for an even bigger club, Milan. His first year in Milan was a sign of things to come and Roberto found himself in a mostly substitutes role. He played in 28 serie A, one Italian Cup and five UEFA Cup matches with a total of ten goals. Roberto was on his second consecutive serie A championship winning team. The next year started with optimism, with Capello out and Taberez in, but that didn't last long and again the worlds' best player was a substitute. It only got worse near the end of the season, with rumors of Roberto leaving Milan, new coach Sacchi arrived and Roberto's stay was over for certain. That year he played in 23 serie A matches and scored five goals. He also played five Italian Cup matches with three goals and five Champions League matches with one goal. On July 18 1997, Roberto signed with Bologna F.C. of the serie A. With the ponytail gone and new hope after a great international goal vs Poland in April of '97 Roberto and his fans are expecting a great 1997-98 season culminating with a World Cup victory in France '98.
