Luca Toni Biography

Luca Toni, born on May 26, 1977, in Pavullo nel Frignano, Italy, is a sports manager, football coach and former Italian football player, who played as a striker and became world champion with the Italian national team in 2006.

He was the first Italian player to win the Golden Shoe, which was awarded to him after winning the

top scorer's title in the 2005-2006 season; he was also the top scorer in the 2003-2004

, the 2007-2008 UEFA Cup, the 2007-2008

and again in the Serie A in 2014-2015.

Since the start of his career in 1994, Luca Toni played for twelve different football club in Italy,

and the United Arab Emirates. As a prolific goalscorer, Luca Toni has over 300 club career goals in all competitions and is one of the top Italian scorers of all time.

He has been capped 47 times by the Italian national soccer team and has scored 16 goals. Toni made his debut for

on August 18, 2004, in a friendly match against

, which ended with a score of 2-0 in favor of the Icelanders. He was one of the starting players during the qualification campaign for the 2006 World Cup, where he scored two goals in a match against Ukraine. In the 2008 European Championship held in

and Switzerland, Toni failed to score a goal for his country.

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All You Need to Know About Luca Toni Biography

He is known for the distinctive goal celebrations, which involved turning his right hand counterclockwise close to his right ear, a feat created when he played in the ranks of Palermo.

Luca Toni Information

In this section of

Luca Toni biography

we are going to share some more general information about him such as

Luca Toni nationality

to let you know him even more, so stay tuned.

Luca Toni Bio

• Full Name: Luca Toni

• Nickname: Tonigol

• Profession: Professional Footballer

Luca Toni Physical Stats

• Weight: 88 Kg

• Height: 1.93 m

• Eye Color: Brown

• Hair Color: Dark Brown

Luca Toni Football Information

• Position: Striker

• Jersey Number: 9

• Professional Debut: 1994

Luca Toni Date of Birth and Personal Info

• Date of Birth: 26 May 1977

• Birth Place: Pavullo nel Frignano, Italy

• Zodiac Sign: Gemini

• Nationality: Italian

Now stay tuned as in this section of

Luca Toni biography

we want to share some information about

Luca Toni childhood

.

Luca Toni Early Life

After one season at Officine Meccaniche Frignanesi (1990-1991), Toni was trained by the Brazilian Chinesinho, already champion of Italy with

. He also debuted with

in the first team on March 19, 1995, in Serie C1, playing against

(1-1), in the second half of the 1994-1995 season under the coach Luigi Mascalaito.

In total, he made 7 appearances, scoring 2 goals that were a double in the home of

(2-2), his future club. However, at the end of the regular season, Modena was forced to participate in the playoffs to avoid relegation. Toni also took part in the two play-off matches, played against Massese (0-2 in Modena and 2-2 in Massa, with another goal), failing to avoid the relegation, but cancelled, thanks to the repechage after the exclusion of Crevalcore.

In 1995-1996, he was selected for the following C1 league competition, and he managed to show good performances in the league with a personal score of 5 goals. He then joined the newly promoted Empoli in Serie B, where he played just 3 games in the league, with the first goal scored in the match against Ravenna, winning a second consecutive promotion to Serie A with Luciano Spalletti on the bench.

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Luca Toni Profile

Ultimately purchased by the Tuscans, in 1997 he went to Fiorenzuola, returning to Serie C1 and playing 26 games with 2 goals, he was often relegated to reserve by Alberto Cavasin and, because of the bad season, thought about retiring from playing football. Back to

, he moved to Lodigiani, again in C1.

With the Roman team coached by coach Guido Attardi, in which he was wanted by manager Rinaldo Sagramola, he scored 15 goals in 31 games. At the end of the league, Empoli purchased him for 600 million liras to sell him to Treviso, with whom he played the Serie B in 1999-2000 (35 games, 15 goals).

The doors of the Serie A were then opened to him, where he made his debut when he was purchased by the newly promoted Vicenza. Now stay tuned as in this section of Luca Toni biography we want to share some information about his

career.

Vicenza and Brescia

He made his debut in Serie A on 1 October 2000 with Vicenza, at the age of 23, in the match against

. In his first season, he scored 9 goals in 31 matches, which however were not enough for the Vicenza team to avoid relegation.

He then transferred, to Carlo Mazzone's

on 12 July, for 30 billion lire, the most expensive purchase in the history of Brescia. He played at the Lombardi team for two years, playing a good first season topped by 13 goals, while the second season ended with a poor haul of 2 goals and a long injury. His overall record in the two seasons played with the Brescia was 15 goals in 44 games.

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Palermo

Purchased by President Zamparini's Palermo in June 2003, at just 26 years old he agreed to move down a division, as the team had to play in the Serie B. He was the top scorer in this league with 30 goals in 45 games, helping the Sicily team to be promoted to the top level with the first place in the 2003-2004 Serie B; he became the most prolific player in a single season for the Rosanero.

He also played the following edition in Serie A with the Sicily team, scoring 20 goals in 35 games and contributing fundamentally to the final 6th place in the table, thus qualifying for the UEFA Cup. This season he also managed to establish himself in the top flight. In the meantime, he had joined the national team.

Fiorentina

In the summer of 2005, he moved from Palermo to

for 10 million euros. On 27 August, the day of his debut, he scored his first goal in the purple jersey on a penalty kick, contributing to the 2-1 victory over

. In January 2006, he was awarded the Telegatto as the best sportsman.

At the end of the season, he became the top scorer in the league with 31 goals, surpassing the record of goals in a single season in Fiorentina by Kurt Hamrin and Gabriel Omar Batistuta. He also won the Golden Shoe, becoming the first Italian ever to win it. The Viola finished fourth in the league (74 points), but after the verdict of Calciopoli, they finished ninth with 44 points (-30).

The following season he experienced some physical problems, which forced him to skip several matches. He still scored 16 goals in 29 appearances. Now stay tuned as in this section of Luca Toni biography we want to share some information about his Munich career.

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Bayern Munich

On 30 May 2007, he moved to German club

for 11 million euros. At the age of 30, he left Italy and was presented to the press on 8 June, along with future teammate and new Bayern acquisition Franck Ribéry. Toni's Bundesliga debut with Bayern Munich came on 11 August against Hansa Rostock, in which he scored his first goal in Germany in the 13th minute, contributing to the 3-0 victory.

On 20 September he also made his European debut, playing in the UEFA Cup against Belenenses; in this match, he scored the only goal that allowed Bayern to win the match. He was also decisive in the UEFA Cup quarter-finals on 10 April 2008 against Getafe: he scored in the second extra time the third goal for Bayern Munich that gave the Bavarians qualification in the final minutes.

On 19 April 2008, he scored a decisive double in the German Cup final against Borussia Dortmund. On the day before this match, coach Ottmar Hitzfeld called him "a goal-scoring animal who never wants to rest". On 4 May 2008, Bayern Munich became German champion thanks to a 0-0 draw against Wolfsburg. He ended the season as top scorer in the Bundesliga with 24 goals and in the UEFA Cup with 10 goals (39 total goals, in the league, UEFA Cup and German Cup).

The following season he made 25 appearances and scored 14 goals in the league, 2 in the German Cup and 8 in the Champions League.

Injured throughout the following pre-season, on 18 September 2009 he played with the second team in the third league, which lost 5-0 against Jahn Regensburg. Between September 2009 and January 2010 he collected only 8 appearances and 1 goal, partly due to a poor relationship with coach Louis Van Gaal.

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Roma

On 31 December 2009, the website of Bayern Munich, who won the league and the national cup at the end of the season, officially announced the player's transfer to Roma on a free loan until 30 June 2010. The player would receive €3.1 million gross plus any individual bonuses based on the achievement of certain goals. On the same day of his introduction, he made his unofficial debut with the Roma shirt at the Stadio Flaminio against Cisco Roma in front of 12,000 Giallorossi supporters.

A few days later, on 6 January 2010, he also made his Serie A debut with the Roma team, playing the last ten minutes of Cagliari vs Roma, replacing Mirko Vučinić. On 17 January 2010, he scored a brace against Genoa, his first goals in Giallorossi. He ended the season with 5 goals in total, including one against Inter in the Curva Sud (2-1) in a very important match in the Scudetto battle. He played as a starter in the Coppa Italia final lost 1-0 to the Nerazzurri.

He returned to Bayern Munich for the end of his loan, and on 16 June 2010, he mutually terminated his contract with the Germans.

Genoa

On 6 July 2010, Toni signed a two-year contract with the Genoa team for around €4 million per season, making him the highest-paid player in the club's history.

He scored his first goal with the Genoa shirt against Parma on a penalty kick on the 3rd day of the league played on 19 September 2010. On 20 October he scored twice in the Coppa Italia against Grosseto Calcio and, the following 24 November, against L.R. Vicenza. He remained at Genoa until January 2011, playing 16 times in the league and twice in the Coppa Italia, scoring a total of seven goals.

He was subjected to protests by the Genoa fans and President Enrico Preziosi. At the end of the year, Preziosi publicly declared in the national press: "A rating for Toni? 3. Like the goals he scored in the league."

On 7 January 2011 Juventus announced that they had reached an agreement with Genoa for the free transfer of the player, during the same winter transfer window, and he was signed with a lower salary until 2012 and chose jersey number 20. He made his debut with the Juventus jersey two days later, playing as a starter in the away match against Napoli, where Juventus lost 3-0. On 5 February he scored his 100th goal in Serie A and his first goal in Juventus in the away game against Cagliari won by the Bianconeri 3-1. He ended the second half of the season with 14 appearances and 2 goals in the league and one appearance in the Coppa Italia for a total of 15 appearances and 2 goals.

The following season he was relegated to the sidelines of the future champion team, as he was not part of the technical plans of new coach Antonio Conte. He did, however, score his first-ever goal at Juventus Stadium in the friendly match against Notts County (1-1).

Al Nasr

On 30 January 2012, he transferred permanently to Al Nasr in Dubai. On his debut with the new jersey, he scored the decisive 2-1 goal in the away win against Ajman on the 13th day of the UAE League. On 7 March, he also made his debut in the Asian Champions League in the first match of the group stage lost 1-0 away against Iranian side Sepahan.

At the end of the season, after 13 appearances and 5 goals scored, 8 in the UAE Pro-League, 2 in the Etisalat Emirates Cup and 3 in the AFC Champions League, he mutually agreed to terminate his contract with the Arab team.

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Return to Fiorentina

On 31 August 2012, the last day of the transfer window, at the age of 35 he was signed as a free agent by Fiorentina coached by Vincenzo Montella, with whom, five years after his last game in the purple, he signed a one-year contract; he also regained his old shirt number, 30. He scored his first goal after returning with the Fiorentina jersey on his debut after 87 seconds, on the third day of the league, against Catania (2-0 win). He ended the season with 8 goals in 27 league appearances.

Now stay tuned as in this section of

Luca Toni biography

we want to share some information about his Verona career.

Verona

After his contract with Fiorentina expired, he signed for Hellas Verona in the summer of 2013 at the age of 36. On 24 August, on the first day of the league, he scored a double to help the Verona team overcome AC Milan. He ended the tournament with 20 goals, surpassing the records of Gianni Bui and Domenico Penzo (both with 15) for the most goals in a single season with the Verona team.

On 14 December 2014, he scored his 300th professional goal as a professional in the match against Udinese. On 26 April 2015, scoring two goals against Sassuolo, he became the club's most prolific scorer in the top flight: he surpassed Mascetti, who scored 35 goals from 1968 to 1979. He finished his second season at Verona as the league's top scorer with 22 goals in 38 games, equalling Mauro Icardi. In addition, he was the first Italian to stand out in the list with two different teams: in an absolute sense, he shares this record with Zlatan Ibrahimovic and Ciro Immobile.

In his third and final season at Verona, he played less but still scored 6 goals in 23 league games. Scoring in the Veronese derby on 20 February 2016, he announced his retirement the following May. His last career game was the 2-1 win against Juventus on 8 May 2016, in which at almost 39 years old he scored his 157th goal in Serie A on a penalty kick.

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Italy National team

Luca made his debut for the Italian national team against Iceland on 18 August 2004, at the age of 27, which was rather late for a footballer.

In all, Luca Toni played 15 matches for the Italian national team in 2004 and 2005, scoring 6 goals, including a hat-trick against Belarus on 7 September 2005, in qualifying for the 2006 World Cup. Toni was one of the 23 Italians summoned by Marcello Lippi to play in the World Cup. In spite of a difficult start to the World Cup, the Italian number 9 scored a brace against Ukraine, which was reminiscent of the 1982 World Cup and striker Paolo Rossi. The Italy national team won the tournament by beating France in the final on penalties.

Marcello Lippi's successor as a coach, Roberto Donadoni, recalled Toni to take on Ukraine and Georgia in the Euro 2008 qualifiers on 7 and 11 October 2006. In the return phase of the matches, Toni scored goal after goal, against Scotland in particular, which was a crucial match for qualification and then against the Faroe Islands.

At Euro 2008, Luca Toni was experiencing the same syndrome as at the 2006 World Cup, with 0 goals scored in 3 group matches. To put an end to the curse, he decided to grow a moustache before the quarter-final against Spain, announcing that he would only shave it off if he scored. Luca Toni was not selected for the 2010 World Cup.

Style of Play

A physically strong forward, he was skilled in aerial play and possessed great finishing skills. Blessed with great charisma, he was able to shoot well with both feet and was an excellent scorer. He also has scored several acrobatic goals throughout his career.

Reception

Despite playing almost the first half of his club career in Italian lower leagues, Luca Toni managed to establish himself as one of the best Italian strikers of his generation and find his way all the way to becoming World Cup champion with his country.

Goal Celebration

Luca Toni's special and trademark goal celebration that he did many times after scoring goals was when he seemed to "unscrew" his ear with his right hand. The implied message of this hand movement was: "Avete capito" ("Did you get that?").

Luca Toni outside Football

In 2009, while playing for Bayern Munich, the song Numero Uno (Number One), performed by German television host Matthias Matze Knop, was dedicated to him. The song in Germany became a major hit, remaining on the charts for nine weeks.

In 2011 Luca Toni starred in the video clip Heroes by the Emilian band Controtempo, playing the role of a coach of a team of disabled athletes.

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Luca Toni Personal Life

In this section of Luca Toni biography, we will take a deeper look into his personal life and share some information about

Luca Toni life story

and

Luca Toni religion

.

Family, Children and Relationships

Toni has been the ambassador of the telephone brand Alcatel, together with his wife Marta Cecchetto for which he has filmed numerous commercials. On June 1, 2012, their first child was born dead, a situation that initially made him think about retiring from playing soccer. On June 20, 2013, he became the father of Bianca and, subsequently, on July 30, 2014, the two became parents of Leonardo. The couple, engaged since 2003, married on September 9, 2017, in the Tuscan hills near Fiesole.

In 2010, he declared to be "Catholic, with a broad faith concept." And in 2019, he revealed to have center-right political ideas, as well as being a supporter of Matteo Salvini, actively participating in his electoral initiatives.

Philanthropy

Luca Toni is one of the footballers who always liked to participate in charity events and especially during his time in Munich, we saw him participate at UNESCO charity gala.

Legal Issues

As a result of his failure to pay the ecclesiastical tax, which was in force in Germany in 2007, on March 25, 2015, he was sentenced to pay 1.7 million euros (debt of 1.5 million-plus 200,000 euros in interest); following the appeal, on December 23, 2015, the Munich Court of Appeal issued a final judgment condemning his German accountants, who were found guilty of not having adequately informed him, to pay Toni 1.25 million euros in damages, thus reducing the amount owed by the footballer to 450,000 euros.

Luca Toni Career Statistics

In this section of Luca Toni biography, we will take a look at his career stats on international and also club level.

Club

Between 1994 and 2016, Luca Toni played a total of 658 matches in all competitions and managed to score 306 goals. He was a prolific scorer in all of the clubs he has played, but his performances at Bayern Munich, Palermo, Fiorentina and Verona are worth mentioning.

International

After making his debut for Italian national team as he was 27 years old, Luca Toni managed to play 47 matches for his country and score 16 goals. His best year with Italy national team was 2005 when he scored 6 goals in 10 matches.

Luca Toni Honors

Other than winning Serie B with Palermo, Luca Toni has won all of his club title with Bayern Munich which includes Bundesliga, DFB Pokal and DFB-Ligapokal.

He has also won the 2006 World Cup with the Italian national team.

Of his many individual titles and awards, we can include Serie B Top Scorer, Pallone d'Argento, Serie A Top Scorer, European Golden Shoe, FIFA World Cup All-Star Team, Bundesliga Top Scorer, UEFA Cup Top Scorer and many others.

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