Alberto Gilardino Biography

Alberto Gilardino, born in Biella on 5 July 1982, is an Italian former professional football player who usually played as a striker. He spent most of his club career at Fiorentina and played for the Italian national football team from 2004 to 2013, playing 57 international matches and scoring 19 goals. In the 1999/00 season, Gilardino made his professional football debut in the Piacenza Calcio shirt.

Following two seasons at Hellas Verona, he scored 50 goals in three seasons at Parma FC. He played a significant part in the club's stay in Serie A in 2004/05. After that season Gilardino moved to AC Milan and scored 36 goals in the league. In May 2008, due to disappointing performances in his third season with Milan, he was sold to Fiorentina, where he signed a five-year contract.

After playing 118 games and scoring 48 goals, Gilardino was sold to Genoa for around eight million euros on 4 January 2012. 2] Gilardino played fourteen games for Genoa in his first season, which led to him being loaned out to Bologna FC a year later. Following his return, however, he became a key player at Genoa.

In July 2014, Gilardino switched to Genoa for Guangzhou Evergrande FC, which paid around €5,000,000 for him. He returned to Italy six months later, where he played for Fiorentina on a loan basis until the end of the season. Afterward, Gilardino made his permanent comeback in Serie A after the season by signing a contract with Palermo.

All You Need to Know About Alberto Gilardino Biography

Gilardino participated with the Italian Olympic Football Team in the 2004 Olympic Games in Athens. Led by coach Claudio Gentile, the team won the bronze medal by beating Iraq 1-0 in the third-place playoff. On September 4, 2004, Gilardino played his first-ever Italian national team match against Norway. He was part of the selection that won the 2006 World Cup. He played five matches during the tournament and scored one goal.

Alberto Gilardino Information

Now that we know the Italian striker much better, in this section of

Alberto Gilardino biography

we will share more general information about him such as

Alberto Gilardino nationality

to let you know him even better.

Alberto Gilardino Bio

• Full Name: Alberto Gilardino

• Nickname: Gila

• Profession: Professional Footballer

Alberto Gilardino Physical Stats

• Weight: 79 Kg

• Height: 1.84 m

• Eye Color: Dark Brown

• Hair Color: Brown

Alberto Gilardino Football Information

• Position: Striker

• Jersey Number: 9

• Professional Debut: 1999

Alberto Gilardino Date of Birth and Personal Info

• Date of Birth: 5 July 1982

• Birth Place: Biella, Italy

• Zodiac Sign: Cancer

• Nationality: Italian

Now stay tuned to this section of

Alberto Gilardino biography

as we want to share some info about

Alberto Gilardino childhood

.

Alberto Gilardino Early Life

Born and raised in Cossato, in the province of Biella, he began playing with Cossatese, the team of his hometown, where he played until the Under-15 category of the Giovanissimi. After spending another year in the youth team of Biellese under the supervision of Luca Prina, he joined Piacenza, where he developed his skills in the Allievi and Primavera teams, and then he made it to the first team.

The coach Luigi Simoni introduced him to Serie A at the age of 17, on 6 January 2000 in

versus Milan match. Piacenza's campaign ended with their relegation to Serie B, but Gilardino nevertheless managed to put himself in the spotlight by scoring 3 goals in 17 league appearances.

Alberto Gilardino Profile

In the summer of 2000, Alberto Gilardino joined

as joint ownership with Piacenza for a fee of 9 billion lire. The player, who came to prominence in Serie A at only 18 years of age, demonstrated his qualities, dynamism, physique, and personality in Verona, as well as his weaknesses, a lack of flair for scoring goals and occasional nightlife habits, creating the impression that he was a player with great potential but still a bit immature. In fact, he managed to win a place in the Under 21 and the interest of big clubs such as Roma and Parma.

He was involved in a terrible car accident in the spring of 2001 and sustained a bruised back that forced him to miss the last few matches of the season. He moved to Parma after two years at Verona, where he met former Gialloblu coach Prandelli.

Now stay tuned to this section of

Alberto Gilardino biography

as we want to share some info about his Parma career.

Parma

He switched to

in 2002, upon the strong wish of coach Prandelli. With the Parma team, he played his first European cup match, scoring his first international goal in the 2003-04 season. On 16 May 2004, on the 34th matchday of Serie A, Gilardino was the star player of his team as he scored 4 goals against Udinese Calcio to help his team win 4-3. That season, in the league, he scored 23 goals, leading the team to the Champions League.

The next season, once again in the 34th matchday of Seria, he scored another four goals for Parma, this time in the 6-4 win over AS Livorno. Gilardino scored 23 times in the 2004-05 season, which helped the team to reach the play-offs. In the return match against Bologna, he scored the goal of the final 2-0 which certified Parma's survival.

During the three seasons he was playing with Parma, he appeared in a total of 116 matches in all competitions, scored 56 goals, and gave 2 assists to his teammates.

AC Milan

After demonstrating his great abilities previously at Parma, Gilardino moved to the strong Milan team of Nesta, Maldini, Kaká, Shevchenko, Inzaghi, and others. He played his first

match on 28 August 2005 in the first Serie A match of the season against Ascoli, where he played the whole 90 minutes. A few days later, he also played his first Champions League match against Fenerbahce, when he came on to replace Christian Vieri in the 78th minute.

His first European goal for AC Milan came on against RSC

in the Group H match of the 2006/2007 season. In that match, he was the star player of his team as he also gave two assists to his teammates. He scored another goal in that year’s Champions League campaign in the second leg of the semi-final against Manchester United.

In his last season at AC Milan, he scored a brace against Shakhtar Donetsk in the Group D of the UEFA Champions League. In his first season at Milan, Gilardino scored 17 goals and assisted 8 times to his teammates. However, in his second season, he was less productive at AC Milan, managing to score only 12 goals and provide 4 assists.

Gilardino had two quite good seasons, especially the first one, 2005/2006. However, the third season was less successful and some people refer to it as a "black season", which is somewhat exaggerated because he was able to score 7 goals and provide 5 assists in Serie A.

During his time at Milan, he made a name for himself on the European stage by scoring in the Champions League semi-final against Manchester United and also on the world stage by winning the Club World Championship with Milan and the 2006 World Cup with the Italian national team (he scored a goal in this World Cup). He was signed by

in May 2008.

In total, as an AC Milan player, Alberto Gilardino played in a total of 132 matches, scored 44 goals, and provided 21 assists to his teammates. Now stay tuned to this section of Alberto Gilardino biography as we want to share some info about his Fiorentina career.

Fiorentina

Just after the end of the 2007-08 season, Pantaleo Corvino (sporting director of Fiorentina) announced the purchase of the player by Fiorentina. The Italian club paid 14 million euros to secure the striker, who said he was immediately enthusiastic about the new experience. During his debut in the purple, he scored a goal against Slavia Prague in the first leg of the

preliminaries: the lily-livered team won 2-0. On the first day of the league, on 31 August, he scored the goal that resulted in a draw against Juventus.

He scored a double on 18 October against Reggina, reaching the 100-goal mark in Serie A. He set a record at this start of the season: he became one of the Italian players to have scored the most goals in the first 26 years of his age since the post-war period, only preceded by the Oriundo Altafini with 117 goals and followed by Roberto Baggio and Gigi Riva with 92 goals. At this start of the season, he set a record.

He received a two-day suspension from the sporting judge through television evidence on 27 October 2008 for serious unsportsmanlike conduct, for deliberately scoring a goal by hand, which was not witnessed by match director Morganti, during Fiorentina's 3-1 home win over Palermo. On several occasions Gilardino reiterated the unintentional nature of the move, blaming it on the intervention of defender Dellafiore, who was marking him.

He scored a brace in Fiorentina's 4-1 home win over

on 25 April 2009 and achieved the quota of 100 goals scored in the last 6 years: only Eto'o, Henry, and Toni scored more in the same period in Europe. The season ended with 35 appearances and 19 goals, and he reached 4th place in the goalscorer's table (2nd place not considering penalties) and was instrumental in Fiorentina's 4th place in the league.

In the Champions League 2009-2010 season he scored at Anfield in the second half of the match when Fiorentina won 2-1 over

and qualified for the Round of 16 as the first in the group. He scored 10 goals in the purple shirt in European competitions, matching Batistuta's record. He defined this goal as the most important of his career. His season ended with 4 goals in 9 Champions League games and 15 in the league with 36 appearances.

On 27 February 2011, in the 2010-2011 season, he scored the ninth goal in the league and the 200th in his professional career (138 in Serie A, 8 in the Coppa Italia, 13 in the Champions League, 5 in the UEFA Cup, 17 in the national team, 15 in the Under-21 team and 4 in the Olympic national team).

On 6 March 2011, he scored in Fiorentina against the Catania match which ended 3-0; it was his 44th goal in Serie A with the Fiorentina jersey, bringing him to 10th place among Fiorentina scorers and 30th place in the all-time scorers list. He finished the season with 35 appearances and 12 goals in the league.

On 21 August he marked the first goal of the season in the Coppa Italia match between Fiorentina and Cittadella, which ended 2-1. He scored his first league goal of the season on the second day against Bologna. He netted another goal on 17 December after 9 minutes, reaching 170 goals. He made 12 appearances with 2 goals in the league for this part of the season in Florence.

Genoa

His move to

was made official on 3 January 2012 for €8 million. He chose the number 82 with the red shirt, as the number 11 was occupied by Boško Janković. He debuted with the new shirt on 8 January 2012, in the league match between Cagliari and Genoa, which ended 3-0 in favor of the home team. He scored his first goal with the red and blue jersey on Sunday 29 January in the match against Napoli at Luigi Ferraris stadium.

He scored his first goal with a penalty kick, wearing the red and blue jersey, in San Siro, against Inter (the match ended 5-4 for Nerazzurri). He netted his fourth goal on Sunday 13 May against Palermo (2-0), which helped the Ligurian team reach safety with a 6-point lead over the relegation zone while making 14 league appearances.

Reported for the events of Genoa-Siena match which ended 1-4 in the 2011-2012 season and which involved pressure from the fans at the stadium with the players having to take off their shirts, the Federal Prosecutor's Office on 6 October 2012 requested a fine of €30,000 for Gilardino and another 14 of his teammates.

Loan to Bologna and return to Genoa

Gilardino was loaned to Bologna on 31 August 2012 with the option to buy him out. He played his first match in the Emilian shirt on 1 September 2012, taking the place of Robert Acquafresca in the match against AC Milan. He scored his first two goals and provided the assist for Diamanti's goal on 16 September 2012, in his new team's 2-3 away win over Roma.

On 30 September 2012, he scored two more goals in the 4-0 victory against Catania, where he celebrated his 150th goal in

. He made a convincing start to the league, scoring 5 times in his first 5 games with the Bologna shirt. On 12 January 2013, he scored twice against Chievo in the 19th match of the season. In the match against Pescara on 3 February 2013, won in a comeback for 3-2, he won his 400th match in Serie A, and also scored the goal of the momentary 2-2, reaching 10 goals in the league.

In the home match against Sampdoria (1-1), he entered the history of Bologna on 21 April 2013, scoring the number 3000 goal in the history of the team in the leagues, since the 1929-1930 season. He collected 36 appearances scoring 13 goals in the league, but at the end of the season, he was not purchased and returned to Genoa.

Back to Genoa, in the summer he was declared not for sale by the president Enrico Preziosi, upon request of the former midfielder Fabio Liverani, who had just become the new red-blue coach. On 17 August he scored his first goal of the season against Spezia in the Coppa Italia, in the penalty shoot-out defeat after the 2-2 draw in regular time.

He scored his first goal in Rossoblù jersey on 20 October in the home match against Chievo Verona, won 2-1. He scored his eighth goal of the season on a penalty kick on 6 January 2014, scoring the historic 1-0 against Sassuolo, bringing Genoa to 500 Serie A victories. At the end of the season, he reached a total of 174 goals in Serie A, catching up with Amedeo Amadei in 13th place in the all-time top league scorers list. He completed the season with 36 appearances and 15 goals in the league.

Guangzhou Evergrande

The following 12 July 2014 Genoa announced that the club has sold the player to Guangzhou Evergrande for €5 million. He scored his first goal of the Asian adventure on 3 August in the match against Changchun Yatai, which was played on the 19th matchday of the Super League.

The next 13 August he scored his first double in the Guangzhou shirt versus Dalian Aerbin. He won the 2014 Chinese Super League on 2 November after a 1-1 draw against Shandong Luneng in the last matchday. His first season in China ended with 14 appearances and 5 goals in the league.

Return to Fiorentina

He returned to Fiorentina on 26 January 2015 with a loan deal until 30 June 2015, with a buy-back fee set at €1.5 million. He made his new debut on 31 January against Genoa (1-1). He scored again in the purple shirt on 26 April, in the match against Cagliari, netting his 175th Serie A goal.  He repeated the following 3 May, scoring the goal of the final 3-1 in the match against Cesena.

On 18 May he scored a goal against Parma, his previous team, in the victory of Fiorentina to 3-0. In his second experience with the purple shirt, he played 14 times and scored 4 goals; at the end of the season, the club decided not to purchase him, and consequently, the player returned to China.

Palermo

At 33 years of age, he joined Palermo on 27 August 2015 on a permanent basis. He debuted in the Rosanero shirt in the 2-2 draw against Carpi on 13 September. On October 4, he scored his first goal of the season in the home defeat against Roma (2-4), overtaking Giampiero Boniperti with 179 goals in the Serie A Top Scorers' table.

In the home match against Verona on 15 May, he scored the goal of the momentary 3-1, becoming the player who scored against more different teams in the history of Serie A. He finished the 2015-2016 Serie A season with Palermo with 11 goals scored, including 10 in the league, he reached the 188 goals scored by Giuseppe Signori and Alessandro Del Piero in the all-time Serie A top scorers list.

He was also the player who scored the most goals this season with a header (5), having done so against Chievo Verona, Frosinone (2), Fiorentina, and Hellas Verona. He scored his last goals in Serie A with Palermo.

Empoli and Pescara

He signed with Empoli on 7 July 2016, where he made 14 appearances in the first half of the season, while often starting from the bench, and scored only one goal in the Coppa Italia. He terminated his contract with Empoli on 9 January 2017 and instead signed a deal with Pescara, which was led by his former teammate and national team player Massimo Oddo.

He debuted with the Abruzzesi on 15 January, in the 3-1 loss to Napoli at the San Paolo. Hindered by some physical problems, he made only 3 appearances with Pescara, which relegated to

as last in the standings.

Spezia and retirement

When his contract with Pescara expired, he was a free agent for three months, until signing for Spezia on 3 October 2017, dropping down in category and wearing the number 10 shirt. He made his debut in Serie B, at 35 years old, in the 1-0 defeat against Cesena four days later.

His first goal in Serie B came from a penalty kick, in the home match against Frosinone. On 28 March 2018, in the away match against Cittadella, he gave the three points to Spezia with a double, scoring the decisive goal with a volley from a distant position: journalists and fans associated this feat to the goal scored by Marco van Basten against Russia during the 1988 European Championship; Gilardino himself stated to the press to consider the goal as one of the most beautiful of his career.

Altogether he scored 6 goals in 16 games helping the team to stay in the league in 10th place, after struggling for a long time for qualification to the promotion play-off. He terminated his contract with the club at the end of the season and on September 20, 2018, he announced his retirement from playing professional football.

Italy National Team

In 2004, Gilardino was the European champion with the Italian U-21 national team and won the bronze medal at the Summer Olympics in Athens. Gilardino's 19 goals make him the record scorer for Italy's U-21 youth team.

His first international appearance came in a World Cup qualifier against

on September 4, 2004, under the guidance of coach Marcello Lippi. Gilardino was part of Italy's World Cup squad at the 2006 World Cup in Germany, where he played five times and scored one goal. He was named to Italy's World Cup squad by coach Lippi in 2010. He started in the first two games of the group stage. In the decisive match against Slovakia (2:3) he was not fielded; with Italy being eliminated in the group stage.

Gilardino played his last international match on June 7, 2011, in a 2-0 friendly win over Ireland. Having been in the squad for the European Championship qualifiers against the Faroe Islands and Slovenia in September 2011, Gilardino was subsequently not called up for a year. He did not appear for the Italian national team again until February 6, 2013, in a friendly against the Netherlands.

His last presence in the national team is the qualifying match against Denmark played on October 11, 2013, in Copenhagen, since, despite the good season in the league with his club (in which he scored 15 goals), the coach Prandelli did not include him in the list of players called for the 2014

.

Now stay tuned to this section of Alberto Gilardino biography as we want to share some info about his career as a manager.

Managerial Career

Ended his career as a player at the age of 36 years, while having obtained the UEFA A and UEFA B coaching licenses, he was hired on October 7, 2018, by Rezzato, playing in Serie D, to serve as technical director and assistant coach to Luca Prina, who was also his coach in the Giovanissimi della Biellese in the 1996-1997 season.

Halfway through October, he replaced Prina on the bench, as he was suspended, leading Rezzato to the away victory against Caronnese. On February 28, 2019, he became head coach of the team, with Prina taking him over to the position of technical director. He finished the regular season in group B in fourth place with 65 points and in the play-off was knocked out in the semifinals of the group by Pro Sesto.

On July 11, 2019, he signed for the Pro Vercelli, a team playing in Serie C, thereby coaching for the first time in a professional league. The team finished 14th in round A and on 21 July 2020 he left the club.

On the following 8 September, he was officially announced as the new coach of Siena, which was playing in the Serie D. The next 11 January 2021, in agreement with the Tuscan company, he resigned as the head coach of Siena with the team in 2nd place with two games less than the leader Tiferno Lerchi. A month later he returned to the bench of the Tuscan club, after the negative period of the Latvian Marian Pahars, who slipped to 8th place with 9 points from the first team Trastevere.

Style of Play

He was an attacker who preferred to play in the penalty area, where he could exploit his timing and ability to protect the ball, making himself in position on the crosses of his teammates. Moreover, he was able to give depth to the team and to shoot with the first intention, to defend with the back to the goal, and to finish in the net. He was also skilled in headers and stunts. He was a natural right-footed player, but in the years at Parma, he partially improved also with his left.

Reception

With his record of goals scored in Serie A, many football fans and pundits widely regard him as one of the most prolific goal scorers in the history of Italian football.

Goal Celebration

Gilardino scored many goals during his career and we saw many different goal celebrations from the talented Italian striker, however, his classic violin goal celebration will be remembered forever by the fans of the clubs he has ever played for. After scoring, he celebrated by mimicking the action of playing the violin, so Parma fans dedicated the chorus "Gilardino, play us the violin."

Alberto Gilardino outside Football

As a player who loves football, it is apparent that his life is all about football, as much as that after retiring from playing, he needed just a few months to get back again to football, this time as manager. In his spare time, he spends time with his friends and family.

Alberto Gilardino Personal Life

In this section of Alberto Gilardino biography, we will take a deeper look into his personal life and share some information about things like

Alberto Gilardino life story

and

Alberto Gilardino religion

, stay tuned.

Family, Children, and Relationships

He married in 2009 with Alice Bregoli, and the couple has three daughters. Singer Povia dedicated an album to him titled Centravanti di mestiere.

Philanthropy

He has always been active in many charitable projects during his career. In 2014, Alberto Gilardino, together with his wife Alice, was involved in a beautiful act of solidarity in favor of the pediatric hospitals Gaslini in Genoa and Mayer in Florence. These two excellent facilities, in the cities that Gilardino holds most dear to his heart, help thousands of children every day.

Alberto and Alice Gilardino, parents of three beautiful little girls, lent their image to the new Zoppini jewelry campaign and their fee will be donated entirely to charity, to help the two hospitals.

Legal Issues

So far there is no report of legal issues or disputes regarding Alberto Gilardino on the media.

Alberto Gilardino Career Statistics

In this section of Alberto Gilardino biography, we will take a deeper look into his career stats, both as an international and club player.

Club

During his long club football career, where he played for many different football clubs, Gilardino made a total of 643 appearances in all competitions and scored 232 goals.

International

With the Italian national team, Alberto Gilardino has played a total of 57 matches and scored 19 goals.

Managerial

As a manager, he was the coach of three different teams in 67 matches, where they finished 31 times as winners, were drawn 14 times, and lost on 22 occasions, with a win ratio of 46.27.

Alberto Gilardino Honors

His only club level awards include the UEFA Champions League, UEFA Super Cup, and FIFA Club World Cup with AC Milan and the Chinese Super League with Guangzhou Evergrande.

He has also won the 2006 World Cup with the Italy national team and the UEFA European Under-21 Championship with the U21 team.

His personal level titles include Serie A Footballer of the Year and Serie A Young Footballer of the Year, among others.

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