Angelo Peruzzi Biography

Angelo Peruzzi, born 16 February 1970 in Viterbo, is an Italian former footballer who played as a goalkeeper for many Italian clubs and also the Italian national team. He was raised in

and played only sixteen games in the club's senior team over four seasons. When he was twenty-one years old, he switched to Juventus, initially as a replacement for Stefano Tacconi.

He earned a place in the starting eleven at the beginning of the 1992-1993 season and remained there for nine years, and while his rivals for a place in the starting line-up included Michelangelo Rampulla and Andreas Isaksson, he was the starting goalkeeper throughout the 1990s.

In addition to countless team achievements during this time (including three national titles, the UEFA Cup, the Champions League, the Intercontinental Cup and the European Super Cup), he earned many individual honours, such as being named Serie A's best goalkeeper twice (1997 and 1998).

Along with his coach Marcello Lippi, he left Juventus for

in 1999, which was not a successful season (4th in the league) and he moved to the Italian champions S.S. Lazio at the start of the next season.

Notwithstanding serious financial problems, that caused the sale of the best players and thus the fall of Lazio from the top of the Italian Serie A, Peruzzi was with the team for seven years. He ended his career there on 19 July 2007 at the age of 37. Only a few weeks earlier, he received his third award for being the best goalkeeper in the league.

All You Need to Know About Angelo Peruzzi Biography

His debut for the Italian national team came in March 1995, against Estonia in the Euro 1996 qualifying match. Between 1995 and 1997 he was the first goalkeeper of the national team, playing in all three Euro 1996 games and in the qualification for the 1998 World Cup (7 games out of 10). In total, he has played 31 matches for the Italian national team.

Angelo Peruzzi Information

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Angelo Peruzzi biography

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Angelo Peruzzi nationality

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Angelo Peruzzi Bio

• Full Name: Angelo Peruzzi

• Nickname: Big Bear

• Profession: Professional Footballer

Angelo Peruzzi Physical Stats

• Weight: 88 Kg

• Height: 1.80 m

• Eye Color: Brown

• Hair Color: Dark Brown

Angelo Peruzzi Football Information

• Position: Goalkeeper

• Jersey Number: 1

• Professional Debut: 1987

Angelo Peruzzi Date of Birth and Personal Info

• Date of Birth: 16 February 1970

• Birth Place: Blera, Viterbo, Italy

• Zodiac Sign: Aquarius

• Nationality: Italian

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Angelo Peruzzi biography

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Angelo Peruzzi childhood

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Angelo Peruzzi Early Life

Peruzzi grew up in Roma's youth ranks and debuted in Serie A at the age of seventeen on 13 December 1987, taking the place of first-choice goalkeeper Franco Tancredi, who was injured by a firecracker thrown from the stands.

Peruzzi continued as Tancredi's back up the following season, appearing twelve times in the league, seven times in the Coppa Italia and once in the UEFA Cup.

When he was nineteen years old in the 1989-90 season, he was loaned to

, where he was a regular starter and made 29 appearances. However, at the end of the season, Verona was relegated to Serie B, but Peruzzi later stated that experience was a fundamental one for him, above all for his growth.

Angelo Peruzzi Profile

Peruzzi returned to Roma for the 1990-91 season, this time as a regular starter. Nevertheless, after three matches, he was caught up in a doping case along with Andrea Carnevale, where he tested positive for phentermine (an appetite suppressant), for which he received a one-year suspension.

Stay tuned to this section of Angelo Peruzzi biography as we will share some information about Juventus career.

Juventus

After his suspension ended, Peruzzi was transferred to Juventus for a fee of 4.5 billion lire to play the 1991-92 season. Peruzzi's first season with the Bianconeri was spent as an alternate for Stefano Tacconi - their captain, who was playing his last season at the club - and he managed to make six appearances in the league and six in the Coppa Italia.

Starting the following season, Peruzzi secured his place as the first-choice goalkeeper and became a key member of the team. A year later, he had his first international success, winning the UEFA Cup. The following year, he won his first scudetto, at the same time as winning the Coppa Italia and the Supercoppa Italia.

Peruzzi went on to win the 1996 UEFA Champions League; he saved two decisive penalty kicks in the final against

, which was crucial to winning the Champions League, after regulation and extra time ended 1-1.

In that final, Peruzzi made a mistake that cost Ajax an equaliser: "If we hadn't won, I believe I would have been crucified for the rest of my career," the goalkeeper recalled. "Fortunately I had the opportunity to redeem myself during the penalty shoot-out."

In the same year, he was named vice-captain of the team, secured the European Super Cup and the Intercontinental Cup respectively against Paris Saint-Germain and

.

Throughout the 1996-97 and 1997-98 seasons, he claimed two consecutive Italian league championships and an Italian Super Cup, made two consecutive Champions League finals, however, the team failed to win the trophy on either occasion.

In 1997 he won the Guerin d'Oro - tied with Gianluca Pagliuca - and two consecutive

Goalkeeper of the Year awards, in addition to a second and ninth place in the IFFHS World Goalkeeper of the Year rankings for his performances. His last appearance in the Bianconeri jersey came in 1998-99 when he made 301 appearances in the league, domestic cup and international competitions for Juventus.

Inter Milan

Peruzzi was transferred to Inter Milan for the 1999-2000 season, at the same time as his coach at Juventus, Marcello Lippi. While wearing the Nerazzurri jersey, he had an excellent performance making thirty-three appearances in the league and four in the Coppa Italia.

Following the end of the season, Sébastien Frey - who was also a top performer at the time - moved back to Inter, while Peruzzi was transferred to Lazio for 17.9 million euros.

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Angelo Peruzzi biography

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Lazio

At

, he also had a high level of performance. With the biancoceleste club, he stayed for seven years, playing more than two hundred matches and winning two trophies: the 2000 Italian Super Cup against Inter (4-3) and the 2003-04

against Juventus (2-0 and 2-2 in the two finals).

While defending the Lazio goal - on some occasions wearing the captain's armband - he played in the UEFA Champions League on three occasions and, in the local league, he twice came third and once fourth. With regard to the Lazio team of 2001, which was according to Peruzzi "the strongest team" at the time, the goalkeeper claimed: "We were a team that could achieve a lot, but we achieved very few things.

Peruzzi announced his retirement from football on 29 April 2007 following a Roma-Lazio derby, which finished in a goalless draw.24 At the age of thirty-seven, the last appearance of his playing career was in the final minutes of the Lazio-Parma match (0-0) on 20 May 2007, where he stepped in during the final minutes to bid farewell to the club and its fans.

He was named Serie A Goalkeeper of the Year that same year. After 620 professional appearances (478 of them in Serie A), he retired from playing football.

Italy National Team

He became part of the national Under-21 team at the end of 1988, when he was summoned by Cesare Maldini for the friendly match against

on 21 December, ending 8-0. His debut with the Azzurrini was on 18 January 1989, again in a friendly match, in the 2-2 draw against Turkey.

During the 1990 European Championship qualifiers, Italy's goal was initially entrusted to Valerio Fiori and Giuseppe Gatta, but Peruzzi was given the starting role in the final phase of the tournament, where

was knocked out by Yugoslavia in the semi-finals.

After serving his disqualification at the end of 1990, he was included in the squad for the victorious 1992 European Championship, acting as a reserve for Francesco Antonioli. During the same year, he participated, again as Antonioli's backup, in the 1992 Olympic tournament in Barcelona, in which Italy was knocked out by the hosts

in the quarter-finals.

He played 10 times for the Italy Under-21 team and conceded 8 goals and 2 times for the Olympic selection (with 1 goal conceded).

He was left out of the squad for the 1994 World Cup at the last minute when Luca Bucci was selected as the third goalkeeper, and debuted with the senior national team on 25 March 1995, in the Italy-Estonia match (4-1), which was a qualifier for the 1996 European Championship.

He alternated goalkeeping duties with Gianluca Pagliuca, and following a period in which he was appointed by coach Arrigo Sacchi as the first-choice keeper, he went on to defend the Azzurri goal during the European Championship, where Italy ended up being knocked out of the competition in the group stage.

As with his club career, injuries limited his appearances in the national team. He missed the 1998 World Cup in

, for which he was named in the starting line-up by Cesare Maldini, because of an injury suffered just a few days before the start of the World Cup.

He was replaced by Pagliuca. Angelo was confirmed as a starter by the new coach, Dino Zoff, but later on, he was replaced by the newly emerging Gianluigi Buffon and Francesco Toldo. Not happy with the fact that he would be the third goalkeeper (behind Buffon and Toldo) at Euro 2000, Peruzzi decided not to accept Zoff's call-up. He also missed out on the 2002 World Cup.

He returned to the national team in 2004, following a five-year absence, with Giovanni Trapattoni as head coach at the time, when he accepted a place as a third-choice goalkeeper at Euro 2004. Peruzzi's last competition with the Azzurri was the 2006 World Cup, as the second goalkeeper behind Buffon and with

as a coach, in which Italy won the championship.

Although he did not play any minutes on the pitch, Peruzzi was an important figure in the team, and earned the appreciation of his teammates; Peruzzi said: "Winning the World Cup was a great joy, a once in a lifetime experience". Following that competition, he retired from the national team, after playing in 31 matches.

Coach and manager

From 2008 to 2010, Peruzzi was a member of the Italian national team as an assistant coach to Lippi. Peruzzi was then named assistant coach of the Italy Under-21 national team on 22 October 2010, in the coaching staff of Ciro Ferrara.

From July 2012 they switched to Sampdoria, with Peruzzi serving as an assistant coach, but following some disappointing results, the duo left in December of the same year.

Peruzzi returned to Lazio in July 2016 as a director, taking on the role of club manager of the Roman team. Stay tuned to this section of Angelo Peruzzi biography as we will share some information about his coaching style.

Style of Play

Nicknamed Big Bear because of his remarkable muscular strength, Peruzzi was a goalkeeper with a wide range of skills, with a good grip, quick reflexes and a perfect sense of positioning. He was a talented player, cool and technically sound, who excelled in low exits - a technique in which he had very few equals in the world -, but also excelled between the posts, with great acrobatic skills which earned him, at a young age, the comparison with the tightrope walker Luciano Castellini.

However, in clear contrast to this ability, he was not used to making flashy moves: In fact, he believed that reducing his dives to a minimum, while moving a lot on the goal line, would make his saves much easier, providing a psychological advantage against the attackers.

Reception

Considered as one of the best Italian goalkeepers of his generation, Peruzzi was the main goalkeeper of Italy national team between 1995 and 1998. With some great goalkeeping skills, many believe that he could have contributed more to the Italian national team.

Angelo Peruzzi outside Football

As the former goalkeeper of Roma, Juventus, Lazio and the Italy national team, Angelo Peruzzi, was elected town councillor, deputy mayor and councillor for sport in Blera, in the province of Viterbo, the town where he was born and where he went back to live after retiring from competitive sport. He was a candidate in the centre-right civic list supporting Francesco Ciarlanti, who has been elected mayor with 43.5%.

Apart from football, Angelo's real passion is fishing, underwater or from land. His favourite city is Madrid.

He loves Formula 1 and Ferrari in particular, he is fond of reading books on Etruscan history, he is a good eater, his favourite dish is apparently chicken broth, on the contrary, he hates aubergines and is allergic to broad beans.

Angelo Peruzzi Personal Life

In this section of Angelo Peruzzi biography, we will take a look into his personal life, sharing some information about things like

Angelo Peruzzi religion

and

Angelo Peruzzi life story

.

Family, Children and Relationships

Angelo Peruzzi is married to Mrs Alessandra, and has a daughter, Alessia, born on 22 May 1997, on the same day that Angelo played in the

final with Juventus; his second child and only son, Mattia was born on 10 July 2002 and following the footsteps of his father, started a career as a goalkeeper. He is now playing for Tiferno is Serie D - E. Angelo Peruzzi also has a bigger sister named Barbara.

Philanthropy

During his football career, Angelo Peruzzi has always been part of many charitable projects. On one occasion, he played in the charity football match between National Singers and Team Ale 10+ in May 2009 in Turin.

Legal Issues

There aren’t reports of any legal issues or disputes regarding the famous Italian goalie in the media at the time of writing this article.

Angelo Peruzzi Career Statistics

In this section of Angelo Peruzzi biography, we will take a look into the player’s career on the international and club level. Stay tuned.

Club

During his playing days, he appeared in a total of 615 matches for many Italian clubs, most notably for Juventus and Lazio.

International

He was part of the Italian national team between 1995 and 2005, making a total of 31 appearances for his country, however, between 2000 and 2003 he didn’t play a single match for Italy.

Angelo Peruzzi Honors

He is one of the most decorated Italian goalkeepers, having won many titles and awards including Serie A, Coppa Italia, UEFA Champions League, UEFA Cup, Intercontinental Cup and FIFA World Cup with Italy, among some others.

His individual awards list includes Guerin d'Oro, ESM Team of the Year and Serie A Goalkeeper of the Year.

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