Fabrizio Miccoli

Fabrizio Miccoli (born on 27 June 1979) is an Italian former professional footballer who played as a striker.

He scored 103 goals in 259 matches in Serie A across nine seasons, representing Perugia, Juventus, Fiorentina and Palermo, also spending time on loan to Benfica in Portugal.

He later spent two seasons with his hometown club Lecce in Lega Pro.

After playing at youth level with Milan, Miccoli returned to his native Puglia in 1995 to join Serie C1 team Casarano, where he made his professional debut at age 17.

He then agreed for a move to Serie B side Ternana in 1998, where he scored a total 32 goals in 4 seasons, 15 of which in his final year at the club.

His performances at Ternana had Miccoli dubbed the "new Del Piero" by many sections of the Italian media.

Following his impressive performances, Juventus showed interest in signing Miccoli, and ultimately acquired his transfer rights from Ternana in July 2002, then loaning him to minor Serie A side Perugia for the 2002–03 season.

Miccoli showed great qualities during his first season in the top flight, scoring great goals and showing excellent technical ability.

He was dubbed "the Romário of the Salento", "the Maradona of the Salento" and "bomber tascabile" ("pocket bomber"), due to his small stature, pace and his technical ability.

His efforts helped Perugia reach an UEFA Intertoto Cup spot.

For his efforts, he received an Italy call-up during the season and Juventus recalled him back for the following season.

Miccoli played six UEFA Champions League matches for Juventus, scoring one goal.

He also scored seven goals in Serie A for Juventus.

However, after a fallout with Juve manager Fabio Capello, he did not receive much playing time, and the next season, half of Miccoli's registration rights was sold to newly promoted Fiorentina for €7 million.

Once in Florence, Miccoli showed his good qualities once again, helping Fiorentina to salvation on the last day of the season, scoring a goal to send Brescia to Serie B. At the end of the season, there was a blind auction between Fiorentina and Juventus to decide his ownership, and Juventus won it by a lump sum of approximately €6.7 million for three players (Miccoli (€2.39M), Enzo Maresca (€7,000) and Giorgio Chiellini (€4.3 million)).

Therefore, Miccoli had to return to Turin, but he was sent on loan to Benfica.

Juventus also had to pay agent fee of €250,000 for Miccoli's new three-year contract.

In July 2006, Miccoli's loan to Benfica was confirmed despite initial interest from Aston Villa.

Miccoli scored two goals for Benfica in six Champions League appearances.

He also became a fan favourite when he scored a magnificent scissor-kick goal against Liverpool during that competition, sending Benfica to the quarter-finals.

At Benfica, Miccoli attracted attention from other clubs such as Roma and Inter Milan.

Miccoli opted to stay one more year in Lisbon with Benfica.

At age 35, Miccoli said Benfica was the most beautiful experience of his career.

He was one of the most cherished players by Benfica fans.

He scored 14 goals in 39 matches for Benfica in the Primeira Liga.

On 5 July 2007, Palermo announced on their official website to have signed Miccoli with a three-year agreement, costing Palermo €4.3 million.

He completed a four-way swap: Miccoli replaced the departed Andrea Caracciolo, Caracciolo for Fabio Quagliarella and Vincenzo Iaquinta was replaced by Quagliarella.

Miccoli returned to Italian football in the 2007–08 season and took part in the Rosanero's third UEFA Cup campaign.

He scored a total eight goals in his first season with the Sicilian club, including the winning goal in the Sicilian derby against Catania, despite a number of injuries which prevented him from playing continuously in the season.

In 2008–09, Miccoli, now Palermo vice-captain (behind Fabio Liverani) following the transfers of Andrea Barzagli and Cristian Zaccardo to German club VfL Wolfsburg, enjoyed a remarkable seasonal start, especially after the appointment of Davide Ballardini as new head coach for the team, creating a prolific striking partnership with the Uruguayan Edinson Cavani, scoring 14 goals each.

He renewed his contract on 30 May.

Starting in the 2009–10 season, Miccoli took the role of captain leading the team through the campaign in place of the injured Fabio Liverani, and being then confirmed after the latter rejoined the team in November 2009.

During the 2009–10 season, Miccoli scored 19 goals, tying him for third in the Serie A goal-scoring race.

Miccoli's strong 2009–10 season played a big part in Palermo's campaign, which saw the club finish fifth in Serie A, tied for the best league finish in club history, and narrowly missing out on Champions League football.

He scored a hat-trick on 27 March 2010 against Bologna, and in a home draw against Sampdoria on 9 May 2010, Miccoli scored his 41st goal in Serie A for Palermo on a penalty which he had earned, making him the all-time Serie A leading goalscorer for Palermo.

The Luciano Zauri foul that earned Miccoli the penalty against Sampdoria, though it resulted in a successfully converted penalty, also caused a moderate injury to Miccoli's knee.

As a result, Miccoli underwent right knee surgery on 13 May 2010 at the Villa Stuart Clinic in Rome.

The moderate damage to his cruciate ligament was deemed "successfully repaired" by knee specialist Professor Pier Paolo Mariani, and Miccoli was expected to make a full recovery over the summer months.

He retired in 2015 after playing for Maltese club Birkirkara.

In a two-year international career, Miccoli scored twice in ten appearances for Italy.