Enrico Chiesa (born December 29, 1970 in Genoa) is an Italian football (soccer) striker, who currently plays for Figline in the Lega Pro Prima Divisione. Chiesa performed regularly at Serie A level for over a decade, and was also part of the Italy national football team. He was considered one of the most exciting and dynamic striker in Italy during the mid 90's.

[edit] Career

[edit] Club

Chiesa moved his early playing footsteps at amateur club Pontedecimo (1986-87). He then moved to Sampdoria, team for which he made his debut on April 16, 1989 in a 1-0 loss at AS Roma in the Serie A 1988-89.^[1] He then played for Teramo of Serie C2 and successively Chieti of Serie C1 before returning at Sampdoria on 1992. Failing to impress, he then joined Modena in 1993-94 and Cremonese in 1994-95, where he scored 14 goals in their Serie A campaign. In 1995 he returned again with the blucerchiati, forming a notable forward duo with Roberto Mancini and scoring 22 goals in 27 matches. In 1996 he was signed by rising club Parma, where he won a UEFA Cup and a Coppa Italia becoming one of the best forwards in Italian football, (when not injured or out of form) in a successful partnership with Hernán Crespo, the duo averaging 10-15 goals a season each. They also got a goal each in the 1999 UEFA Cup Final victory over Marseille.

In 1999 he was signed by Fiorentina, a team looking to expand and bring in better players, in an attempt to keep club captain and talisman Gabriel Batistuta. Despite making regular appearances in his first season for La Viola, Chiesa was fighting for a place with Predrag Mijatovic among others, and also had spells where he was out of form, and in the end only managed 6 goals in the league. In 2000-01, Batistuta had left to go to AS Roma and Fiorentina were plagued with injuries and financial problems; Chiesa became the main striker for the club, and scored 22 goals in 30 matches, finishing amongst the top 5 highest scorers in the league. After a very hard 2001-02 campaign, in which Chiesa played only five matches due to a serious knee injury, he moved to Lazio, where he however failed to play at his personal best.

In 2003 he joined Siena and is considered a fan favourite also because of having been a key member of them in their whole Serie A history. Despite a very poor 2006-07 season in which Chiesa was not able to score a single goal,^[1] he was confirmed by the club and new trainer Andrea Mandorlini explicitly stated he is still important to the team, and that he expects at least 15 goals by him in their 2007-08 Serie A campaign.^[2] However, he played only twice, scoring no goals before he was signed by Figline^[3] in Lega Pro Second Division. He scored five goals with Figline, thus giving his contribution to the team's promotion to the upper level, Lega Pro Prima Divisione.

[edit] International

Chiesa played for the Italian team from 1996 to 2001, collecting a total of 22 caps with 7 goals. He was also selected to play the UEFA Euro 1996 and the 1998 FIFA World Cup.

[edit] References

[edit] External links

• Career profile at Gazzetta dello Sport.it (Italian)
• Profile at A.C. Siena's official site (Italian)

v • d • e Italy squad – UEFA Euro 1996 1 Peruzzi • 2 Apolloni • 3 Maldini • 4 Carboni • 5 Costacurta • 6 Nesta • 7 Donadoni • 8 Mussi • 9 Torricelli • 10 Albertini • 11 Baggio • 12 Toldo • 13 Rossitto • 14 Del Piero • 15 Di Livio • 16 Di Matteo • 17 Fuser • 18 Casiraghi • 19 Chiesa • 20 Ravanelli • 21 Zola • 22 Bucci • Coach: Sacchi

v • d • e Italy squad – 1998 FIFA World Cup 1 Toldo • 2 Bergomi • 3 P. Maldini • 4 Cannavaro • 5 Costacurta • 6 Nesta • 7 Pessotto • 8 Torricelli • 9 Albertini • 10 Del Piero • 11 D. Baggio • 12 Pagliuca • 13 Cois • 14 Di Biagio • 15 Di Livio • 16 Di Matteo • 17 Moriero • 18 R. Baggio • 19 Inzaghi • 20 Chiesa • 21 Vieri • 22 Buffon • Coach: C. Maldini