Fabio Bazzani (; born 20 October 1976) is an Italian football coach and a former player who played as a striker. As a player, he was known in particular for his heading ability, as well his shooting accuracy and physical strength.

Club career

Early career

After two seasons with amateur side Boca San Lazzaro, Bazzani moved to

Serie C2 Serie C2 was the fourth highest football league in Italy, the lowest with a professional status. History Before the 1978–79 season, there were only three professional football leagues in Italy, the third being Serie C. The league menaging t ...

club Sandonà. In 1997, he was in

Serie B The Serie B (), officially known as Serie BKT for sponsorship reasons, is the second-highest division in the Italian football league system after the Serie A. It has been operating for over ninety years since the 1929–30 season. It had b ...

team

Venezia Venice ( ; ; , formerly ) is a city in northeastern Italy and the capital of the Veneto Regions of Italy, region. It is built on a group of 118 islands that are separated by expanses of open water and by canals; portions of the city are li ...

, but played only twice in the season. He moved to

Varese Varese ( , ; or ; ; ; archaic ) is a city and ''comune'' in north-western Lombardy, northern Italy, north-west of Milan. The population of Varese in 2018 was 80,559. It is the capital of the Province of Varese. The hinterland or exurban part ...

and then

Arezzo Arezzo ( , ; ) is a city and ''comune'' in Italy and the capital of the Province of Arezzo, province of the same name located in Tuscany. Arezzo is about southeast of Florence at an elevation of Above mean sea level, above sea level. As of 2 ...

, where he made an impression scoring 20 goals in 31 matches under the management of

Serse Cosmi Serse Cosmi (born 5 May 1958) is an Italian football coach, most recently in charge of Rijeka. Career Early career Cosmi was born in 1958 in Ponte San Giovanni, a Perugia ''frazione''. His father, a cycling fan, called him Serse after Fausto ...

. In 2000, he returned to Venezia, but scored only five goals in 36 matches. In 2001, he rejoined his former coach Cosmi when he signed with

Serie A The Serie A (), officially known as Serie A Enilive in Italy and Serie A Made in Italy abroad for sponsorship reasons, is a professional association football league in Italy and the highest tier of the Italian football league system. Establish ...

side

Perugia Perugia ( , ; ; ) is the capital city of Umbria in central Italy, crossed by the River Tiber. The city is located about north of Rome and southeast of Florence. It covers a high hilltop and part of the valleys around the area. It has 162,467 ...

, where he scored ten goals.

Sampdoria

In 2002, he moved to

Sampdoria Unione Calcio Sampdoria, commonly referred to as Sampdoria (), is an Italian professional football club based in Genoa, Liguria. Sampdoria was formed in 1946 from the merger of two existing sports clubs whose roots can be traced back to the ...

, where he scored 16 goals in his first season with the ''blucerchiati'' in

and 13 goals in his second campaign with Sampdoria, when in Serie A. During his second season with Sampdoria, he was capped three times in the Italian team. He was loaned to

Lazio Lazio ( , ; ) or Latium ( , ; from Latium, the original Latin name, ) is one of the 20 Regions of Italy, administrative regions of Italy. Situated in the Central Italy, central peninsular section of the country, it has 5,714,882 inhabitants an ...

in exchange for

Simone Inzaghi Simone Inzaghi (; born 5 April 1976) is an Italian professional football manager and former player, who is currently the head coach of Saudi Pro League club Al-Hilal. Nicknamed "''Il demone di Piacenza''" ("The Piacenza Demon") because of his ...

in January 2005, but failed to impress with the ''biancazzurri'' and returned to Sampdoria at the end of the season.

Later career

On 14 June 2007, he was signed by

Brescia Brescia (, ; ; or ; ) is a city and (municipality) in the region of Lombardy, in Italy. It is situated at the foot of the Alps, a few kilometers from the lakes Lake Garda, Garda and Lake Iseo, Iseo. With a population of 199,949, it is the se ...

on a free transfer. He had originally signed for

Livorno Livorno () is a port city on the Ligurian Sea on the western coast of the Tuscany region of Italy. It is the capital of the Province of Livorno, having a population of 152,916 residents as of 2025. It is traditionally known in English as Leghorn ...

but the move was cancelled, following protests by the ''amaranto'' supporters who did not want the player in their team. On 26 July 2009, he signed a one-year contract with

SPAL Società Polisportiva Ars et Labor, commonly referred to by the acronym SPAL (), is a professional football club based in Ferrara, Emilia-Romagna, Italy. During the 2024–25 season the team played in Serie C, the third tier of the Italian foot ...

. He played his first game for the club on 3 August, a 2–1 win to

Como Como (, ; , or ; ) is a city and (municipality) in Lombardy, Italy. It is the administrative capital of the Province of Como. Nestled at the southwestern branch of the picturesque Lake Como, the city is a renowned tourist destination, ce ...

Coppa Italia Coppa Italia () is the annual domestic cup of Italian football. The knockout competition was organized by the DDS and the Lega Calcio until the 2009–10 season and by Lega Serie A ever since. Juventus is the competition's most successf ...

. He also played the next two Coppa Italia matches, scored nil. On 1 July 2010, he moved to Mezzolara, in Serie D.

International career

Bazzani made his senior international debut for

Italy Italy, officially the Italian Republic, is a country in Southern Europe, Southern and Western Europe, Western Europe. It consists of Italian Peninsula, a peninsula that extends into the Mediterranean Sea, with the Alps on its northern land b ...

on 12 November 2003, under

Giovanni Trapattoni Giovanni Trapattoni (; born 17 March 1939), popularly nicknamed "Trap" or "Il Trap", is an Italian former Association football, football manager and former player, considered the most successful club coach of Football in Italy, Italian football ...

, in a 3–1 friendly defeat against

Poland Poland, officially the Republic of Poland, is a country in Central Europe. It extends from the Baltic Sea in the north to the Sudetes and Carpathian Mountains in the south, bordered by Lithuania and Russia to the northeast, Belarus and Ukrai ...

in Warsaw; he made two more appearances for Italy, with his final appearance coming in a 2–0 friendly loss to

Iceland Iceland is a Nordic countries, Nordic island country between the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic and Arctic Oceans, on the Mid-Atlantic Ridge between North America and Europe. It is culturally and politically linked with Europe and is the regi ...

in Reykjavík, on 18 August 2004, under

Marcello Lippi Marcello Romeo Lippi (; born 12 April 1948) is an Italian former professional association football, football player and manager, who led the Italy national football team, Italy national team to victory in the 2006 FIFA World Cup. He was appoin ...

Coaching career

He started his coaching career upon retiring from playing, staying at Mezzolara. On 14 May 2021, he was appointed head coach of

Serie D The Serie D () is the highest level of semi-professional football in Italy, and the fourth tier of the Italian national league system. It sits beneath the third and lowest fully professional league, Serie C, and feeds in to it through promotion ...

club Correggese. His contract expired at the end of the 2020–21 season and he left the club. On 2 January 2022, he was hired by

Bologna Bologna ( , , ; ; ) is the capital and largest city of the Emilia-Romagna region in northern Italy. It is the List of cities in Italy, seventh most populous city in Italy, with about 400,000 inhabitants and 150 different nationalities. Its M ...

as a technical collaborator. On 23 May 2022, Bazzani announced his departure from Bologna.

Personal life

Bazzani has been married since 2005 to Italian showgirl and television personality

Alessia Merz Alessia Merz (born 24 September 1974) is an Italian model, television host and showgirl. Biography Merz was born in Trento. She debuted in 1992 in the Canale 5 show ''Bulli e pupe''. In September she took part in ''Non è la RAIs second edition, ...

, with whom he had a son and a daughter.

References

External links

Club career statistics

National team stats

Profile at Italia1910.com
{{DEFAULTSORT:Bazzani, Fabio 1976 births Footballers from Bologna Living people Italian men's footballers Italy men's international footballers Men's association football forwards Venezia FC players SSD Varese Calcio players SS Arezzo players AC Perugia Calcio players UC Sampdoria players SS Lazio players Brescia Calcio players Delfino Pescara 1936 players SPAL players ASD Mezzolara players Serie A players Serie B players Serie C players Italian football managers ASD Mezzolara managers Serie D managers