Francesco Colonnese (born 10 August 1971) is an Italian former professional

footballer A football player or footballer is a sportsperson who plays one of the different types of football. The main types of football are association football, American football, Canadian football, Australian rules football, Gaelic football, rugby ...

who played as a full-back.

Club career

Born in

Potenza Potenza (, also , ; , Potentino dialect: ''Putenz'') is a ''comune'' in the Southern Italian region of Basilicata (former Lucania). Capital of the Province of Potenza and the Basilicata region, the city is the highest regional capital and o ...

, Colonnese began his career in

- where he played from 1989 to 1991 – before moving first to

Giarre Giarre ( scn, Giarri) is a ''comune'' (municipality) in the Metropolitan City of Catania, Sicily. The town is located about southeast of Palermo and around north of Catania. Geography Giarre is bounded by the municipalities of Acireale, Masca ...

Football and then to

Cremonese Cremona (, also ; ; lmo, label= Cremunés, Cremùna; egl, Carmona) is a city and ''comune'' in northern Italy, situated in Lombardy, on the left bank of the Po river in the middle of the ''Pianura Padana'' (Po Valley). It is the capital of the ...

, where he made 66 appearances. In the 1994–95 season, Colonnese was bought by A.S. Roma to strengthen the defensive department, but disappointed the expectations of manager

Carlo Mazzone Carlo "Carletto" Mazzone (born 19 March 1937 in Rome) is an Italian retired professional association footballer and manager, who played as a centre-back. Playing career Mazzone played several seasons for A.S. Roma, as well as for SPAL and Ascoli ...

and played only 5 games. In 1995, he signed for

Napoli Naples (; it, Napoli ; nap, Napule ), from grc, Νεάπολις, Neápolis, lit=new city. is the regional capital of Campania and the third-largest city of Italy, after Rome and Milan, with a population of 909,048 within the city's adminis ...

on loan – spending two years there – and played for

F.C. Internazionale Football Club Internazionale Milano, commonly referred to as Internazionale () or simply Inter, and colloquially known as Inter Milan in English-speaking countries, is an Italian professional football club based in Milan, Lombardy. Inter is ...

during the 1997–98 season, with whom he won the

UEFA Cup A cup is an open-top used to hold hot or cold liquids for pouring or drinking; while mainly used for drinking, it also can be used to store solids for pouring (e.g., sugar, flour, grains, salt). Cups may be made of glass, metal, china, cla ...

over S.S. Lazio in Paris in

1998 1998 was designated as the ''International Year of the Ocean''. Events January * January 6 – The ''Lunar Prospector'' spacecraft is launched into orbit around the Moon, and later finds evidence for frozen water, in soil in permanently s ...

. From 2000 to 2004 he signed for Roman club Lazio – then the reigning

Serie A The Serie A (), also called Serie A TIM for national sponsorship with TIM, is a professional league competition for football clubs located at the top of the Italian football league system and the winner is awarded the Scudetto and the Copp ...

champions. After four years at the Olimpico he left to finish his career with

Siena Siena ( , ; lat, Sena Iulia) is a city in Tuscany, Italy. It is the capital of the province of Siena. The city is historically linked to commercial and banking activities, having been a major banking center until the 13th and 14th centur ...

(2004–2006).

International career

Francesco Colonnese was capped for

Italy national under-21 football team The Italy national under-21 football team is the national under-21 football team of Italy and is controlled by the Italian Football Federation. The team competes in the UEFA European Under-21 Championship, held every two years. Italy (along wit ...

between 1993 and 1994. He finished in fourth place with the Italian U-23 Olympic side at the

1993 Mediterranean Games The XII Mediterranean Games, commonly known as the 1993 Mediterranean Games, were the 12th Mediterranean Games. The Games were held in Languedoc-Roussillon, France, from 16 June to 27 June 1993, where 2,598 athletes (1,994 men and 604 women) fro ...

men's football tournament.

Style of play

A physically strong and tenacious defender, Colonnese was known for his man-marking ability, and was capable of playing both as a right-sided full-back and as a

central defender In the sport of association football, a defender is an outfield position whose primary role is to stop attacks during the game and prevent the opposition from scoring. Centre-backs are usually positioned in pairs, with one full-back on either s ...

, or even as a

sweeper Sweepers are small, tropical marine (occasionally brackish) perciform fish of the family Pempheridae. Found in the western Atlantic Ocean and Indo-Pacific region, the family contains about 26 species in two genera. One species (''Pempheris xanth ...

. Throughout his career, he was given the nickname ''Ciccio Colonna'', a reference to the Italian diminutive of his name, as well as his physical, hard-tackling playing style and tough marking of his opponents. He was also known for his ability to mark fast players.

Honours

Inter *

: 1997–98 Lazio *

Supercoppa Italiana The Supercoppa Italiana ( en, Italian Super Cup) is an annual football match contested by the winners of the Serie A and the Coppa Italia in the previous season. If the same team wins both the Serie A and Coppa Italia titles in the previous seas ...

2000 File:2000 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: Protests against Bush v. Gore after the 2000 United States presidential election; Heads of state meet for the Millennium Summit; The International Space Station in its infant form as seen from ...

Coppa Italia The ("Italy Cup") is an annual knockout cup competition in Italian football organized by the FIGC until the 2009–10 season and the Lega Serie A ever since. History The beginning of the tournament was turbulent, due to the complexity ...

: 2003–04

References

External links

Stats. at Siena site

Stats. at Inter site

Club Stats.

National Team stats.
1971 births Living people People from Potenza Sportspeople from the Province of Potenza Men's association football defenders Italy men's under-21 international footballers Italian footballers Potenza S.C. players A.S.D. Giarre Calcio 1946 players U.S. Cremonese players A.S. Roma players Inter Milan players S.S. Lazio players A.C.R. Siena 1904 players S.S.C. Napoli players Serie A players Serie B players UEFA Cup winning players Competitors at the 1993 Mediterranean Games Mediterranean Games competitors for Italy Footballers from Basilicata {{Italy-footy-defender-1970s-stub