Gianluca Signorini (17 March 1960 – 6 November 2002) was an Italian

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 defender. He made more than 200 appearances for

Genoa C.F.C. Genoa Cricket and Football Club, commonly referred to as Genoa (), is a professional football club based in Genoa, Liguria, Italy, that competes in , the second division of the Italian football league system. Established in 1893, Genoa is ...

Career

Born in

Pisa Pisa ( , or ) is a city and ''comune'' in Tuscany, central Italy, straddling the Arno just before it empties into the Ligurian Sea. It is the capital city of the Province of Pisa. Although Pisa is known worldwide for its leaning tower, the ...

, Signorini started his career playing for his home team,

Pisa S.C. Pisa Sporting Club, commonly referred to as Pisa, is an Italian football club based in Pisa, Tuscany. The team currently plays in Serie B. The club was founded in 1909 as Pisa Sporting Club and refounded in 1994 as Pisa Calcio (and registered i ...

Serie C1 Lega Pro Prima Divisione was the third highest football league in Italy. It consisted of 33 teams, divided geographically into two divisions of 16 and 17 teams for group A and B respectively. Until 2008 it was known as Serie C1. Before the 1978 ...

, and successively for Pietrasanta,

Prato Prato ( , ) is a city and ''comune'' in Tuscany, Italy, the capital of the Province of Prato. The city lies in the north east of Tuscany, at the foot of Monte Retaia, elevation , the last peak in the Calvana chain. With more than 200,000 ...

, Livorno,

Ternana Ternana Calcio, commonly referred to as Ternana, is an Italian football club based in Terni, Umbria. The club was founded in 1925 and refounded in 1993. In its history, Ternana has twice played in Serie A (in the 1972–73 and 1974–75 ...

and Cavese before joining

A.C. Parma Parma Calcio 1913 (), commonly known as Parma, is an Italian professional football club based in Parma, Emilia-Romagna, which competes in the Serie B, the second tier of Italian football. ''Parma Football Club'' was originally founded in Dece ...

, with

Arrigo Sacchi Arrigo Sacchi (born 1 April 1946) is an Italian former professional football coach. He has twice managed AC Milan (1987–1991, 1996–1997), with great success. He won the Serie A title in his 1987–88 debut season and then dominated European ...

as coach. He quickly became a key player for Parma, helping the club to Serie B promotion in 1986, winning the Serie C1 title. He was successively signed by

Nils Liedholm Nils Erik Liedholm (; 8 October 1922 – 5 November 2007) was a Swedish football midfielder and coach. ''Il Barone'' (The Baron), as he is affectionately known in Italy, was renowned for being part of the Swedish " Gre-No-Li" trio of strikers a ...

A.S. Roma ' (''Rome Sport Association''), commonly referred to as Roma (), is a professional football club based in Rome, Italy. Founded by a merger in 1927, Roma has participated in the top tier of Italian football for all of its existence, except for ...

, and then to

Genoa Genoa ( ; it, Genova ; lij, Zêna ). is the capital of the Regions of Italy, Italian region of Liguria and the List of cities in Italy, sixth-largest city in Italy. In 2015, 594,733 people lived within the city's administrative limits. As of t ...

in 1988, after personal requests by coach Francesco Scoglio; during his first season with the club, he immediately helped the team to Serie A promotion by winning the

1988–89 Serie B The Serie B 1988–89 was the fifty-seventh tournament of this competition played in Italy since its creation. Teams Ancona, Monza, Licata, Cosenza and Reggina had been promoted from Serie C, while Avellino and Empoli had been relegated from Se ...

title. In total, he played seven seasons for Genoa, all seven years as team

captain Captain is a title, an appellative for the commanding officer of a military unit; the supreme leader of a navy ship, merchant ship, aeroplane, spacecraft, or other vessel; or the commander of a port, fire or police department, election precinct, e ...

; a hard defender and a fan favourite, he is remembered as one of the last (and best) Italian

sweepers A street sweeper or street cleaner may refer to a person's occupation or to a machine that cleans streets. Street sweepers have been employed in cities as " sanitation workers" since sanitation and waste removal became a priority. A st ...

. In his later years at the club, he was a vital member of the Genoese "dream team" which managed to reach the semi-finals of the 1991–92

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 ...

, and became the first Italian team to beat

Liverpool F.C. Liverpool Football Club is a professional football club based in Liverpool, England. The club competes in the Premier League, the top tier of English football. Founded in 1892, the club joined the Football League the following year and has ...

on their

Anfield Road Anfield is a football stadium in Anfield, Liverpool, Merseyside, England, which has a seating capacity of 53,394, making it the seventh largest football stadium in England. It has been the home of Liverpool F.C. since their formation in 1892 ...

home turf; he also helped the team to a fourth-place finish during the

1990–91 Serie A The 1990-91 season saw Sampdoria win the Serie A title for the first time in their history, finishing five points ahead of second placed Milan. Third placed Internazionale were victorious in the UEFA Cup, with ninth-placed Roma compensating for ...

season, the club's best league finish since the end of the Second World War. He left Genoa in 1995, aged 35, to join his hometown club Pisa, then in

Serie D The Serie D () is the top level of semi-professional football in the country. The fourth tier of the Italian league system, the competition sits beneath the third professional league, Serie C. It is administered by the Lega Nazionale Dilettant ...

, and retired two years later. He played 210

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 ...

matches with 6 goals.

Retirement and illness

After having ended his playing career, Signorini started a managing career working for Pisa, and serving as joint caretaker manager during their 1997–98

Serie C2 Lega Pro Seconda Divisione was the fourth highest football league in Italy, the lowest with a professional status. Usually it consisted of 36 teams, but in the 2011–12 season, there were 41 teams divided geographically into two divisions of ...

campaign, However, he soon discovered he was suffering from

amyotrophic lateral sclerosis Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), also known as motor neuron disease (MND) or Lou Gehrig's disease, is a neurodegenerative disease that results in the progressive loss of motor neurons that control voluntary muscles. ALS is the most comm ...

, also known as

Lou Gehrig Henry Louis Gehrig (born Heinrich Ludwig Gehrig ; June 19, 1903June 2, 1941) was an American professional baseball first baseman who played 17 seasons in Major League Baseball (MLB) for the New York Yankees (1923–1939). Gehrig was renowned f ...

's disease, an illness that slowly forced immobility, paralyzing all his muscles. He died on 6 November 2002, in his Pisa home. In his honour, the #6 jersey, worn by Signorini during his time for the ''rossoblu'' club, was retired.

Style of play

A large, tough, elegant, and physically strong player, Signorini is regarded as one of Italy's best and last true

; his talent, technical ability, and tactical intelligence 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 ...

had a strong influence on

Franco Baresi Franchino Baresi (; born 8 May 1960) is an Italian football youth team coach and a former player and manager. He mainly played as a sweeper or as a central defender, and spent his entire 20-year career with Serie A club AC Milan, captaining th ...

's playing style.

Personal life

Signorini was married to Antonella; together they had four children. On 17 May 2009, one of Signorini's sons, Andrea, a footballer himself, made his Serie A debut with Genoa, thus continuing the legacy of his father and former ''rossoblu'' captain.

Honours

Club

;Parma *

: 1985–86 ;Genoa *

Serie B The Serie B (), currently named 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 been ...

: 1988–89

References

External links

Addio a Signorini (from RAI Sport)

{{DEFAULTSORT:Signorini, Gianluca 1960 births 2002 deaths Sportspeople from Pisa Footballers from Tuscany Italian footballers Pisa S.C. players Ternana Calcio players U.S. Livorno 1915 players Parma Calcio 1913 players A.S. Roma players Genoa C.F.C. players Cavese 1919 players Serie A players Serie B players Neurological disease deaths in Tuscany Deaths from motor neuron disease Association football sweepers Association football central defenders