Giuseppe "Beppe" Signori (; born 17 February 1968) is an Italian former professional
footballer who played as a
forward.
He played for several clubs in Italy throughout his career, and also had spells in Greece and Hungary with
Iraklis Thessaloniki and
MFC Sopron respectively. Signori won the
Serie A top-scorer award three times and is one of the
top ten scorers in
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 ...
history. At international level, Signori represented
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 ...
28 times between 1992 and 1995, scoring 7 goals, and took part at the
1994 World Cup, where they reached the
final.
Club career
Signori was born in
Alzano Lombardo,
Bergamo. As a youngster he played in the youth system of
Internazionale, but was eventually released after being told by the club that he was too short to succeed as a professional. He went on to make his pro debut for
Leffe (1984–86), followed by
Piacenza
Piacenza (; ; ) is a city and (municipality) in the Emilia-Romagna region of Northern Italy, and the capital of the province of Piacenza, eponymous province. As of 2022, Piacenza is the ninth largest city in the region by population, with more ...
(1986–87 and 1988–89),
Trento (1987–88),
Foggia
Foggia (, ; ; ) is a city and ''comune'' (municipality) of Apulia, in Southern Italy, capital of the province of Foggia. In 2013, its population was 153,143. Foggia is the main city of a plain called Tavoliere delle Puglie, Tavoliere, also know ...
(1989–92),
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 ...
(1992–97),
Sampdoria (January–June 1998) and
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 ...
(1998–2004). He then spent two short periods abroad: first in Greece in 2004 with
Iraklis Thessaloniki; and then in October 2005 he signed a one-year contract with Hungarian team
MFC Sopron to end his professional career.
The pinnacle of Signori's career came at Lazio, where he was the top goalscorer in Serie A three times, in 1993, 1994, and 1996 (the last title shared with
Igor Protti). In 1998, he was sold for an undisclosed figure to Sampdoria after being used more sparingly by the Lazio coach
Sven-Göran Eriksson. At Bologna, he helped the club to qualify for the
1998–99 UEFA Cup by winning the
1998 UEFA Intertoto Cup that season. Bologna went on to reach the semi-finals of both the UEFA Cup and the
Coppa Italia that season. Overall, he scored 188 goals in Italy's top division, the
ninth highest in the history of the league, alongside
Alessandro Del Piero and
Alberto Gilardino.
Between 17 May 1992 and 28 February 1993, Signori scored in a
record 10 consecutive away games in Serie A (1 in
1991–92 with Foggia, and 9 in
1992–93 with Lazio). Alongside
Cristiano Ronaldo,
he holds the records for most consecutive away games with at least one goal in a single season (9), which he set during the 1992–93 season with Lazio.
International career
Signori was not able fully to translate his success to the national level, partly due to differences between him and
national coach Arrigo Sacchi, who preferred to play him in the midfield, as a left winger, only using him as a forward on occasion, both as a striker and as a supporting forward. He played for the national side 28 times between 1992 and 1995, scoring seven goals. The only major tournament Signori played in was the
1994 FIFA World Cup, where he appeared six times as Italy finished in second place, but he did not play in the
final against
Brazil
Brazil, officially the Federative Republic of Brazil, is the largest country in South America. It is the world's List of countries and dependencies by area, fifth-largest country by area and the List of countries and dependencies by population ...
, as Italy were defeated on penalties after a 0–0 draw following extra time. Despite going scoreless during the tournament, he assisted
Dino Baggio's match-winning goal against
Norway
Norway, officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic countries, Nordic country located on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. The remote Arctic island of Jan Mayen and the archipelago of Svalbard also form part of the Kingdom of ...
in Italy's second group match,
and
Roberto Baggio's match-winning goal in the 87th minute of the quarter-final match against
Spain
Spain, or the Kingdom of Spain, is a country in Southern Europe, Southern and Western Europe with territories in North Africa. Featuring the Punta de Tarifa, southernmost point of continental Europe, it is the largest country in Southern Eur ...
.
Style of play
Signori was a fast, hard-working, and diminutive left footed
striker, who was a prolific goalscorer, due to his powerful and accurate shot, which drew frequent comparisons with
Luigi Riva in the Italian media. A versatile forward, during the early part of his career he was used as a
left winger or as a
second striker, where his pace, excellent technique, and accurate
crossing and passing ability were put to good use; in this position, he was known for his ability to cut in from the left flank and subsequently score by placing the ball at the far post with his left foot. He was also an extremely accurate
set piece and
penalty-kick taker, and was noted for his tendency to take set pieces and penalties without taking a run-up. When taking penalties, he often observed the keepers' movements, and attempted to send them the wrong first by waiting for them to dive before striking the ball. He scored 44 penalties from 52 attempts, making him one of the most accurate penalty takers in Serie A history, and the
fifth most prolific spot kick taker of all time in the Italian league.
Alongside
Siniša Mihajlović, he is one of two players to have scored a hat-trick from
free kicks in Serie A, a feat which he managed with Lazio in a 3–1 home win over Atalanta, on 10 April 1994.
In training, in order to refine his accuracy from free kicks, he used to practise by attempting to
curl the ball over artificial walls that were up to two metres in height, and that were placed closer to the ball than regulation distance. In addition to his goalscoring and ability as a footballer, he was also known for his leadership and mentality; however, despite his talent, he was also known to be injury prone.
Signori was sponsored by
Diadora and used to squeeze his feet into boots that were too small for him, claiming that this improved his touch and accuracy on the ball.
After retirement
After working as a Serie A football pundit for
RAI Radio1, he served as director of football of
Ternana Calcio in 2008 and 2009.
On 1 June 2011, Signori was arrested in connection with a
football betting scandal, together with other former players such as
Stefano Bettarini and
Mauro Bressan.
He was initially placed under
house arrest
House arrest (also called home confinement, or nowadays electronic monitoring) is a legal measure where a person is required to remain at their residence under supervision, typically as an alternative to imprisonment. The person is confined b ...
, until it was revoked two weeks later. On 9 August 2011, it was announced that he had been banned from any football-related activity for five years. On 23 February 2021, Signori was acquitted due to a "lack of evidence". On 1 June 2021,
FIGC's President Gabriele Gravina pardoned Signori to be able to return to football.
Career statistics
Club
International
Honours
Leffe
*
Campionato Interregionale:
1984–85 (Group B)
Piacenza
*
Serie C1:
1986–87
Foggia
*
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 ...
:
1990–91
Bologna
*
UEFA Intertoto Cup
The UEFA Intertoto Cup (from , "between" and , " betting pool"),Most precisely, from ( football pool); cf. originally called the International Football Cup, was a summer football competition between European clubs. The competition was dis ...
:
1998
Italy
*
FIFA World Cup runner-up:
1994
The year 1994 was designated as the " International Year of the Family" and the "International Year of Sport and the Olympic Ideal" by the United Nations.
In the Line Islands and Phoenix Islands of Kiribati, 1994 had only 364 days, omitti ...
Individual
*
Serie A top scorer:
1992–93,
1993–94,
1995–96 (shared with
Igor Protti)
*
Coppa Italia top scorer:
1992–93,
1997–98
*
Guerin d'Oro: 1993
*
Premio Nazionale Carriera Esemplare "Gaetano Scirea": 2004
References
External links
*
FIGC Profile
{{DEFAULTSORT:Signori, Giuseppe
1968 births
Living people
Footballers from Alzano Lombardo
Italian men's footballers
Italy men's international footballers
Men's association football forwards
UC AlbinoLeffe players
Piacenza Calcio 1919 players
Calcio Foggia 1920 players
SS Lazio players
UC Sampdoria players
Bologna FC 1909 players
Iraklis F.C. (Thessaloniki) players
FC Sopron players
Serie A players
Serie B players
Serie C players
Serie D players
Super League Greece players
Nemzeti Bajnokság I players
1994 FIFA World Cup players
Italian expatriate men's footballers
Italian expatriate sportspeople in Hungary
Expatriate men's footballers in Greece
Expatriate men's footballers in Hungary
Italian expatriate sportspeople in Greece
20th-century Italian sportsmen