Riccardo Taddei (born 5 September 1980) is an Italian football manager and former player, who played as a

forward Forward is a relative direction, the opposite of backward. Forward may also refer to: People * Forward (surname) Sports * Forward (association football) * Forward (basketball), including: ** Point forward ** Power forward (basketball) ** Sm ...

. He is currently serving as the assistant manager of

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 ...

, under head coach

Luca D'Angelo Luca D'Angelo (born 26 July 1971) is an Italian football manager and former professional footballer. He is currently in charge as head coach of club Pisa. Club career D'Angelo began his playing career at Chieti in the late 1980s; he collected 1 ...

Playing career

Taddei was born in

Vecchiano Vecchiano is a ''comune'' (municipality) in the Province of Pisa in the Italian region Tuscany, located about west of Florence and about north of Pisa. It is home to a castle, known as Gaetani or Lanfranchi castle, or as the hermitage of Santa M ...

. He started his career at

Pontedera Pontedera (; la, Pons Herae) is an italian comune with a population of 29.270 inhabitants, located in the province of Pisa, Tuscany, central Italy. The town is located 20 km (12 miles) from Pisa and 50 km (31 miles) from Florence. It houses t ...

, a club based in the

Province of Pisa The province of Pisa ( it, provincia di Pisa) is a province in the Tuscany region of central Italy. Its capital is the city of Pisa. With an area of and a total population of 421,642 (), it is the second most populous and fifth largest province ...

. He was then signed by

AC Fiorentina ACF Fiorentina, commonly referred to as Fiorentina (), is an Italian professional football club based in Florence, Tuscany, Italy. The original team was founded by a merger in August 1926, while the actual club was refounded in August 2002 fol ...

as back-up for forwards

Nuno Gomes Nuno Miguel Soares Pereira Ribeiro (born 5 July 1976), known as Nuno Gomes, is a Portuguese former professional footballer who played as a striker. He was given the nickname ''Gomes'' during childhood after Fernando Gomes, and was regarded ...

Enrico Chiesa Enrico Chiesa (; born 29 December 1970) is an Italian football coach and former striker. A prolific goalscorer, Chiesa played for several Italian clubs throughout his career, and performed regularly in Serie A for over a decade, winning titles ...

Gabriel Batistuta Gabriel Omar Batistuta (; born 1 February 1969) is an Argentine former professional footballer. During his playing career, Batistuta was nicknamed Batigol () as well as El Ángel Gabriel (; Spanish for ''Angel Gabriel''). Regarded as one of the ...

, and

Leandro Amaral Leandro Câmara do Amaral (born 6 August 1977), is a Brazilian former footballer who played as a striker. Career statistics Club Honours Club Fiorentina *Coppa Italia The ("Italy Cup") is an annual knockout cup competition in Italia ...

. He made his

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 ...

debut on 6 November 1999 against

Cagliari Calcio Cagliari Calcio, commonly referred to as Cagliari (), is an Italian football club based in Cagliari, Sardinia. In the 2022-23 season, they compete in Serie B. As of 2021–22, the team is temporarily playing their home games at the 16,416-seat ...

, collecting five league appearances during his three seasons with the team. He also played once in the

2001–02 UEFA Cup The 2001–02 UEFA Cup was won by Feyenoord at their home ground in the final against Borussia Dortmund. It was the second time they won the competition. Liverpool could not defend their title as they automatically qualified for the 2001–02 ...

. After the relegation and bankruptcy of Fiorentina, in 2002, he was signed by

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 ...

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 ...

on a free transfer. He failed to gain regular playing time with the team, however, and subsequently joined

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 ...

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 ...

, with whom won promotion to Serie C1 as the runner-up of Group A in 2003–04. During the 2004–05 season, he won promotion again, this time as the champion of

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 ...

Group A. During the 2005–06 season, however, he did not play any games for the club in Serie B. After Cremonese were relegated at the end of the season, he played seven more times for the team during the

2006–07 Serie C1 The 2006–07 Serie C1 was the twenty-ninth edition of Serie C1, the third highest league in the Italian football league system. It was divided into two phases: the regular season, played from 3 September 2006, to 13 May 2007, and the playoff ph ...

season. In August 2007, he moved to

Brescia Brescia (, locally ; lmo, link=no, label= Lombard, Brèsa ; lat, Brixia; vec, Bressa) is a city and ''comune'' in the region of Lombardy, Northern Italy. It is situated at the foot of the Alps, a few kilometers from the lakes Garda and Ise ...

of Serie B. After only making three appearances for Brescia in the Italian top flight during the first half of the 2010–11 season, in January 2011, he joined

U.S. Triestina Calcio Unione Sportiva Triestina Calcio 1918, commonly referred to as Triestina, is an Italian football club based in Trieste, Friuli-Venezia Giulia. Originally founded in 1918, the club has been re-established several times in its history. As of the ...

. In July 2011 he joined

A.S. Casale Calcio A.S.D. Casale Foot Ball Club (formerly A.S. Casale Calcio) is an Italian football club, based in Casale Monferrato, Piedmont. The club plays in Serie D. The team's nickname ''nerostellati'' (“the starred-blacks”) refers to the team's colour ...

. The following season he moved to

Rimini Rimini ( , ; rgn, Rémin; la, Ariminum) is a city in the Emilia-Romagna region of northern Italy and capital city of the Province of Rimini. It sprawls along the Adriatic Sea, on the coast between the rivers Marecchia (the ancient ''Arimin ...

. In the summer of 2013 he signed a two-year contract with Alessandria. He ended his career with

Catanzaro Catanzaro (, or ; scn, label= Catanzarese, Catanzaru ; , or , ''Katastaríoi Lokrói''; ; la, Catacium), also known as the "City of the two Seas", is an Italian city of 86,183 inhabitants (2020), the capital of the Calabria region and of its ...

, after becoming a free agent at the conclusion of the 2015–16 season.

Managerial career

For the 2016–17 season, Taddei joined the coaching staff of

Bassano Virtus Bassano Virtus 55 Soccer Team S.p.A., commonly known as Bassano Virtus or just Bassano is a football club based in Bassano del Grappa, Veneto. The first team of the club was relocated to Vicenza in 2018 as L.R. Vicenza Virtus, while the youth ...

manager

, in the role of assistant coach. After D'Angelo's dismissal in 2017, he left the club, and retained his post as the former's assistant manager at

Casertana Casertana Football Club is an Italian association football club based in Caserta, Campania. The club currently plays in Serie D. History The club was founded in 1908 as Robur Caserta and became known as Unione Sportiva Casertana from 1928 unt ...

, and subsequently

in 2018; with the latter side, they obtained promotion to Serie B during the 2018–19 season.

Style of play

creative Creative may refer to: *Creativity, phenomenon whereby something new and valuable is created * "Creative" (song), a 2008 song by Leon Jackson * Creative class, a proposed socioeconomic class * Creative destruction, an economic term * Creative dir ...

left–footed forward or

midfielder A midfielder is an outfield position in association football. Midfielders may play an exclusively defensive role, breaking up attacks, and are in that case known as defensive midfielders. As central midfielders often go across boundarie ...

, with excellent technical skills, Taddei usually played as a

second striker Forwards (also known as attackers) are outfield positions in an association football team who play the furthest up the pitch and are therefore most responsible for scoring goals as well as assisting them. As with any attacking player, the role ...

or as an

attacking midfielder A midfielder is an outfield position in association football. Midfielders may play an exclusively defensive role, breaking up attacks, and are in that case known as defensive midfielders. As central midfielders often go across boundarie ...

, although he was also capable of playing as a

left winger A midfielder is an outfield position in association football. Midfielders may play an exclusively defensive role, breaking up attacks, and are in that case known as defensive midfielders. As central midfielders often go across boundarie ...

. Despite the talent that he displayed in his youth, his career was affected by several injuries, which impeded him from establishing himself at the top level.

Honours

Player

Fiorentina *

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 ...

winner: 2000–01 *

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 ...

runner-up:

2001 The September 11 attacks against the United States by Al-Qaeda, which killed 2,977 people and instigated the global war on terror, were a defining event of 2001. The United States led a multi-national coalition in an invasion of Afghanistan ...

Cremonese *

(Group A) Runner-up: 2003–04 *

Promotion playoff winner: 2003–04 *

(Group A) Champions: 2004–05

References

External links

Profile at gazzetta.it
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Taddei, Riccardo 1980 births Living people Italian men's footballers Italy men's under-21 international footballers Italy men's youth international footballers ACF Fiorentina players Genoa CFC players US Cremonese players Brescia Calcio players US Città di Pontedera players US Triestina Calcio 1918 players US Catanzaro 1929 players Rimini FC 1912 players US Alessandria Calcio 1912 players Serie A players Serie B players Serie C players Men's association football forwards Footballers from the Province of Pisa