Sandro Cois (; born 9 June 1972) is an Italian former professional footballer. He enjoyed a lengthy career, playing primarily as a defensive midfielder for Italian clubs

Torino Turin ( , ; ; , then ) is a city and an important business and cultural centre in northern Italy. It is the capital city of Piedmont and of the Metropolitan City of Turin, and was the first Italian capital from 1861 to 1865. The city is main ...

, Saviglianese, Fiorentina, Sampdoria, and

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 ...

. Due to his tactical intelligence, passing, stamina, tenacity, and versatility, he was capable of playing in several midfield and defensive positions. At international level, he 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 ...

on three occasions between 1998 and 1999, and was member of the team that took part at the

1998 FIFA World Cup The 1998 FIFA World Cup was the 16th FIFA World Cup, the Association football, football world championship for List of men's national association football teams, men's national teams. The finals tournament was held in France from 10 June to 1 ...

Club career

Cois was born in Fossano. He played for several clubs throughout his career, including

(1988–1994), Sampdoria (2002–03) and

(2003). He achieved notable success with Torino early in his career, after achieving

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 ...

promotion by winning the 1989–90 Serie B title with the club. He later won the Mitropa Cup in 1991, the Coppa Italia in 1993, and he helped his team to the 1991–92 UEFA Cup final, after helping his team to qualify for the tournament by leading them to a third place in Serie A in 1991. In the 1992 UEFA Cup Final, they were defeated by

Ajax Ajax may refer to: Greek mythology and tragedy * Ajax the Great, a Greek mythological hero, son of King Telamon and Periboea * Ajax the Lesser, a Greek mythological hero, son of Oileus, the king of Locris * Ajax (play), ''Ajax'' (play), by the an ...

on aggregate. Cois is perhaps best known for his spell at Fiorentina (1994–2002) in the mid-late 90s where he won over the fans with his tireless running and tenacious play, becoming important to the side as the less glamorous foil to playmakers like Rui Costa and Domenico Morfeo. With the club he won two Coppa Italia trophies in 1996 and 2001, and a Supercoppa Italiana in 1996, also helping Fiorentina to two third-place finishes in

1996 1996 was designated as: * International Year for the Eradication of Poverty Events January * January 8 – A Zairean cargo plane crashes into a crowded market in the center of the capital city of the Democratic Republic of the Congo ...

and

1999 1999 was designated as the International Year of Older Persons. Events January * January 1 – The euro currency is established and the European Central Bank assumes its full powers. * January 3 – The Mars Polar Lander is launc ...

International career

It was during his period with Fiorentina in the late 90s that Cois broke into the

Italy national football team The Italy national football team () has represented Italy in men's international Association football, football since its first match in 1910. The national team is controlled by the Italian Football Federation (FIGC), the governing body for fo ...

. He was a participant at the

, although he never became a regular in the side, winning just 3 caps between 1998 and 1999, one of which was in an unofficial match against the

FIFA The Fédération Internationale de Football Association (), more commonly known by its acronym FIFA ( ), is the international self-regulatory governing body of association football, beach soccer, and futsal. It was founded on 21 May 1904 to o ...

World Stars, also failing to make an appearance at the 1998 World Cup.

Honours

Player

Club

Torino * Coppa Italia: 1992–93 * Supercoppa Italiana: 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 ...

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 ...

: 1989–90 *

UEFA Cup The asterisk ( ), from Late Latin , from Ancient Greek , , "little star", is a Typography, typographical symbol. It is so called because it resembles a conventional image of a star (heraldry), heraldic star. Computer scientists and Mathematici ...

: Runner-up 1991–92 * Mitropa Cup: 1991 * Memorial Pier Cesare Baretti: 1990, Runner-up 1993 Fiorentina * Coppa Italia: 1995–96, 2000–01 * Supercoppa Italiana:

; Runner-up

2001 The year's most prominent event was the September 11 attacks against the United States by al-Qaeda, which Casualties of the September 11 attacks, killed 2,977 people and instigated the global war on terror. The United States led a Participan ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Cois, Sandro 1972 births Living people People from Fossano Men's association football midfielders Italian men's footballers Italy men's international footballers Torino FC players Piacenza Calcio 1919 players ACF Fiorentina players UC Sampdoria players Serie A players Serie B players 1998 FIFA World Cup players Italian people of Sardinian descent Footballers from the Province of Cuneo 20th-century Italian sportsmen