Football Player's Biography 7: Luca Toni

Full name	Luca Toni
Date of birth	26 May 1977 (1977-05-26) (age 33)
Place of birth	Pavullo nel Frignano, Italy
Height	1.94 m (6 ft 4¹⁄₂ in)^[1]
Playing position	Striker

Luca Toni, (born 26 May 1977 in Pavullo nel Frignano, Modena) is an Italian World Cup-winning footballer who is currently playing for Serie A club Juventus.^[2] He has had successful spells at top clubs such as Palermo, Fiorentina, Bayern Munich and Roma. Toni is highly regarded for his goal scoring ability as can be seen by his prolific goals to games ratio at many of his clubs.
His style is at times seen as being unorthodox, however his strength and power have seen him become one of Serie A's most lethal finishers of the past decade. As well as the medals he has collected he has also won several individual honours including the Capocannonieri for the 2005–06 season in which he scored 31 goals.

Club career

Early career

Toni started his professional career at Modena. This was followed by a number of seasons spent around Serie B and Serie C1 with teams such as Empoli, Fiorenzuola and Lodigiani. After a Serie B season with Treviso in 1999, he moved to Vicenza Calcio, playing in Serie A for the first time. He then moved to Brescia Calcio, playing for two seasons alongside Roberto Baggio.

Palermo

In 2003 he agreed to join ambitious Serie B club Palermo, being one of the main factors behind the winning team campaign that brought the Rosanero back to Serie A after over 30 years, thanks to a record 30 goals scored during the season. He consequently gained his first cap for the Italian national team in a friendly match 18 August 2004 lost 2–0 to Iceland in Reykjavík which also marked Marcello Lippi's debut at the helm of the azzurri.^[3]
In the following season, Toni confirmed his prolificity by scoring an impressive 20 goals in Palermo's first Serie A campaign, leading the Sicilian club to a historical first qualification to the UEFA Cup.

Fiorentina

Toni's move to Fiorentina was marked by controversy as the fans dubbed him a traitor for his departure.^[4]
During his first season in Florence he scored an incredible 31 goals, making him one of the most prolific Serie A strikers of all time (the most goals ever scored in a season being 35), this was the first time in 50 years that a Serie A player had scored more than 30 goals. His goal scoring ability brought Fiorentina to heights never seen since the late 1990s when Gabriel Batistuta was playing for them. They clinched 4th spot and qualified for the Champions League.
However, this league position was revoked in the courts during the Calciopoli scandal. Italian courts recognized Fiorentina as culpable of shady dealings and convicted them to start the 2006–07 season with a 19 point deduction. Toni expressed his desire to leave the team several times during the summer to the press, but was eventually convinced by club president Andrea Della Valle to stay and help the club overcome its unfavourable position.
The following season was plagued by injury, limiting Toni's goals to a less considerable, albeit impressive 16 goals. This was Luca Toni's final season at the Florence club, as they agreed to sell him to Bundesliga giants, Bayern Munich. Before he left, Toni promised Della Valle not to sign for any big Italian clubs, which is believed to be the main reason he went to Germany.

Bayern Munich

On 30 May 2007, Bayern Munich chairman Karl-Heinz Rummenigge confirmed that Toni had signed a four year contract with the club after agreeing to a deal worth €11 million with Fiorentina. On 7 June Toni was presented at a Bayern Munich press conference along with fellow new signing Franck Ribéry.^[5] Toni was given the jersey number nine.

2009.

Toni scored four goals in a 19 December 6–0 home win against Aris Thessaloniki to help Bayern win their UEFA Cup group. On 17 February 2008, he scored his first Bundesliga hat-trick (a "perfect hat-trick", with a goal with each foot and a header) against Hannover 96. Bayern won the away fixture 3–0.
In a quarter-final second leg match in the UEFA Cup, Toni scored two dramatic goals on 115th and 120th minutes of extra time, in a game which finished 3–3 and lifted Bayern Munich past Getafe CF on away goals. Eventually Bayern lost to Zenit St. Petersburg in the semi final. At the UEFA Cup 2007-08, he shared the first place with Pavel Pogrebnyak from Zenit at the top scorers list with 10 goals.
He scored two goals in the German Cup final against Borussia Dortmund in a 2–1 win; his second goal was the winner in extra time to give Bayern Munich another cup. Toni finished as top scorer in the 2007–08 Bundesliga season with 24 goals. Overall, Toni finished the season with 39 goals and 12 assists in 46 matches.
In the 2008–09 season, Toni maintained his high-standard of form for Bayern. In the Bundesliga, he started 13 games from January, in which he scored nine goals, a notable one being a late stoppage-time winner he scored against fellow TSG Hoffenheim.^[6]
Toni battled an achilles tendon injury for most of the second half of the 2008–09 season, but still finished as Bayern's leading scorer in league play, tallying 14 goals in 25 Bundesliga appearances.
Recovering from his injury he appeared in two matches of the second team FC Bayern Munich II in the 3rd Liga in September 2009.^[7]
On 7 November 2009, he was fined for leaving the stadium during the match after being substituted at half-time.^[8]
Following his fall out with Bayern manager Louis Van Gaal, Bayern's president Uli Hoeneß stated on DSF Doppelpass that the player will be allowed to leave the club on a free transfer.^[9] On 16 June 2010 his club FC Bayern Munich announced the termination of his contract and he left Germany.^[10]

Roma

On 31 December 2009 FC Bayern Munich confirmed the transfer of the Italian striker for a six month loan to A.S. Roma.^[11]^[12]^[13], which offered him pre-tax basic salary of €3.1M.^[14] He debuted for Roma against Cagliari on 6 January 2010. He scored his first two goals for Roma against Genoa on 17 January 2010 (for 2–0 and 3–0). Toni would go on to score five goals in total for the Giallorossi during the remainder of the 2009–10 season, including the winner against Inter Milan^[15] to cut their lead to a single point at the top of the Serie A standings, ahead of Roma.

Genoa

In June 2010, after weeks of speculation, it was confirmed that Luca Toni had found an agreement with Genoa for a two-year contract, and a net salary of reported €4 million per season,^[16] as confirmed by club chairman Enrico Preziosi. The player, who was presented to the press on 1 July, wore the #9 jersey.^[16]

Juventus

On 7 January 2011, after days of speculation, it was confirmed by a statement in Juventus official website that Luca Toni will be joining Bianconeri on a free deal, until 30 June 2012. Luca Toni scored his 100th goal in Serie A with a brilliant header from 16 meters against Cagliari, that was his debut goal for Juventus.

International career

Toni made his debut for the Italian national team as a substitute on 18 August 2004 in a friendly match against Iceland. He scored his first international goal in a World Cup Qualifying match against Norway on 4 September 2004.
On 17 November, Toni made his international start in a friendly match against Finland. On 11 June 2005, he captained the Italian squad for the first time in his career in a friendly match against Ecuador because of the absence of current captain Fabio Cannavaro and other experienced players. On 7 September, Toni scored his first international hat-trick in a 4–1 victory against Belarus in a 2006 World Cup qualifying match.
Toni was selected to Italy's 2006 World Cup squad, and scored two goals in the quarter-finals against Ukraine on 30 June, his only goals of the tournament. In the final against France, he hit the crossbar with a powerful header and later netted another header although the goal was disallowed as the attempt was ruled offside.
Toni scored two goals in Italy's 2–0 win over Scotland in a Euro 2008 qualifier. Due to the aforementioned foot surgery, he missed Italy's next two qualifiers against the Faroe Islands and Lithuania. He returned to the qualification games against Georgia, and assisted Fabio Grosso, who scored the final result (2–0). On 17 November 2007, Toni struck in the first minute of a 2–1 qualifier win over Scotland at Hampden Park, which secured Italy's place at the final stages. Four days later, he scored the second goal against the Faroe Islands, as Italy closed with a 3–1 win.
He was called up to the Italian Squad for Euro 2008, but his form in the tournament was disappointing, with his only goal against Romania being disallowed for offside. Toni's main contribution for the team was winning a penalty kick against France, which ended 2–0. Italy then bowed out of the tournament on penalty kicks to Spain in the quarter-final.
Despite the Euro 2008 disappointment, Toni was called up by coach Marcello Lippi for Italy's first two 2010 World Cup qualifers. Toni also scored an equaliser against Greece in an international friendly, where the match ended 1–1. He was successively not included in Marcello Lippi's provisional 30-man Italian squad for the 2010 FIFA World Cup.