Franco Baresi

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Franco Baresi
Personal information
Full name	Franco Baresi
Date of birth	May 8, 1960
Place of birth	Travagliato (BS), Italy
Height	176 cm
Position	Defender
Professional clubs*
Years	Club	Apps (goals)
1977-1997	AC Milan	531 (16)
National team**
1982-1994	Italy	81 (1)
* Professional club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only and correct as of September 29, 2006. ** National team caps and goals correct as of September 29, 2006.

Franco Baresi (born May 8, 1960 in Travagliato, province of Brescia) is an Italian youth team coach and former football defender with A.C. Milan, acknowledged as one of the greatest defenders ever to play the game. Because his style of play was similar to that of Franz Beckenbauer, and due to the similarity of their first names, Baresi was colloquially called "Franz".

Contents 1 Club career 2 International career 3 Honours 4 Coaching career 5 Trivia 6 See also

[edit] Club career

Baresi led the AC Milan team and its defense for the best part of a decade; a period during which Milan's defense was considered by many observers to be the best back four in history consisting of Paolo Maldini, Alessandro Costacurta and Mauro Tassotti. He is also one of the few players who spent his entire career at one club, AC Milan, for whom he played 531 games, scoring 16 goals.

He retired from playing in 1996 aged 36. With Milan, Baresi won six scudetti (Serie A league titles) and three European Cups. He mentored defensive partner Paolo Maldini in his later years, whose career has followed a similar path. His #6 jersey was retired by the club, a rarity for Italian football. After a short spell as Director of Football at Fulham, Baresi returned to Milan as a youth team coach in 2002.

[edit] International career

Baresi played in two World Cups for Italy. Baresi was part of the 1982 World Cup squad in Spain aged 22, but didn't play. His international debut came later that year in a match against Romania. He also missed the 1986 tournament and made his World Cup debut in 1990 when Italy were the hosts. The Azzurri lost to Argentina in the semi-finals, but went on to beat England in the third place play off.

In the 1994 World Cup he was one step closer to lifting the trophy, losing to Brazil in the final. Despite missing four matches after being injured in Italy's group match against Norway, he underwent emergency surgery and returned to captain the team in the final. He missed the first penalty in the shootout after the 0-0 full-time and extra-time score.

He was also a member of the Italian squad that finished fourth at the 1984 Summer Olympics in Los Angeles, California.

[edit] Honours

On March 4, 2004, at a gala ceremony in London, to mark the 100th anniversary of the foundation of the Fédération Internationale de Football Association (FIFA), the international governing body of football revealed the FIFA 100. The list contains choice of the "greatest living footballers", Baresi was one of many form the legendary Milan teams of 1990's to be included.

[edit] Coaching career

In 2002, Baresi was appointed head coach of AC Milan's Primavera Under-20 squad. In 2006, he was moved by the club to coach the Berretti Under-19 squad, with his former fellow Filippo Galli replacing him at the helm of the Primavera squad.

[edit] Trivia

His brother Giuseppe Baresi played for bitter rivals Inter.

[edit] See also

• 1994 European cup final

	Italy squad - 1994 World Cup Runners-up
1 Pagliuca | 2 Apolloni | 3 Benarrivo | 4 Costacurta | 5 Maldini | 6 Baresi | 7 Minotti | 8 Mussi | 9 Tassotti | 10 R. Baggio | 11 Albertini | 12 Marchegiani | 13 D. Baggio | 14 Berti | 15 Conte | 16 Donadoni | 17 Evani | 18 Casiraghi | 19 Massaro | 20 Signori | 21 Zola | 22 Bucci | Coach: Sacchi

	Italy squad - 1990 FIFA World Cup
1 Zenga | 2 Baresi | 3 Bergomi | 4 de Agostini | 5 Ferrara | 6 Ferri | 7 Maldini | 8 Vierchowod | 9 Ancelotti | 10 Berti | 11 De Napoli | 12 Tacconi | 13 Giannini | 14 Marocchi | 15 Baggio | 16 Carnevale | 17 Donadoni | 18 Mancini | 19 Schillaci | 20 Serena | 21 Vialli | 22 Pagliuca | Coach: Vicini

	Italy squad - 1982 World Cup Champions (3rd Title)
1 Zoff | 2 Baresi | 3 Bergomi | 4 Cabrini | 5 Collovati | 6 Gentile | 7 Scirea | 8 Vierchowod | 9 Antognoni | 10 Dossena | 11 Marini | 12 Bordon | 13 Oriali | 14 Tardelli | 15 Causio | 16 Conti | 17 Massaro | 18 Altobelli | 19 Graziani | 20 Rossi | 21 Selvaggi | 22 Galli | Coach: Bearzot