| Alessandro Birindelli | ||
| Personal information | ||
|---|---|---|
| Date of birth | November 12, 1974 | |
| Place of birth | Pisa, Italy | |
| Height | 1.76 m (5 ft 91⁄2 in)[1] | |
| Playing position | Defender | |
| Club information | ||
| Current club | Pisa Calcio | |
| Number | 15 | |
| Youth career | ||
| Empoli | ||
| Senior career1 | ||
| Years | Club | App (Gls)* |
| 1992–1997 1997–2008 2008– |
Empoli Juventus Pisa |
118 (1) 196 (2) 33 (0)[1] |
| National team2 | ||
| 1991 1997 2002–2004 |
Italy U-17 Italy U-23 Italy |
0 (0) 3 (0) 6 (0) |
|
1 Senior club appearances and goals |
||
Alessandro Birindelli (born November 12, 1974 in Pisa) is an Italian footballer who is currently contracted with Serie B team Pisa Calcio. He is best known for having played with Italian giants Juventus from 1997 to 2008, winning three Italian Serie A titles, three Italian Super Cups and a Serie B tile during his time with The Old Lady, as well as the Coppa Italia Serie C with Empoli.
Contents |
Biography
Born to Paolo and Erminia Birindelli on November 12, 1974 in the Italian city of Pisa. He has an older sister Tiziana. He is married to his childhood sweetheart Silvia and they have two children, Samuele and Matteo.[2]
Club career
He started playing football at the age of 8 for the local team of San Frediano (an area of Pisa not far from his boyhood home and the church of the same name). He was always a Juventus fan, being a big admirer of Michel Platini. He was also influenced by Paolo Maldini's professionalism and sportsmanship[2]. As he grow up he would enter into the Empoli youth academy, beginning his career as a right side winger before moving into defense. In 1996 he would win the Coppa Italia Serie C with Empoli and finish 2nd in Group A of Serie C1 earning promotion to Serie B. Empoli would follow this with promotion to Italy's top flight league, Serie A, by finishing second in Serie B with 64 points, behind Brescia with 66 points.
Birindelli would end his career with Empoli and move to his beloved Juventus in 1997 managed at the time by Marcello Lippi and joining players like Ciro Ferrara, Alessandro Del Piero, and Zinedine Zidane. He was brought in along with several other summer signings (Filippo Inzaghi and Edgar Davids) to strengthen the squad. Making his league debut in a 2–0 victory over Lecce on August 31, 1997. Before his first league appearance, he would feature in the Italian Super Cup victory over Vicenza. That first season with Juve would also include the 1997-98 Scudetto as the winners of Serie A with 74 points, followed by Internazionale with 69 points. The season would end on a negative note, with the second consecutive loss in the 1998 Champions League Final.
Birindelli would win two more Scudetto with Juve in 2001-02 and 2002-03 and two more Italian Super Cups in 2002 and 2003. Again, he would be part of a Juventus side to lose in a Champions League Final, this time in the 2003 final against A.C. Milan, which would be the first all Italian final in the competition. He was however one of Juventus' few successful players in the penalty shootout. In the summer of 2005, while playing a friendly against Benfica, he would injury his ankle and miss the entire 2005-06 season. Juve would finish the season with 91 points and at the top of Serie A but the clubs involvement in the 2006 Italian football scandal, lead to them being stripped of their title and relegated to Serie B. Juventus would also be stripped of their 2004-05 Serie A title.
Birindelli and Juventus would initially start the 2006-07 season with a 30 point deduction as a further punishment for their role in the 2006 match fixing, this punishment would ultimately be reduced to nine points which allowed Birindelli to win a Serie B title and automatic promotion, for Juventus, back to Serie A. During the course of the season Birindelli would establish himself as a regular again, finishing the season with 37 league appearances and becoming vice captain.
Claudio Ranieri took over Juventus for the 2007-08 season and continued to use Birindelli, but more sparingly with only 7 league appearances. On May 17 2008, Birindelli said farewell to Juventus, after 11 years in the black and white, claiming that he wished to continue playing for another season or two.[3].
On July 22, 2008 he was announced as Pisa's new signing, thus finally giving him the opportunity to play for his hometown club in the upcoming 2008–09 Serie B season.[4]
International career
Birindelli would receive a call up to the Italy U-17 squad in 1991 for the FIFA U-17 World Championship but would not start in any of Italy's three games. His first start in an Italian jersey would be as part of the Under-23 squad, coached by Marco Tardelli, that competed in the 1997 Mediterranean Games held in Bari. Italy would go on to win the gold medal, with Birindelli featuring in three of the four games including the final against Turkey.[5]
He would be called up to the senior international squad by Giovanni Trapattoni in 2002 and made his debut against Turkey on November 20, 2002, the game would finish a one all draw. In total he would feature in just six internationals (never scoring), the last of which was the 2–0 victory over Iceland on August 18, 2004.
Career Honours
Italy U-23
- Mediterranean Games
- Winner (1): 1997
Empoli F.C.
- Coppa Italia Serie C
- Winner (1): 1996
- Serie B
- Runner-up (1): 1996-97
Juventus F.C.
- Serie A
- Serie B
- Winner (1): 2006-07
- Italian Super Cups
- Coppa Italia
- UEFA Champions League
- UEFA Intertoto Cup
- Winner (1): 1999
Career statistics
| Club performance | League | Cup | Continental | Total | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Season | Club | League | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals |
| Italy | League | Coppa Italia | Europe | Total | ||||||
| 1992–93 | Empoli | Serie C1 | 1 | 0 | - | - | 1 | 0 | ||
| 1993–94 | 22 | 0 | 1 | 0 | - | 23 | 0 | |||
| 1994–95 | 30 | 0 | - | - | 30 | 0 | ||||
| 1995–96 | 30 | 0 | - | - | 30 | 0 | ||||
| 1996–97 | Serie B | 35 | 1 | 3 | 0 | - | 38 | 1 | ||
| Total | 118 | 1 | 4 | 0 | - | 122 | 1 | |||
| 1997-98 | Juventus | Serie A | 29 | 0 | 7 | 1 | 10 | 1 | 46 | 2 |
| 1998-99 | 24 | 1 | 2 | 0 | 8 | 1 | 34 | 2 | ||
| 1999-00 | 22 | 0 | 4 | 0 | 8 | 0 | 34 | 0 | ||
| 2000-01 | 19 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 5 | 0 | 25 | 0 | ||
| 2001-02 | 10 | 0 | 8 | 1 | 8 | 0 | 26 | 1 | ||
| 2002-03 | 17 | 0 | 4 | 0 | 13 | 1 | 34 | 1 | ||
| 2003-04 | 19 | 0 | 3 | 0 | 5 | 0 | 27 | 0 | ||
| 2004-05 | 12 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 4 | 0 | 18 | 0 | ||
| 2005-06 | Season Long Injury | 0 | 0 | |||||||
| 2006-07 | Serie B | 37 | 1 | 3 | 0 | - | 40 | 1 | ||
| 2007-08 | Serie A | 7 | 0 | 4 | 0 | - | 11 | 0 | ||
| Total | 196 | 2 | 38 | 2 | 61 | 3 | 295 | 7 | ||
| 2008-09 | Pisa | Serie B | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 |
| Total | Italy | 315 | 3 | 42 | 2 | 61 | 3 | 418 | 8 | |
| Career Total | 315 | 3 | 42 | 2 | 61 | 3 | 418 | 8 | ||
References
- ^ a b "ALESSANDRO BIRINDELLI" (in Italian). Pisa Calcio. http://www.pisacalcio.it/squadra/giocatore.html?pId=6. Retrieved on 2009-05-01.
- ^ a b "Juventus Player Biography". http://www.juventus.com/site/ita/TAS_schedagiocatoreprimasquadra_3438CCA82CD74AEDAB6204D3BACE84D8.asp. (Italian)
- ^ "Birindelli says farewell to Juve". http://www.juvenews.net/r.php?id=5704. (Italian)
- ^ "BIRINDELLI, MASIERO, PIT E GRECO: UN POKER D'ASSI PER IL PISA DI MISTER VENTURA". Pisa Calcio. 2008-07-21. http://www.pisacalcio.it/news/dettaglio.html?iId=2578. Retrieved on 2008-07-21. (Italian)
- ^ "International Career Statistics for Alessandro Birindelli". http://www.figc.it/nazionali/DettaglioConvocato?codiceConvocato=1599&squadra=1. (Italian)
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