Stefano Fiore
Encyclopedia
Stefano Fiore is an Italian
Italy
Italy , officially the Italian Republic languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Italy's official name is as follows:;;;;;;;;), is a unitary parliamentary republic in South-Central Europe. To the north it borders France, Switzerland, Austria and...

 football
Football (soccer)
Association football, more commonly known as football or soccer, is a sport played between two teams of eleven players with a spherical ball...

 manager and former player, who can play as an attacking midfielder
Midfielder
A midfielder is an association football position. Some midfielders play a more defensive role, while others blur the boundaries between midfielders and forwards. The number of midfielders a team uses during a match may vary, depending on the team's formation and each individual player's role...

 or on the wing. He is currently in charge as manager technical area of Cosenza in Serie D
Serie D
Serie D is the top level of the Italian non-professional football association called Lega Nazionale Dilettanti. The association represents over a million football players and thousands of football teams across Italy. Serie D ranks just below Lega Pro Seconda Divisione , and is thus considered the...

.

Parma and early years

Fiore was born in Cosenza, which is where his career began during 1992. He played just 11 games before moving to Parma
Parma F.C.
Parma Football Club , commonly referred to as just Parma, is an Italian professional football club based in Parma, Emilia–Romagna that will compete in Serie A for the 2011–12 season, having finished in twelfth position last season. Founded as Verdi Foot Ball Club in July 1913, the club changed its...

 in 1994. His limited playing time with the Gialloblu forced him to move to Padova for the following season, where he scored 1 goal in 24 games. In the 1996-97 season, Fiore moved to A.C. ChievoVerona
A.C. ChievoVerona
Associazione Calcio Chievo Verona is a professional Italian football club named after and based in Chievo, a suburb of 2,800 inhabitants in Verona, Veneto, and owned by Paluani, a cake company and the inspiration for their original name, Paluani Chievo...

 where he was impressive, notching up 2 goals and plenty of assists. This prompted former club, Parma, to re-sign the midfielder in 1997. For the next 2 seasons the Gialloblu left Fiore mainly on the bench, yet when he was given a chance he looked far more impressive than the aging Dino Baggio
Dino Baggio
Dino Baggio is a retired Italian football defensive midfielder. He has 60 caps at international level for the Italian national team.-Clubs and achievements:...

.

Udinese

In June 1999 he moved to Udinese
Udinese Calcio
Udinese Calcio is an Italian football club based in Udine, Friuli-Venezia Giulia, and currently plays in the Serie A. Founded in 1896, Udinese is the second oldest club in the Serie A, after Genoa....

, originally a cash plus player deal which Parma would get Stephen Appiah
Stephen Appiah
Stephen Leroy Appiah is a former Ghana International football midfielder and captain. He is currently a free agent. He has played for several European clubs since 1997 and is currently without a club. Appiah was a member of the Ghana national team, which he has represented at the youth, Olympic,...

 and Márcio Amoroso
Márcio Amoroso
Márcio Amoroso dos Santos is a retired Brazilian footballer. He has played his football for several teams in Japan, Italy, Germany, Spain and Greece while representing Brazil at international level.-Club career:...

, for a combined 90 billion lire transfer fees to Udinese, Fiore priced 15 billion and the rest as cash.

His career improved during the season. Here he scored 9 goals in 33 appearances.
His fine form earned him a call to the national side
Italy national football team
The Italy National Football Team , represents Italy in association football and is controlled by the Italian Football Federation , the governing body for football in Italy. Italy is the second most successful national team in the history of the World Cup having won four titles , just one fewer than...

 for Euro 2000
2000 UEFA European Football Championship
The 2000 UEFA European Football Championship, or Euro 2000, was the 11th UEFA European Football Championship, which is held every four years and organized by UEFA, association football's governing body in Europe....

 at the expense of Dino Baggio, the man who had kept him out of the Parma team for so long. He had a very successful tournament and scored what many regard as the goal of the tournament in the 2-0 victory over Belgium
Belgium
Belgium , officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a federal state in Western Europe. It is a founding member of the European Union and hosts the EU's headquarters, and those of several other major international organisations such as NATO.Belgium is also a member of, or affiliated to, many...

. His fine form continued and he scored 9 goals in 34 games in 2000-01 season.

Lazio

Eventually, Fiore did move to Lazio in June 2001 along with teammate, Giuliano Giannichedda
Giuliano Giannichedda
Giuliano Giannichedda is a former Italian footballer. He is a midfielder, but can also play as a defender. He is well known for his tackling and stamina.-Career:...

, for a deal over 80 billion Italian lire. Lazio had big money moves that season, they sold midfielder Juan Sebastián Verón
Juan Sebastián Verón
Juan Sebastián Verón is an Argentinian professional football player who is the current captain and midfielder for Estudiantes de La Plata in the Argentine Primera División....

 and Pavel Nedvěd
Pavel Nedved
Pavel Nedvěd is a retired Czech football midfielder. He is one of the most successful Czech players to emerge from the newly formed Czech Republic, winning numerous accolades with Lazio and Juventus, including the last ever Cup Winners' Cup...

 co-currently that month (June), and sold striker Marcelo Salas
Marcelo Salas
José Marcelo Salas Melinao , better known as El Matador, Shileno or simply Marcelo Salas, is a former football player from Chile. He, along with world cup veterans, 3 time Best Player of America Elías Figueroa and former Real Madrid and Inter Milan forward Iván Zamorano, has been one of Chile's...

 to Juventus F.C.
Juventus F.C.
Juventus Football Club S.p.A. , commonly referred to as Juventus and colloquially as Juve , are a professional Italian association football club based in Turin, Piedmont...

 for cash and Darko Kovačević
Darko Kovacevic
Darko Kovačević is a former Serbian football player. He is known for his spells at Real Sociedad where his partnership with Nihat Kahveci was one of the best in Spain. His key attributes are his strength and aerial ability...

. They also got Jaap Stam
Jaap Stam
Jakob "Jaap" Stam is a retired Dutch football player who was twice voted best defender in the 1998–99 and 1999–2000 UEFA Champions League. He played for several European clubs like PSV Eindhoven, Manchester United, S.S. Lazio, A.C. Milan and AFC Ajax before retiring in October 2007...

 to compensate part of Verón's transfer fees and signed Gaizka Mendieta
Gaizka Mendieta
Gaizka Mendieta Zabala is a retired Spanish footballer who played as a midfielder.Versatile, with good offensive and tackling skills, also being capable of creating goals for teammates and himself, he played mainly for Valencia CF, and finished his career at Middlesbrough of England.He played 40...

 from Valencia.

Fiore could not find his best form for the Biancocelesti as coach, Alberto Zaccheroni, persisted in playing him on the left side of midfield. This resulted in Fiore losing his place in the national side for the 2002 FIFA World Cup
2002 FIFA World Cup
The 2002 FIFA World Cup was the 17th staging of the FIFA World Cup, held in South Korea and Japan from 31 May to 30 June. It was also the first World Cup held in Asia, and the last in which the golden goal rule was implemented. Brazil won the tournament for a record fifth time, beating Germany 2–0...

 in South Korea
South Korea
The Republic of Korea , , is a sovereign state in East Asia, located on the southern portion of the Korean Peninsula. It is neighbored by the People's Republic of China to the west, Japan to the east, North Korea to the north, and the East China Sea and Republic of China to the south...

 and Japan
Japan
Japan is an island nation in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies to the east of the Sea of Japan, China, North Korea, South Korea and Russia, stretching from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea and Taiwan in the south...

.

Zaccheroni was dismissed in 2002, and Fiore began to improve with a new coach, Roberto Mancini
Roberto Mancini
Roberto Mancini is an Italian football manager, formerly an international player and current manager of Premier League club Manchester City.As a player Mancini was best known for his time at Sampdoria, where he played more than 550 matches, and helped them win the Serie A league title, four Coppa...

. Fiore seemed more at ease playing in the centre of midfield and guided Lazio to fourth in Serie A
Serie A
Serie A , now called Serie A TIM due to sponsorship by Telecom Italia, is a professional league competition for football clubs located at the top of the Italian football league system and has been operating for over eighty years since 1929. It had been organized by Lega Calcio until 2010, but a new...

, thus earning them a place in next season's UEFA Champions League
UEFA Champions League
The UEFA Champions League, known simply the Champions League and originally known as the European Champion Clubs' Cup or European Cup, is an annual international club football competition organised by the Union of European Football Associations since 1955 for the top football clubs in Europe. It...

. Fiore was in good form for Lazio the following season, despite the loss of several key players in the summer (and then Dejan Stanković
Dejan Stankovic
Dejan Stanković is a Serbian association football player who plays for the Italian Serie A side Inter. He captained the Serbian national football team until 2011, when he announced his retirement from international football...

 in January 2004) . Lazio won the 2003–04 Coppa Italia, in which Fiore was an inspirational player. His impressive showings earned him a place on the national side for Euro 2004
2004 UEFA European Football Championship
The 2004 UEFA European Football Championship, better known as Euro 2004, was the 12th European Football Championship, a quadrennial football tournament for European national teams. It was hosted in Portugal, for the first time, between 12 June and 4 July 2004, following its selection by UEFA, in...

. However, Fiore was used sparingly by coach Giovanni Trapattoni
Giovanni Trapattoni
Giovanni Trapattoni , sometimes known as "Trap" or "Il Trap", is an Italian football coach and former player, considered the most successful club coach in the history of Serie A. As a player he was part of Italy's squad at the 1962 FIFA World Cup....

, who preferred to play the Argentine
Argentina
Argentina , officially the Argentine Republic , is the second largest country in South America by land area, after Brazil. It is constituted as a federation of 23 provinces and an autonomous city, Buenos Aires...

 born winger, Mauro Camoranesi
Mauro Camoranesi
Mauro Camoranesi, Ufficiale OMRI is an Italian Argentine World Cup-winning footballer who plays for Lanús in the Argentine Primera División. He is a midfielder, usually on the right wing...

. When he did start, the Azzurri looked a lot more creative, with Fiore nearly scoring from a spectacular volley against Bulgaria
Bulgaria national football team
The FIFA Bulgaria national football team is an association football team fielded by the Bulgarian Football Union, a member association of UEFA. The team's home ground is Vasil Levski in Sofia and Luboslav Penev is in charge manager after replacement of Lothar Matthäus...

 in the final group game. Despite the Azzurri winning this match, the damage was done in the 2 previous group games, and Italy exited the tournament early.

Valencia

Due to the financial problems that Lazio were suffering, Fiore, along with Bernardo Corradi
Bernardo Corradi
Bernardo Corradi is an Italian footballer, who is currently a free agent. He was a former Italian international.-Early career:...

, were offloaded to Spanish outfit, Valencia
Valencia CF
Valencia Club de Fútbol is a Spanish football club based in Valencia, Spain. They play in La Liga and are one of the most successful and biggest clubs in Spanish Football and European Football. Valencia have won six La Liga titles, seven Copa del Rey trophies, two Fairs Cups which was the...

, where he joined with the Italian coach Claudio Ranieri
Claudio Ranieri
Claudio Ranieri, is an Italian football manager, currently in charge as head coach of Internazionale.He has also managed many other well-known clubs in Europe, including Cagliari, Napoli, Fiorentina, Valencia, Atlético Madrid, Chelsea, Parma, Juventus and Roma.-Early life:Ranieri attended St...

, signing a 3+1 years contract. Corradi was priced €10M and Fiore for €6.6M and was to compensate the unpaid €16.6M Gaizka Mendieta
Gaizka Mendieta
Gaizka Mendieta Zabala is a retired Spanish footballer who played as a midfielder.Versatile, with good offensive and tackling skills, also being capable of creating goals for teammates and himself, he played mainly for Valencia CF, and finished his career at Middlesbrough of England.He played 40...

's remained transfer fees.

After a promising start, Valencia suffered a disastrous losing streak in October, which they never fully recovered from. They exited the UEFA Champions League early, and coach Claudio Ranieri was dismissed by mid February. Fiore could not adequately adapt to the demands of Spanish football, and was often left on the substitutes bench.

Late career

In July 2005, Fiore and Corradi returned to Serie A, with Fiorentina taking the midfielder on a loan spell. La Viola has lost attacking midfielder Enzo Maresca
Enzo Maresca
Enzo Maresca is an Italian footballer, who currently plays for Málaga CF in Spanish La Liga.-Youth career:Maresca started playing youth football at A.C. Milan, before joining Cagliari...

 and holding midfielder Christian Obodo
Christian Obodo
Christian Obodo is a football defensive midfielder from Nigeria, currently plays for Italian Serie A side U.S...

 earlier in June. His form with the Viola was outstanding. He linked up well with fellow Italian striker, Luca Toni
Luca Toni
Luca Toni, Ufficiale OMRI is an Italian World Cup-winning footballer who currently plays for Serie A club Juventus. He has had successful spells at top clubs such as Palermo, Fiorentina, Bayern Munich, and Roma...

, and together they brought Fiorentina to a higher level, guiding them to 4th in Serie A (before the Calciopoli verdicts saw them lose this place).

Fiorentina decided not to take Fiore on a permanent basis and Fiore sealed a loan move to Torino
Torino F.C.
Torino Football Club, commonly referred to as simply Torino, is a professional Italian football club based in Turin, Piedmont, that was founded in 1906. The club has spent most of its history in the top tier in Italian football....

 (which recently promoted back to top division) on deadline day. On 31 January 2007, the closure of transfer market, he was loaned to Livorno
A.S. Livorno Calcio
Associazione Sportiva Livorno Calcio is an Italian football club based in Livorno, Tuscany. The club was formed in 1915 and currently plays in Italian Serie B. The team's colors are dark red or maroon...

.

On February 11, 2007 he played his first Serie A match for Livorno against A.C. Milan
A.C. Milan
Associazione Calcio Milan, commonly referred to as A.C. Milan or simply Milan , is a professional Italian football club based in Milan, Lombardy, that plays in the Serie A. Milan was founded in 1899 by English lace-maker Herbert Kilpin and businessman Alfred Edwards among others...

 

In the summer 2007, he failed to find a club to settle, until 22 August 2007, he signed a 1-year contract with A.C. Mantova
A.C. Mantova
Mantova Football Club is an Italian football club, based in Mantua, Lombardy. Mantova had played consecutively in the Italian Serie B from the 2005–06 season to 2009–10 as Associazione Calcio Mantova, when they were relegated after ending the season in 20th place.During the summer 2010, the club...

 of Serie B
Serie B
Serie B, currently named Serie bwin due to sponsorship reasons, is the second-highest division in the Italian football league system after the Serie A. It is contested by 22 teams and organized by the Lega Serie B since July 2010, after the split of Lega Calcio that previously took care of both the...

, which he last experienced in 1997.

Successively, Fiore did not play for any team during the 2008–09, but on September 2009 he finally made his comeback into active football, agreeing a three-year contract with hometown club Cosenza, in the Lega Pro Prima Divisione league (Italian third tier).

Statistics

|-
|1993/94||Cosenza||Serie B
Serie B
Serie B, currently named Serie bwin due to sponsorship reasons, is the second-highest division in the Italian football league system after the Serie A. It is contested by 22 teams and organized by the Lega Serie B since July 2010, after the split of Lega Calcio that previously took care of both the...

||11||1||1||0||colspan="2"|-||12||1
|-
|1994/95||Parma||Serie A
Serie A
Serie A , now called Serie A TIM due to sponsorship by Telecom Italia, is a professional league competition for football clubs located at the top of the Italian football league system and has been operating for over eighty years since 1929. It had been organized by Lega Calcio until 2010, but a new...

||8||1||6||0||6||0||20||1
|-
|1995/96||Padova
Calcio Padova
Calcio Padova is an Italian football club, based in Padua, Veneto. The club was founded in 1910. Padova is playing in Serie B, having last been in Serie A in 1996...

||Serie A
Serie A
Serie A , now called Serie A TIM due to sponsorship by Telecom Italia, is a professional league competition for football clubs located at the top of the Italian football league system and has been operating for over eighty years since 1929. It had been organized by Lega Calcio until 2010, but a new...

||24||1||1||0||colspan="2"|-||25||1
|-
|1996/97||ChievoVerona||Serie B
Serie B
Serie B, currently named Serie bwin due to sponsorship reasons, is the second-highest division in the Italian football league system after the Serie A. It is contested by 22 teams and organized by the Lega Serie B since July 2010, after the split of Lega Calcio that previously took care of both the...

||38||2||2||1||colspan="2"|-||40||3
|-
|1997/98||rowspan="2"|Parma||rowspan="2"|Serie A
Serie A
Serie A , now called Serie A TIM due to sponsorship by Telecom Italia, is a professional league competition for football clubs located at the top of the Italian football league system and has been operating for over eighty years since 1929. It had been organized by Lega Calcio until 2010, but a new...

||26||1||7||1||6||0||39||2
|-
|1998/99||28||1||9||0||10||2||47||3
|-
|1999/00||rowspan="2"|Udinese
Udinese Calcio
Udinese Calcio is an Italian football club based in Udine, Friuli-Venezia Giulia, and currently plays in the Serie A. Founded in 1896, Udinese is the second oldest club in the Serie A, after Genoa....

||rowspan="2"|Serie A
Serie A
Serie A , now called Serie A TIM due to sponsorship by Telecom Italia, is a professional league competition for football clubs located at the top of the Italian football league system and has been operating for over eighty years since 1929. It had been organized by Lega Calcio until 2010, but a new...

||33||9||1||0||8||1||42||10
|-
|2000/01||34||9||6||0||5||0||45||9
|-
|2001/02||rowspan="3"|Lazio||rowspan="3"|Serie A
Serie A
Serie A , now called Serie A TIM due to sponsorship by Telecom Italia, is a professional league competition for football clubs located at the top of the Italian football league system and has been operating for over eighty years since 1929. It had been organized by Lega Calcio until 2010, but a new...

||30||3||2||0||8||2||40||5
|-
|2002/03||33||5||5||1||8||2||46||8
|-
|2003/04||32||8||7||6||8||2||47||16

|-
|2004/05||Valencia
Valencia CF
Valencia Club de Fútbol is a Spanish football club based in Valencia, Spain. They play in La Liga and are one of the most successful and biggest clubs in Spanish Football and European Football. Valencia have won six La Liga titles, seven Copa del Rey trophies, two Fairs Cups which was the...

||La Liga
La Liga
The Primera División of the Liga Nacional de Fútbol Profesional , commonly known as La Liga or, for sponsorship reasons, Liga BBVA since 2008, is the top professional association football division of the Spanish football league system...

||20||2||||||3||0||23||2

|-
|2005/06||Fiorentina
ACF Fiorentina
ACF Fiorentina, commonly referred to as simply Fiorentina, is a professional Italian football club from Florence, Tuscany. Founded by a merger in 1926, Fiorentina have played at the top level of Italian football for the majority of their existence; only four clubs have played in more Serie A...

||Serie A
Serie A
Serie A , now called Serie A TIM due to sponsorship by Telecom Italia, is a professional league competition for football clubs located at the top of the Italian football league system and has been operating for over eighty years since 1929. It had been organized by Lega Calcio until 2010, but a new...

||38||6||3||1||colspan="2"|-||41||7
|-
|2006/07||Torino||Serie A
Serie A
Serie A , now called Serie A TIM due to sponsorship by Telecom Italia, is a professional league competition for football clubs located at the top of the Italian football league system and has been operating for over eighty years since 1929. It had been organized by Lega Calcio until 2010, but a new...

||19||1||0||0||colspan="2"|-||19||1
|-
|2006/07||Livorno||Serie A
Serie A
Serie A , now called Serie A TIM due to sponsorship by Telecom Italia, is a professional league competition for football clubs located at the top of the Italian football league system and has been operating for over eighty years since 1929. It had been organized by Lega Calcio until 2010, but a new...

||16||2||0||0||colspan="2"|-||16||2
|-
|2007/08||Mantova||Serie B
Serie B
Serie B, currently named Serie bwin due to sponsorship reasons, is the second-highest division in the Italian football league system after the Serie A. It is contested by 22 teams and organized by the Lega Serie B since July 2010, after the split of Lega Calcio that previously took care of both the...

||24||3||0||0||colspan="2"|-||24||3
|-
|2009/10||rowspan="2"|Cosenza||rowspan="2"|LP Prima Divisione||20||4||0||0||colspan="2"|-||20||4
|-
|2010/11||17||3||2||0||0||0||19||3
414||57||50||10||62||9||526||76
20||2||||||3||0||23||2
434||59||50||10||65||9||549||78
|}
|-
|2000||14||1
|-
|2001||7||1
|-
|2002||1||0
|-
|2003||7||0
|-
|2004||9||0
|-
!Total||38||2
|}

International goals

# Date Venue Opponent Score Result Competition
1. June 14, 2000 Brussels, Belgium  0–2 Win UEFA Euro 2000
2. February 18, 2001 Rome, Italy  1–2 Loss Friendly

Honours

  • 1995 UEFA Cup
    UEFA Cup
    The UEFA Europa League is an annual association football cup competition organised by UEFA since 1971 for eligible European football clubs. It is the second most prestigious European club football contest after the UEFA Champions League...

     winner Parma
  • 1999 UEFA Cup winner Parma
  • 1999 Italian Cup winner Parma
  • 2004 Italian Cup winner S.S. Lazio
  • 2004 UEFA Super Cup Winner With Valencia CF

External links

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