Paolo Di Canio

Biography

Paolo di Canio (born July 9, 1968 in Rome (Rome: Capital and largest city of Italy; on the Tiber; seat of the Roman Catholic Church; formerly the capital of the Roman Republic and the Roman Empire) ) is an Italian (Italian: A native or inhabitant of Italy) football (football: Any of various games played with a ball (round or oval) in which two teams try to kick or carry or propel the ball into each other's goal) player who currently plays for the Italian Serie A (Serie A: serie a is the top division of the italian football league, the highest football league...
[follow hyperlink for more...]) club Lazio (Lazio: An ancient region of west central Italy (southeast of Rome) on the Tyrrhenian Sea) .

Paolo has had a chequered career, in which time he has won many honours and been selected for his national team (national team: the italy national football team is one of the most successful national football teams, having...
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[follow hyperlink for more...]) against arch-rivals AS Roma (AS Roma: a.s....
[follow hyperlink for more...]) . He is known to be outspoken and passionate, and is famous for his on- and off-field flair.

He signed for Lazio in 1985, where he remained until 1990, moving to one of the Italian giants Juventus (Juventus: more facts about this subject) . He stayed there until 1993 and successive seasons saw him join first Napoli (Napoli: A port and tourist center in southwestern Italy; capital of the Campania region) and then AC Milan (AC Milan: more facts about this subject) . In 1996 he joined Celtic (Celtic: A branch of the Indo-European languages that (judging from inscriptions and place names) was spread widely over Europe in the pre-Christian era) in Scotland (Scotland: One of the four countries that make up the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland; located on the northern part of the island of Great Britain; famous for bagpipes and plaids and kilts) , and his successful season in Glasgow (Glasgow: Largest city in Scotland; a port in west central Scotland; one of the great shipbuilding centers of the world) (scoring 15 goals in 37 appearances) saw him make a move to the Premiership as he joined Sheffield Wednesday (Sheffield Wednesday: more facts about this subject) .

In the United Kingdom, di Canio is famous for an incident on the pitch in 1998 where he pushed referee Paul Alcock to the ground after being sent off while playing for Sheffield Wednesday against Arsenal (Arsenal: A military structure where arms and ammunition and other military equipment are stored and training is given in the use of arms) .

In January 1999, di Canio signed for West Ham United (West Ham United: more facts about this subject) and helped them to achieve a high league position (5th) and qualify for the UEFA cup.

He scored the BBC Goal of the Season in 2000 with a magnificent volley against Wimbledon (Wimbledon: A suburb of London and the headquarters of the club where annual international tennis championships are played on grass courts) , which is still considered among the best goals in Premiership history. In this season he was also voted Hammer of the Year by the club's fans.

In 2001, he won the FIFA (FIFA: more facts about this subject) Fair Play award. The previous December, in a match against Everton (Everton: everton is a district of liverpool, merseyside....
[follow hyperlink for more...]) , in an impressive display of sportsmanship, di Canio shunned a clear goalscoring opportunity and instead picked the ball up while the Everton goalkeeper was lying injured on the ground. FIFA described the act as "a special act of good sportsmanship."

He remained at West Ham until 2003 when, following West Ham's relegation, he signed for Charlton Athletic (Charlton Athletic: founded in 1905, charlton athletic f.c. play at the valley, in charlton, greenwich|charlton,...
[follow hyperlink for more...]) . In August 2004 he moved back to his home team of Lazio (Lazio: An ancient region of west central Italy (southeast of Rome) on the Tyrrhenian Sea) .