Francesco Totti (born 27 September 1976) is an Italian former professional footballer who played for Roma and the Italy national team. He was a technically gifted and creative number 10, regarded as one of the greatest in the role, who played as an offensive playmaker (trequartista) and as a forward.
Totti spent his entire club career at Roma, winning a Serie A title, two Coppa Italia titles, and two Supercoppa Italiana titles. With Roma, he scored 307 goals and provided 205 assists across club competitions; in Serie A history, he is the second-highest scorer of all time (250 goals) and the top assist-provider of all time. Totti is the top goalscorer and the most capped player in Roma's history, holds the record for the most goals scored in Serie A while playing for a single club, and also holds the record for the youngest club captain in the history of Serie A. During his career at Roma, Totti has been referred to as Er Bimbo de Oro (The Golden Boy), Er Pupone (The Big Baby), L'Ottavo Re di Roma (The Eighth King of Rome), L'Imperatore (The Emperor) and Er Capitano (The Captain) by the Italian sports media. In 2013, the New York Times described him as a "Roman god in his game."
Totti experienced global success on the world stage winning the 2006 FIFA World Cup and appearing in the finals of UEFA Euro 2000 with Italy; he was selected in the All-Star team for both tournaments. Totti also represented his country at the 2002 World Cup and Euro 2004. Previously, he played with Italy youth teams, scoring 18 goals and winning the 1996 UEFA European Under-21 Championship and the 1997 Mediterranean Games. With the senior Italy national team, he scored 9 goals and provided 25 assists in 58 appearances. He is the top Italian assist-provider in FIFA World Cup history (6 assists). In 2007 due to recurring physical problems, Totti announced his international retirement to focus solely on club play with Roma.
Totti won the 2007 European Golden Shoe and a record eleven awards from the Italian Footballers' Association: five Serie A Italian Footballer of the Year awards, two Serie A Footballer of the Year awards, two Serie A Goal of the Year awards, one Serie A Goalscorer of the Year award, and one Serie A Young Footballer of the Year award. He was also awarded the 2010 Golden Foot and was selected in the European Sports Media team of the season three times. In 2004, he was named in the FIFA 100, a list of the world's greatest living players as selected by Pelé, as part of FIFA's centenary celebrations. In 2011, Totti was recognised by IFFHS as the most popular footballer in Europe. In 2015, France Football rated him as one of the ten-best footballers in the world who are over age 36. Following his retirement in 2017, Totti was awarded the Player's Career Award and the UEFA President's Award.
Early life Totti was born in Rome to parents Lorenzo and Fiorella Totti. He was raised in the Porta Metronia neighbourhood. As a youngster he idolised ex-Roma captain Giuseppe Giannini, and regularly played football with older boys. Totti began to play youth team football in 1984, with Fortitudo, later joining Trastevere and Lodigiani. After he came to the attention of scouts, his mother refused a lucrative offer from Milan in order to keep him in his home town. Although his youth club initially had come to an agreement to sell Totti to the Lazio youth side, one of Roma's youth coaches, Gildo Giannini, persuaded his parents to let him join the Roma youth squad in 1989.
Club career Roma 1992–1997: Early seasons After three years in the youth team, Totti made his first appearance for Roma's senior side in Serie A at the age of 16, when coach Vujadin Boškov called him up in the 2–0 away victory against Brescia on 28 March 1993. In the following season under Carlo Mazzone, Totti began to play more regularly as a second striker, and scored his first goal on 4 September 1994 in a 1–1 draw against Foggia. By 1995, Totti had become a regular in Roma's starting line-up and scored 16 goals during the next three seasons, while creating several more, as his talent was praised by his manager Mazzone.
Following Mazzone's sacking in the summer of 1996 and the departure of Giannini, Totti was expected to play a more prominent role, after several promising seasons; however, the team underperformed during the 1996–97 season, while Totti struggled to gain playing time under new manager Carlos Bianchi, and was even set to leave for Sampdoria on loan in January 1997. Roma's chairman at the time however, Franco Sensi, impeded the transfer, leading to further tensions with the manager, who eventually parted ways with the club.
1997–1999: Roma's number 10 and captain Totti's years under Zdeněk Zeman represented a period of both physical and mental maturation as a player. From a technical and tactical standpoint, he proved to be compatible on the left wing in the rigid formations of the Bohemian coach, as his new role gave him more space to take on defenders in one on one situations, and cut into the centre to shoot on goal with his stronger foot; he also became physically more powerful, fit, hard-working, and complete. He displayed a greater responsibility for the team, and was presented with the number 10 jersey. His first season under Zeman started well, with Totti taking advantage of a 4–3–3 formation and making his breakthrough with the club. He finished the league season reaching double figures in goals scored for the first time in his career; including a goal in the club's 2–0 away win against Napoli on 22 February 1998, Totti scored 13 goals in Serie A in total, and contributed to Roma's fourth place league finish that year. Although he was not called up for the 1998 FIFA World Cup by Italy manager Cesare Maldini, his consistent performances, creativity and goalscoring throughout the course of the previous Serie A season saw him being awarded the Guerin d'Oro for the 1997–98 season, given to him for having achieved the highest average rating of any Serie A player. The following season, he began to gain recognition as a club symbol and as a leader, and on 31 October 1998, Totti became the team captain. This made him the youngest Serie A club captain ever at 22, inheriting the armband from Aldair. On 29 November 1998, Totti scored the equalising goal in a 3–3 draw against cross-city rivals Lazio; this was his first ever goal in the Rome Derby. Overall, he scored 30 goals and provided 26 assists during Zeman's two-year managerial stint. For his performances, he was named the Serie A Young Footballer of the Year for the 1998–99 season.
1999–2004: The Scudetto as a playmaker
In June 1999, Roma's then-president Franco Sensi sacked Zeman and signed Fabio Capello as a replacement, with the aim of winning the league title. By the 2000–01 campaign under the new coach, Roma were building a competitive team around Totti, who was by now being utilised as a creative attacking midfielder by Capello in a 3–4–1–2 formation, due to his passing skills and playmaking abilities. Totti scored in a 2–0 home win over Bologna on his season debut on 1 October 2000. On 10 December, Totti scored the match-winning goal in a 2–1 home win against Udinese, with a powerful left-footed volley to help Roma to their fifth home win of the season. He continued his goalscoring form by scoring against Napoli at home in a 3–0 victory on 28 January 2001, as Roma finished the first half of the league season in first place. Totti continued to play an important role in keeping the club at the top of the table throughout the remainder of the season, gaining a comfortable lead over rivals Juventus. On 17 June 2001, at the Stadio Olimpico, Roma beat Parma 3–1, with their three main attackers, Totti, Vincenzo Montella and Gabriel Batistuta scoring one goal each, as Roma were crowned champions of Italy for the third time in their history. Totti finished the league season with 13 goals, equalling what was at the time his personal goalscoring record in a single Serie A season.
On 19 August 2001, Totti won his first Supercoppa Italiana, scoring and assisting in the 3–0 win against Fiorentina. Totti was named the Serie A Italian Footballer of the Year for both 2000 and 2001, and won the Serie A Footballer of the Year Award for the first time in his career in 2000. He received his first Ballon d'Or nomination in 2000, finishing 14th in voting, and fifth the following year. Due to his performances and leadership, Totti had established himself as a hero to the Roma fans, who were also able to identify with his background as a Rome native and lifelong supporter.
Over the following seasons, Totti played in a free role as either a forward or second striker in a 3–5–2 formation, often alongside either Batistuta or the newly acquired youngster Antonio Cassano. He scored his first hat-trick in Serie A, in a 3–2 away win over Brescia on 30 September 2002. Totti also scored the only goal in Roma's decisive 1–0 victory at the Santiago Bernabéu against Real Madrid on 30 October 2002; this was the first time in 35 years that an Italian team had won a match in Madrid. He continued his goalscoring exploits against Valencia, scoring two goals in a 3–0 win. Despite this, Roma only finished third in their Champions League group, and in eighth position in Serie A, although they managed to reach the 2003 Coppa Italia final. In the final against Milan, Totti scored three times from free kicks over both legs (one goal at home and two at the San Siro), but Roma lost out to Milan 6–3 on aggregate. In 2003, Totti won his second Serie A Footballer of the Year Award.
In the 2003–04 season, Totti played a key role, as Roma finished runner-up to Milan in the Scudetto race. Throughout the league season, he scored 20 goals, his best haul in Serie A up to that point, which allowed him to win his second Guerin d'Oro, as the player with the best average rating in Serie A throughout the season. Moreover, the Roma captain notably scored trademark chipped goals on two occasions throughout the season, against Brescia and Empoli.
2004–2009: Transition to striker Despite Roma's disappointing 2004–05 season, which saw the departure of a number of players and several managerial changes, Totti maintained consistent form by scoring twelve goals in Serie A, and 15 in all competitions, among which was his 100th Serie A goal from a free kick in a 3–3 draw against Inter Milan, on 3 October 2004. Two months later, on 19 December, he became Roma's all-time leading scorer in Serie A after netting his 107th career league goal against Parma, breaking the record previously held by Roberto Pruzzo. Although Roma finished the league season in eighth place, Totti helped the team reach the 2005 Coppa Italia final; however Roma lost to Inter.