Gianluca Signorini

Gianluca Signorini (17 March 1960 – 6 November 2002) was an Italian football (soccer) player, mostly known for his time spent at Genoa C.F.C..

Career

He started his career playing for his home team, Pisa S.C. of Serie C1, and successively for Pietrasanta, Prato, Livorno, Ternana and Cavese before joining A.C. Parma, with Arrigo Sacchi as coach. He quickly became a key player for Parma, and was successively signed by Nils Liedholm's A.S. Roma, and then Genoa in 1988, after personal requests by coach Francesco Scoglio. He played seven seasons for Genoa, all seven years as team captain, a hard defender and definitely a fan favourite, remembered as one of the last (and best) Italian sweepers in recent years. He left Genoa in 1995, aged 35, to join his hometown club Pisa, then in Serie D, and retired two years later. He played 210 Serie A matches with 6 goals.

After having ended his playing career, Signorini started a managing career working for Pisa, and serving as joint caretaker manager during their 1997–98 Serie C2 campaign, but soon after he discovered he was suffering from motor neurone disease, also known as Lou Gehrig's disease, an illness that slowly forced immobility, paralyzing all his muscles. He died on November 6, 2002, in his Pisa home. In his honour, the #6 Genoa CFC jersey, worn by Signorini during his time for the rossoblu, has been retired.

See also

• Stefano Borgonovo

References

External links

• Addio a Signorini (from RAI Sport)
• Career profile of Gianluca Signorini