MAURO CAMORANESI

'Mauro Germán Serra Camoranesi', Cavaliere Ufficiale OMRI^[1][2], (born October 4, 1976 in Tandil, Argentina) is an Italo-Argentinian World Cup-winning footballer, who currently plays for Juventus football club.
Camoranesi is a member of the Italy national football team and was part of the winning squad at the 2006 World Cup. He is a midfielder, and usually plays on the right wing, where he is most comfortable and effective.

Contents

Club

Juventus

Honors and awards

Club

International

Facts

References

International

Major Competitions

External links

Club

Camoranesi had always been a big fan of the Argentinian club River Plate growing up, but as a youngster, he played in the youth squad of native side Aldosivi. Aldosivi is situated in Mar del Plata just away from Mauro's birthplace of Tandil.
However, he moved to Mexico to begin his professional playing career at Santos Laguna. The club won the Primera División de México during the ''Invierno 1996'' season, Camoranesi scored 8 goals in 22 games for the team; this was the clubs first ever championship success. Santos Laguna fans nicknamed him "''El Cholo''".
More travels came for the young Argentine the following year, as he moved to Uruguayan club Montevideo Wanderers briefly. Before returning back to his homeland to play for Banfield, solidifying himself as an impressive attacking right midfielder, playing 38 games and scoring 16 goals.
The following season Camoranesi moved once again, this time back to Mexico and club Cruz Azul, where he played from 1998 to 2000. He caught the attention of Italian Serie A side Hellas Verona by scoring 32 goals in 78 games with Cruz Azul, an impressive achievement for a midfield player.
He moved to Italy in 2000, signing with Hellas Verona where he played two years. In 2002, Camoranesi was signed on a co-ownership deal; initially Juventus payed Verona €4.8 million (reportedly £3 million) and gave them co-ownership of Max Vieri. On 26 June 2003 he was signed outright by the bianconeri on a permanent basis for an additional fee of €4.5 million; this was the same day Juventus signed Marco Di Vaio and Enzo Maresca in similar deals.^[3]

Juventus

With Juventus, Camoranesi became a prominent member of the squad, winning the 2002-03 edition of Serie A, and the 2002 and 2003 Italian Super Cups. Camoranesi was also a Serie A champion with the ''Old Lady'' in both the 2004-05 and 2005-06 seasons, but Juventus were stripped of both those titles as another result of the "calciopoli" scandal.
Despite his agent; Sergio Fortunato linking the player to clubs such as Lyon, Valencia and Liverpool over the summer of 2006, following Juve's relegation. Camoranesi made an announcement himself in September 2006, pledging loyalty to Juventus: "''In January I will not ask to be sold, I'm happy to stay here'',"^[4] he stated.
Camoranesi contributed several notable goals in Juventus' season down in Serie B. Against Lecce during April 2007 he performed an impressive piece of skill similar to a Cruijff turn, turning the ball through a defenders legs on the wing, before retrieving it to help set up Juve's first goal of the match. Later in the match he scored his side's third; to score the goal Camoranesi took the ball past three Lecce defenders, before hitting the ball from the edge of the box, with his left foot into the top corner.^[5]

Honors and awards

Club

★ 1996: Primera División de México - Invierno 1996 (Santos Laguna)

★ 2002: SuperCoppa Italiana (Juventus)

★ 2002-03: Serie A (Juventus)

★ 2003: SuperCoppa Italiana (Juventus)

★ 2004-05: Serie A (Juventus) - ''revoked due to calciopoli''

★ 2005-06: Serie A (Juventus) - ''revoked due to calciopoli''

★ 2006-07: Serie B (Juventus)

International

★ 2006: FIFA World Cup (Italy)

Facts

★ As a child Camoranesi grew up supporting Argentine side River Plate.^[6] Although his footballing idol is Diego Maradona.

★ He is married and has three children.^[7]

★ Camoranesi has a large tattoo across the back of his shoulders.^[8]

References

1. FIFA.com
2. AscotSportal.com
3. UEFA.com news 26 June 2003
4. Football Italia @ Bravo
5. Channel 4 - Week 34 Serie B Just days before he had scored a headed in the 2-0 victory against close title contenders S.S.C. Napoli. His original shirt number is 16, but for the 2007-08 season, it is changed to the number 8.

International

Although born in Argentina, Camoranesi has Italian ancestry through his Grandparents who were Italian and had emigrated to Argentina, hence his last name. This made him eligible to play for either Argentina or Italy, but the "Azzurri" showed interest in him first and, in 12 February 2003, he made his international debut for Italy in a friendly match against Portugal, which Italy won 1-0, under former coach Giovanni Trapattoni.
Some Italian fans are not too fond of Camoranesi because, upon accepting Trapattoni's offer to play for the "Azzurri", he stated: ''"I'm not a traitor, I still feel 100% Argentine and have done nothing to find myself in this situation. It's only a football matter, nothing else''". He also chooses not to sing Italy's national anthem before their matches because he doesn't know the words, although he can be seen singing (at least a part of) the anthem during the World Cup celebrations in Circus Maximus on 10 July 2006. Camoranesi was not the first Juventus player born in Argentina to play for Italy, Omar Sivori before him did also.
He has been capped 29 times by Italy and has scored two goals, the first of which came in Italy's 2006 World Cup qualifier away to Belarus on 7 September 2005, which the Italians won 4-1. His second goal came on 11 October 2006 in Italy's 2008 European championship qualifier away to Georgia. He also scored on a friendly match against Netherlands on 12 November 2005, however official records decided that the goal is an own goal by a Netherlands player.

Major Competitions

Camoranesi played for Italy at UEFA Euro 2004, and was also part of Marcello Lippi's Italy team which won the 2006 FIFA World Cup. At the end of the final match, in which Italy defeated rivals France, Camoranesi had Massimo Oddo, his team-mate, chop off a large chunk of his long hair as the rest of the squad danced around them in a circle. Camoranesi then went up to the Camera and dedicated the triumph by saying: "''para los pibes del barrio ...''" (for the guys from the neighbourhood).
Mauro commented in an interview in regards to the World Cup victory "''I feel Argentine. But I have defended the colors of Italy with dignity. That is something nobody can take away.''"lastampa.it
6. UEFA.com
7. Camoranesi, tre volte papà
8. Camo Tattoo - With Totti

External links

★ FootballDatabase provides Mauro Camoranesi's profile and stats

★ Career and goals

★ ESPN:The reluctant Italian

★ Short bios. in UEFA.com