VINCENZO IAQUINTA PROFILE

BIOGRAPHY

Vincenzo Iaquinta, born 21 November 1979 is an Italian World Cup-winning footballer who plays for Serie A club Juventus. He is a tall, physically strong striker who possesses an accurate and powerful shot and is highly capable in the air. He can also play on the wing.

CLUB CAREER

Reggiolo
Iaquinta was born in Cutro, in the province of Crotone. Like many Calabrians in the 1980s, his parents immigrated to Emilia-Romagna in Northern Italy for better job opportunities. Iaquinta played with his brother in the lower divisions for Reggiolo for the 1996–1997 season, before transferring to Serie B club Calcio Padova in January 1998, after 33 appearances and 6 goals in his first professional season and a half.

Padova
Iaquinta moved to Calcio Padova in January 1998, a club where future team-mate and Italian legend Alessandro Del Piero thrived, but his spell with Padova was short-lived as after only 6 months, just 13 appearances and 3 goals, Iaquinta was surprisingly sold to Serie C club, Castel di Sangro Calcio.

Castel di Sangro
Following his short spell in the Serie B, Iaquinta went on to spend two seasons in the Italian Serie C, with Castel di Sangro Calcio from 1998 and 2000. It was with his new club where Iaquinta established himself, making 52 appearances as he became a key part of the starting line-up, and netting 8 goals. Following several impressive performances, Iaquinta was snatched up by Serie A club, Udinese Calcio.

Udinese
In June 2000, Udinese Calcio completed the signing of the young prospect and in his first season with the club, Iaquinta made 16 appearances with 2 goals. The following season, he made 26 appearances with 3 goals, before breaking into the starting eleven in his third season. He scored 8 goals in 28 appearances and the following season, his club qualified for European competitions. He made 32 appearances with 11 goals during the 2003–2004 season, and 39 appearances with a more impressive 15 goals in the following season. In his sixth season in Udine, Iaquinta made 34 appearances with 17 goals, including a hat-trick on his first UEFA Champions League group stage match during the 2005–06 season. Although he refused to sign a contract extension at the start of season,on 30 September he agreed terms for a further 3 years.During the 2006–2007 season, the Italy international scored 14 goals for his club in 30 appearances, and formed a formidable partnership with Antonio Di Natale during his time with the Friuli based club. Following a string of impressive seasons with the northeastern Italian club, he was signed by European giants and fellow Serie A club, Juventus.

Juventus
Juventus F.C. signed Iaquinta on a five-year contract on 19 June 2007 for a fee of €11.3 million.,to become the Turin giant's first signing for the new campaign. Udinese also bought back Fabio Quagliarella from Sampdoria on 21 June; Sampodira then bought Andrea Caracciolo from Palermo on 22 June and Palermo bought Fabrizio Miccoli from Juventus on 5 July.

During the 2007–2008 season, Iaquinta made only a handful of starts for Juventus, mostly being used as backup to experienced strikers and long-term bianconeri Alessandro Del Piero and David Trezeguet, who combined to score 41 goals between them in the Serie A alone. He did however still manage 29 appearances with 9 often crucial goals, such as his last minute winner versus SSC Napoli in April 2008. It appeared that he might be surplus to requirements after the signing of Brazilian striker Carvalho Amauri, leading to rumours about a possible move out of Juventus. However, nothing materialised, and Iaquinta remained for the 2008–09 season.

Iaquinta started the season as fourth-choice striker, but enjoyed a particularly impressive string of performances when both Amauri and Trezeguet were injured, gaining a more regular place under Claudio Ranieri. Most notably, he scored the first goal against Chelsea F.C. in the second leg of the first knockout stage of the UEFA Champions League, which was also Juventus' 600th goal in European competition. Despite this, Juve could only draw the match 2–2, dumping the bianconeri out of European football for the season in controversial fashion, with Juventus blaming the result on poor refereeing, including the sending off of star defender Giorgio Chiellini when Juventus were controlling the game. After that, Iaquinta also played regularly in Serie A games, his situation helped by a falling-out between Trezeguet and head coach Claudio Ranieri. In his second season in Piedmont, the striker managed 38 appearances with 16 goals. Following the sacking of Ranieri, and the appointment of Ciro Ferrara for the 2009–2010 season, Iaquinta became an undisputed starter, before a major injury side-lined him for 6 months between October 2009 and March 2010

Personal information
Full name: Vincenzo Iaquinta
Date of birth: 21 November 1979 (1979-11-21)
Place of birth: Cutro, Italy
Height: 1.91 m (6 ft 3 in)
Playing position: Striker

Club information
Current club: Juventus
Number: 9

Senior career*
1996–1997 Reggiolo 33 (6)
1998 Padova 13 (3)
1998–2000 Castel di Sangro 52 (8)
2000–2007 Udinese 176 (58)
2007– Juventus 87 (30)

National team‡
2001–2002 Italy U-21 10 (1)
2005– Italy 40 (6)