Giuseppe Giannini has just landed in Australia for the first time, but answers the phone sounding like he didn’t mind either the 24-hour flight or the different time zone.
The Prince, as he was known during his playing days, had his Serie A debut at the very young age of 17 years and 5 months and was the symbol of AS Roma for 15 years.
Between 1982 and 1996 he was coached by some of the great managers of the time, including Nils Liedholm, Carletto Mazzone, Sven Göran Eriksson, Carlos Bianchi and Vujadin Boškov.
Despite competing against Maradona’s Napoli, the record-breaking Inter Milan and the Dutch-led AC Milan, Giannini won a title - albeit as as a youngster on the sidelines - and three Italian cups with AS Roma. He also played in a UEFA Cup final on the losing side.
Giannini was a protagonist of the Magic Nights of Italia ’90 with the Azeglio Vicini-coached Italian National Team, and lives on in the history of AS Roma as the club’s first player to skipper Francesco Totti, who went on to become Il Capitano. This is why he doesn’t mind being compared with his heir, whose development as a top player he witnessed. Incidentally, Totti has just released his own autobiography “Un Capitano”, which sparked controversy in Italy, but Giannini admits he hasn’t read it yet.
"I’m not jealous of Francesco’s World Cup or his spectacular farewell match, but of the fact that he managed to wear only one jersey throughout his career"
After 437 appearances and 75 goals with the Giallorossi, Giannini had to take off the jersey, a second skin for a true-blue Roman like him, and ended his football career playing for Napoli, Lecce and Graz. Then, after hanging up his boots, he began his career as a coach. A path that led him to manage - among others – Foggia, Verona, Gallipoli and Grosseto and recently to sit on the bench of the Lebanese national team.
"I came here also to see if there is a chance to coach an Australian team"
The 54-year-old is currently without a contract, but remains active in the football world. One of the projects of the former Azzurri Number 10 sees him involved with a Rome-based football outfit, Pro Football, which boasts 22 branches in Italy and six abroad. Pro Football president, Marco Arcese, has invited Giannini to Australia, where for a week he will closely follow the progress of youngsters aged between 5 and 15, many of them children or grandchildren of Italian migrants.
The Prince of Rome hasn’t ruled out the possibility of moving down under. In fact, one of the reasons that led him to accept an invitation to Sydney is the opportunity to manage an A-League team.
Giuseppe Giannini a Sydney Source: www.facebook.com/pg/asrfootball
In the aftermath of AS Roma’s win in the city derby with SS Lazio, Giannini praised the team coached by Eusebio Di Francesco, but also voiced some reservations, especially relating to one of the club’s new acquisitions. "Roma will certainly improve," he told SBS Italian, "but there are some wrinkles to iron out, like (Javier) Pastore’s role in the team".
