Fabio Grosso

Fabio Grosso, Italian orders of merit, (born November 28, 1977) is an Italy FIFA World Cup-winning Football (soccer), who plays for Ligue 1 team Olympique Lyonnais and the Italy national football team.

Club career

Grosso was born in Rome. After a number of seasons with Renato Curi (Pescara), an amateur team of the Abruzzo Eccellenza division, Grosso debuted at professional level with Calcio Chieti of Serie C2. At the time he was an attacking midfielder, and scored 17 goals in 68 appearances. He then joined Perugia Calcio of Serie A in 2001, and was first capped for Italy in 2003. At Perugia he was transformed into a left back by coach Serse Cosmi. Grosso signed for Palermo in January 2004, when the Sicilian team was still playing in Serie B.

Grosso is a left back, who can play also in the role of left wing. He is also a free kick specialist.

Grosso joined Internazionale for a fee reported of € 5.5 million on 6 June 2006.

On July 8 2007, Grosso officially signed a four year deal with French team Olympique Lyonnais after passing a medical and agreeing personal terms. He was given the number 11 shirt.

International career

Grosso made his debut for the Italian national football team in 2003. The former Palermo defender has impressed at left-back and convinced coach Marcello Lippi to switch the experienced Gianluca Zambrotta to the opposite side of the backline. The 2006 FIFA World Cup was the then-28-year-old's first major tournament.

Grosso's had two international goals - one came in a qualifying match for the 2006 World Cup, an equalizer in a 1-1 draw with Scotland national football team at Hampden Park in Glasgow, and the match-winner in the 2006 FIFA World Cup semifinal against Germany national football team. He also scored the penalty kick that clinched Italy's fourth World Cup triumph, in the Final against France national football team.

Grosso courted controversy in a match against Australia national football team in the Round of 16 of the 2006 FIFA World Cup in Kaiserslautern, when he went down under a challenge from Lucas Neill inside the penalty area, winning a penalty in the final seconds of the match which was converted by Francesco Totti, giving Italy a 1-0 win. Australian coach Guus Hiddink said of the foul, "I don't think it was any doubt that it was a penalty". Grosso said, "My aim was to go all the way".

In the semis Grosso scored a goal in the 119th minute to put Italy national football team through to the final over hosts Germany national football team. This was the record breaking latest winning goal in the FIFA world cup finals history, only to be surpassed minutes later by Alessandro Del Piero. He has also become an Italian national sporting hero after scoring the fifth and final penalty shot against France national football team in the shoot-out to win the final which gave the Italians their fourth World Cup title, making them the most successful European nation in FIFA World Cup history.

Fabio Grosso with wife Jessica Repetto are parents of a boy, Filippo, born on September 7, 2006