Francesco Coco

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Personal information
Francesco Coco
Date of birth	January 8, 1977 (age 30)
Place of birth	Paternò, Italy
Height	181cm
Playing position	Defender
Club information
Current club	Torino
Number	77
Senior clubs¹
Years	Club	App (Gls)*
1993-2002 1997-1998 1999-2000 2001-2002 2002- 2005-2006 2007-	A.C. Milan Vicenza (loan) Torino (loan) Barcelona (loan) Inter Milan Livorno (loan) Torino (loan)	56 (2) 20 (0) 21 (0) 23 (0) 26 (0) 28 (0)
National team²
2000-2002	Italy	17 (0)
¹ Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only and correct as of 21/11/2006. ² National team caps and goals correct as of 21/11/2006. * Appearances (Goals)

Francesco Coco (born January 8, 1977 in Paternò) is an Italian football (soccer) defender, who currently plays for Torino F.C. of Serie A, on loan from Internazionale.

1 Club
2 National team
3 Off the field
4 References
5 External links

[edit] Club

Prior to joining Inter, Coco played for AC Milan (1993-97, 1998-99, 2000-02), Vicenza (on loan, 1997-98), Torino (on loan, 1999-2000), and Barcelona (on loan, 2001-02). He won two scudetti with Milan. In 2002, AC Milan and Inter exchanged Coco for Dutch midfielder Clarence Seedorf. A deal worth 28 million euro. Coco was tipped to be the next great Italian left-back, but a serious injury hampered his form, and since, he has never managed to recover to full potential. In 2005/06, he was loaned to Livorno, after rejecting a move to Newcastle United despite playing a friendly against Bray Wanderers, where he played a decent season. After his loan deal he went back to Inter Milan. During the summer of 2006 he tried to find himself a new club, but in the end all negotiations failed. Coco was forced to stay at Inter against his will. Recently Coco has given lots of interviews stating the Nerazzurri made a mistake by letting him undergo back surgery in November 2003, telling him he would be out for no more than a month. In the end he had to recover for 2 years. On January 2007, he joined Manchester City on a trial but after 3 days the club told him he wasn't in their plans. Later the English newspapers started spreading rumours that Manchester City weren't interested in him anymore because he supposedly turned up at a training smoking a cigarette. ^[1] He then accepted a loan to Torino F.C., where he'll be till june 2007. At the moment he's still working on his recovery from the knee surgery he had last year. It is expected that he will make his debut for Torino within 3 weeks.

[edit] National team

Coco played for the Italy U18 team in the intermediary round of 1995 European Under-18 Football Championship.

Coco played for Italy U21 team at the 1996, 1998 European Under-21 Football Championship Qualifying round, On 2000, he won the European Under-21 Football Championship. Also, Coco played for the victorious Italy U23 team at the 1997 Mediterranean Games.

Coco's full debut for the Italy is against Romania, 7 October 2000, at the 2002 World Cup Preliminaries. He also played for Italy in 2002 World Cup, but not selected since October 2002. Currently, he has 17 caps.

[edit] Off the field

Coco is not only a football player but also a business man. Together with his father Antonio, he owns shops and has his own clothing label called "Urban 77". He used to live in Legnano, where he grew up. Coco is a real celebrity in Italy, and is well known in the "party" and "society" scene in Italy. Recently he was a guest at the Rai Due show "Quelli che il calcio", and at "100% Calcio" on Sky Sport 1. He also wrote the foreword for the recently published book "Mio marito e' un calciatore".
Coco was pranked on the hit Italian TV show "Scherzi a Parte".

[edit] References

^ http://www.repubblica.it/2007/01/sezioni/sport/calcio/coco-fuma/coco-fuma/coco-fuma.html

[edit] External links

	Italy squad - 2002 FIFA World Cup
1 Buffon \| 2 Panucci \| 3 Maldini \| 4 Coco \| 5 Cannavaro \| 6 Zanetti \| 7 Del Piero \| 8 Gattuso \| 9 Inzaghi \| 10 Totti \| 11 Doni \| 12 Abbiati \| 13 Nesta \| 14 Di Biagio \| 15 Iuliano \| 16 Di Livio \| 17 Tommasi \| 18 Delvecchio \| 19 Zambrotta \| 20 Montella \| 21 Vieri \| 22 Toldo \| 23 Materazzi \| Coach: Trapattoni

Torino F.C. - Current Squad
1 Taibi \| 2 Pancaro \| 3 Balestri \| 4 Brevi \| 5 Gallo \| 6 Cioffi \| 7 Fiore \| 8 Barone \| 9 Muzzi \| 10 Rosina \| 11 Stellone \| 14 Franceschini \| 15 De Ascentis \| 16 Oguro \| 17 Lazetić \| 19 Abbruscato \| 22 Comotto \| 23 Ardito \| 24 Konan \| 25 Di Loreto \| 26 Martinelli \| 31 Fontana \| 32 Abbiati \| 44 De Sousa \| 84 Schiattarella \| • Coco \| Coach: Zaccheroni