Ciriaco Sforza

Ciriaco Sforza (Italian pronunciation: [tʃiˈriːako ˈsfɔrtsa]; born 2 March 1970) is a Swiss football manager and former professional player. Sforza currently manages Swiss Super League club Basel. After beginning his career with Swiss clubs FC Aarau and Grasshopper Club Zürich, he most notably played for Internazionale in Italy, and 1. FC Kaiserslautern, and FC Bayern Munich in Germany. Sforza represented the Swiss national team 79 times, and represented his country at the international 1994 World Cup and Euro 96 tournaments.

Ciriaco Sforza
Sforza c. 2013
Personal information
Date of birth (1970-03-02) 2 March 1970
Place of birth Wohlen, Switzerland
Height 1.80 m (5 ft 11 in)
Position(s) Midfielder
Club information
Current team
 Wil (Manager)
Youth career
1986–1989 FC Wohlen
Senior career*
Years Team Apps (Gls)
1989–1990 FC Aarau 22 (3)
1990–1993 Grasshoppers 75 (7)
1993–1995 1. FC Kaiserslautern 61 (15)
1995–1996 Bayern Munich 30 (2)
1996–1997 Internazionale 26 (2)
1997–2000 1. FC Kaiserslautern 91 (4)
2000–2002 Bayern Munich 35 (1)
2002–2006 1. FC Kaiserslautern 47 (1)
Total 387 (34)
National team
1991–2001 Switzerland 79 (7)
Teams managed
2006–2008 Luzern
2009–2012 Grasshopper
2014–2015 Wohlen
2015 Thun
2019–2020 Wil
2020– Basel
* Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only

Biography

Sforza is of Italian descent; his father was originally from Avellino, before emigrating to Switzerland.[1] Sforza was born and raised in Wohlen, in German-speaking Switzerland. According to his website, he is married and has two children.

Club career

Sforza started his career in his hometown club FC Wohlen. He was signed by FC Aarau in 1989, where he impressed commentators and fans alike. Sforza's precocious talent was soon noticed, and he was signed by Swiss club Grasshoppers Zürich one year later. He represented Grasshoppers during three successful seasons, also setting a record for the club as the youngest player to make his debut in the Swiss Challenge League.[1] He won the 1991 Swiss Super League championship with the club, and made his national team debut in August 1991. In 1993, after winning the "Swiss footballer of the Year" award, he moved abroad to Germany to play for 1. FC Kaiserslautern.[2]

Sforza became the general of the Kaiserslautern midfield and was recognised as one of the best midfielders in the German Bundesliga championship, also receiving a Ballon d'Or nomination in 1994, finishing in 21st place.[2] After two seasons at Kaiserslautern, he was bought by German giants FC Bayern Munich in 1995. Sforza was signed at the same time as German superstar Jürgen Klinsmann, compared to the homely smalltown club Kaiserslautern, FC Bayern was a team with many stars. Conflicts between Klinsmann and team captain Lothar Matthäus poisoned the atmosphere and many scandals underlined why FC Bayern is nicknamed FC Hollywood. Bayern also missed out on the German championship for the second season in a row, though Sforza was a part of the 1996 UEFA Cup winning FC Bayern team.[2]

Sforza initially had trouble settling in at FC Bayern, and after one season at the club he moved to Italy. He signed for Internazionale, where he was united with former Swiss national team manager Roy Hodgson. Sforza was regarded as one of the most promising young Swiss players at the time, and he made a notable debut with Inter, scoring the matching winning goal in 1–0 away win on 7 September 1996 against Udinese.[2] Despite the initial glimpses of his potential, Sforza also had a difficult time at Internazionale.[2] Although Hodgson had initially purchased him as to function as a playmaker, to solve Inter's lack of creativity in midfield, Sforza had problems performing consistently, and he spent a lot of time on the bench, although he was able to reach the UEFA Cup final with the club, and also managed a third-place finish in the league.[3] During his time with Inter, Sforza became known for his inconsistency in Serie A, and he is famously remembered in Italy for being referenced in the Italian film Tre Uomini e una Gamba, by Italian comedic trio Aldo, Giovanni e Giacomo; in the film, Aldo states that he had to purchase Sforza's number 21 Inter jersey as Ronaldo's was out of stock.[3]

After a single season with Inter, he moved once again – but this time to known territory. In time for the 1997–98 season, Sforza moved back to Kaiserslautern where he immediately made an impression, experiencing a more successful stint with the club and finally demonstrating strong and consistent performances, which justified his reputation as one of the leading Swiss players of his generation.[2] Even though Kaiserslautern had just been promoted from the 2. Bundesliga, Kaiserslautern became German champions, beating Sforza's other former team, German giants FC Bayern, to the title. Sforza spent two more seasons at Kaiserslautern, impressing commentators and fans alike.[2]

In 2000, he decided to give FC Bayern Munich another try. Once again, he failed to perform and spent a lot of time on the sidelines, although he later managed to participate in a more successful period with the club. FC Bayern had many star players competing for places, and the team won both the 2000–01 Bundesliga and 2000–01 UEFA Champions League titles that season. After two seasons at FC Bayern, he returned to Kaiserslautern in 2002, joining Kaiserslautern for a third time, Sforza's "double return" is unique in the German Bundesliga. The aging and now somewhat injury-prone Sforza helped FCK avoid relegation, however, in October 2005, he had a public falling-out with the club and was blackballed. He retired at the end of the season, in summer 2006.[2]

International career

Sforza was selected to play for Switzerland at the 1994 World Cup by national manager Roy Hodgson, putting on a notable performance, and reaching the round of 16.[4] He represented Switzerland at the Euro 96 tournament in England, where they were eliminated in the first round. He also captained the Swiss national side. In total, he managed 79 appearances for Switzerland, scoring 7 goals.[5]

International goals
Scores and results list Switzerland's goal tally first, score column indicates score after each Sforza goal.
List of international goals scored by Ciriaco Sforza
#DateVenueOpponentScoreResultCompetition
1.16 August 1992Kadrioru Stadium, Tallinn Estonia6–06–01994 World Cup qualifier
2.18 November 1992Wankdorf Stadium, Bern Malta3–03–01994 World Cup qualifier
3.9 March 1994Népstadion, Budapest Hungary1–02–1Friendly
4.12 October 1994Wankdorf Stadium, Bern Sweden3–24–2Euro 1996 qualifier
5.11 October 1995Hardturm, Zürich Hungary2–03–0Euro 1996 qualifier
6.13 March 1996Stade Josy Barthel, Luxembourg Luxembourg1–11–1Friendly
7.6 October 1996Olympiastadion, Helsinki Finland2–03–21998 World Cup qualifier

Managerial career

Sforza went on to become manager of Swiss team FC Luzern, and was sacked after two more or less successful years managing the team. On 9 June 2009, he was named as the new manager of Grasshopper Club Zürich. signing a contract between 30 June 2011.[6] On 13 April 2012, Sforza left the club after poor results.[7]

In February 2014, he was appointed as new head coach of FC Wohlen, replacing David Sesa.[8]

On 1 April 2019, he became the manager of FC Wil.[9]

On 26 August 2020, Sforza became the head coach of Basel signing a two-year contract. He took his assistant Daniel Hasler from Wil with him.[10] Massimo Colomba was goalkeeper coach and on 21 September the club announced that they had hired Patrick Rahmen as second assistant coach to complete Sforza's coaching team.[11] Sforza's first match was on 17 September in the 2020–21 UEFA Europa League second qualifying round against Croatian team Osijek which ended with a 2–1 victory.[12]

Managerial statistics
As of 13 April 2012.
Team From To Competition Record
G W D L Win % GF GA GD
Luzern 8 June 2006 10 August 2008 Swiss Super League 77 18 24 35 023.38 74 114 –40
Swiss Cup 3 2 0 1 066.67 8 4 +4
Total 80 20 24 36 025.00 82 118 –36
Grasshopper Club Zürich 9 June 2009 13 April 2012 Swiss Super League 99 38 16 45 038.38 89 92 –3
Swiss Cup 10 6 1 3 060.00 40 9 +31
Europe 2 1 0 1 050.00 1 1 0
Total 111 45 17 49 040.54 130 102 +28
Career totals League 176 56 40 80 031.82 163 206 –43
Cup 13 8 1 4 061.54 48 13 +35
Europe 2 1 0 1 050.00 1 1 0
Total 191 65 41 85 034.03 212 220 –8

Honours

Player

Grasshopper Club Zürich

Bayern Munich

Inter Milan

1. FC Kaiserslautern

References
  1. "Ciriaco Sforza: Sarà ricordato solo per una misera citazione al cinema" (in Italian). Retrieved 3 January 2015.
  2. "Scusate se segno…Ciriaco Sforza (Udinese-Inter 1996/97)" (in Italian). MaiDireCalcio.com. Retrieved 3 January 2015.
  3. "Sforza: Quanti bidoni in Serie A... ve li ricordate?" (in Italian). Goal.com. 2 January 2015. Retrieved 3 January 2015.
  4. "VE LO RICORDATE? - Ciriaco Sforza, tre uomini e un pigiama" (in Italian). SalentoSport.net. Retrieved 3 January 2015.
  5. "Vonlanthen a Sciaffusa, Sforza a... Wohlen". Archived from the original on 4 January 2014. Retrieved 3 January 2015.
  6. "Ciri Sforza neuer Cheftrainer – neuer Sportchef wird gesucht" (in German). gcz.ch. 10 June 2009. Retrieved 3 January 2010.
  7. "Ciriaco Sforza räumt seinen Posten sofort". Fussball.ch (in German). 13 April 2012. Retrieved 20 March 2013.
  8. "Wohlen: arriva Ciriaco Sforza". Tio.ch (in Italian). 16 February 2014. Retrieved 5 May 2014.
  9. Ciriaco Sforza darf wieder Trainer sein, nzz.ch, 1 April 2019
  10. FC Basel 1893. "Ciriaco Sforza wird neuer Cheftrainer beim FC Basel". FC Basel homepage. Retrieved 26 August 2020.
  11. FC Basel 1893. "Patrick Rahmen wird zweiter Assistenztrainer beim FCB". FC Basel homepage. Retrieved 21 September 2020.
  12. Caspar Marti (2020). "2:1-Sieg in Osijek - drt FCB ost eine Runde weiter". FC Basel homepage. Retrieved 17 September 2020.
Sporting positions
Preceded by
Alain Geiger		 Switzerland captain
1996–2001		 Succeeded by
Jörg Stiel
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