Serie A fans were sad after hearing the Serie A 2023 news about Fabio Quagliarella, who just announced his official retirement from football last Sunday. Since Sampdoria released him this summer, the 40-year-old has been without a team.
The decision to finally hang up his boots comes owing to his “far from acceptable physical shape”, perhaps referring to the injuries he has suffered in the past few years.
Quagliarella has spent all of his professional playing years in Italy, featuring for a host of the country’s biggest clubs, including Juventus, Napoli, Udinese, Torino, and Sampdoria.
Quagliarella started very young
Quagliarella started his professional football career at the tender age of 17 at Torino, where he made his Serie A debut in May 2000 in their 2-1 win over Placenza.
Since he was deemed too young at the time to play in the Italian top-flight regularly, Quagliarella was sent on loan to Fiorentina and Chieti, where he ended up scoring a total of 19 goals in 43 games.
Upon returning to Torino in 2005, Quagliarella was a rotation player. He finished the season with seven goals in 34 games and was a key contributor to Il Toro’s promotion back to Serie A.
But just as he was starting to feel at home at Torino, he had to move to Ascoli on a free transfer because Torino declared bankruptcy.
At Ascoli, Quagliarella was assured of a starting spot in the lineup during the 2005-06 season, and he scored his first Serie A goal on December 2005, in a 1-0 win over Treviso.
In 2006, Quagliarella would see himself move from Ascoli to Udinese and then to Sampdoria in just a few months.
It was at Sampdoria that he caught his first big break because he scored 13 league goals, most of them in spectacular fashion, and he was also called up to play for the Italian national team for the first time.
A few years later, Fabio Quagliarella moved to Napoli for a transfer fee of €18 million and signed a five-year deal.
He always dreamt of playing for his hometown club, and he even managed to help Napoli qualify for the 2010-11 Europa League by finishing sixth in the league.
However, his stint with I Partenopei had to be cut short to only one full season, much to the dismay of his fans in Naples since they believed that he was their prodigal son.
Trophy-laden spell at Juventus
Whenever a Neapolitan moves to Juventus, he is considered a “traitor”. But that shouldn’t be the case of Quagliarella since he was forced to leave his hometown club due to the “stalker” ordeal he was subjected to.
However, as it turns out, moving to Turin was a blessing in disguise because it was with the Old Lady that he won all of his major trophies, with three consecutive Scudettos (2012-2014) and two Supercoppa Italianas (2012-2013).
Overall, in his four-year stint with I Bianconeri, Fabio Quagliarella has recorded 30 goals in 102 appearances.
Torino then managed to get Quagliarella back on a three-year contract. And upon his return, Super Fabio managed to notch 18 goals in 50 appearances before his last stop at Sampdoria.
Riding the sunset at Sampdoria
Fabio’s second stint at Sampdoria was a fruitful one because it was there that he showcased his full scoring prowess.
In November 2016, Quagliarella scored his 100th Serie A goal in his 343rd league appearance during their 3-2 home win against Sassuolo.
Two years later, Quagliarella finished the 2018-19 season with a career best of 15 league goals, but he outdid himself in 2018-19 by scoring 26 league goals to win his only Capocannoniere award at 36 years old.
In the same year, he managed to equal Gabriel Batistuta’s all-time record of scoring in 11 consecutive Serie A matches in a single season. He was also part of the Serie A Team of the Year and was also ranked 94th in The Guardian’s list of the “100 Best Footballers in the World”.
Last season, before Sampdoria were relegated, which was expected based on the SBOTOP Serie A 2023 odds, Quagliarella became one of the few outfield players, following Javier Zanetti, Francesco Totti, Zlatan Ibrahimovic, and Pietro Vierchowod, to have at least 550 Serie A appearances.
Super Fabio is also one of the seven players in league history to score in his 18th consecutive season and 19th straight calendar year.
So, basically, he has seen and done it all. And even if he was never regarded as one of the greatest in the world, Quagliarella will always have a particular place in the hearts of many Italian supporters because he is class personified.
●●●
CHECK OUT OUR BLOG FOR MORE FOOTBALL STORIES & ODDS
Stay updated with everything sports and betting.
Follow us on social Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and YouTube.
