Dino Baggio - TheSportsDB.com

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Name
Dino Baggio

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50%

Born
1971 (52 years old)

Birth Place

Camposampiero, Italy

Position
Defensive Midfield

Status

Ethnicity

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Height
187 cm

Outfitter

Kit

Side

Agent

Wage Year

Player Cutout

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Sport

Soccer

Team
_Retired Soccer

2nd Team

League
_No League Soccer

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No

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Dino Baggio (born 24 July 1971) is an Italian former professional footballer who played as a defensive midfielder.

Throughout his career, he played for several Italian clubs, and won the UEFA Cup three times, twice with Parma and once with Juventus. He also had a spell in England with Blackburn Rovers. At international level, he obtained 60 caps for Italy between 1991 and 1999, scoring seven goals, and was part of the team that reached the final of the 1994 FIFA World Cup; he later also represented Italy at UEFA Euro 1996, and at the 1998 FIFA World Cup.

Despite sharing a last name, he has no relation to fellow Italian former footballer and teammate Roberto Baggio.

At youth international level, Baggio won the 1992 European U-21 Championship with the "Azzurrini", and in the same year, he took part in the 1992 Summer Olympics in Barcelona with the Italian Under-23 side, under manager Cesare Maldini. Baggio made his international debut with the senior Italian squad under Arrigo Sacchi, on 21 December 1991, at the age of 20, in a 2–0 victory against Cyprus, in Foggia. He featured in the match along with fellow debutant Demetrio Albertini, who would play alongside Baggio in midfield with Italy for much of the 1990s. On 24 February, he scored his first goal for Italy, in Oporto, against Portugal.

After representing Italy during their 1994 FIFA World Cup qualifying campaign, notably scoring the winning goal against Portugal, which allowed Italy to qualify for the tournament, Baggio was named a member of Italy's 1994 FIFA World Cup squad under Arrigo Sacchi. In his first World Cup, he combined with his unrelated namesake Roberto Baggio; together, they helped Italy to reach the 1994 World Cup final, scoring decisive goals, only to lose to Brazil on penalties. Dino scored two goals in the tournament: his first was a decisive match-winning header, assisted by Giuseppe Signori, in Italy's first-round 1–0 victory over Norway, and his second was the opening goal in a 2–1 win against Spain in the quarter-finals, which came from a strike from distance, assisted by Roberto Donadoni. In the final, he started in midfield against Brazil alongside Albertini in the team's 4–4–2 formation, but was later replaced in extra-time by Alberigo Evani; following a 0–0 draw, the match went to a penalty shoot-out, which saw Brazil emerge victorious, with Baggio's namesake Roberto missing the decisive final kick. According to FIFA.com, the lack of attacking play in the match was in part down to strong holding midfield play by Dino Baggio for Italy, and Dunga and Mauro Silva for Brazil.

Baggio would continue to play in other tournaments for Italy throughout the 1990s, such as Euro '96, in which the Italians were eliminated in the first round. Baggio also played in every game for Italy at the 1998 World Cup under Cesare Maldini, which would prove to be his last major tournament with the Azzurri; Italy were eliminated on penalties once again by hosts and eventual champions France, after reaching the quarter-finals of the tournament. Baggio was initially in Dino Zoff's provisional 26-man Italy squad for Euro 2000, before missing the final cut. He made his final appearance for Italy on 13 November 1999, in a 3–1 home defeat to Belgium in an international friendly match.

In total, Baggio amassed 60 caps and scored 7 goals for the Italian national team between 1991 and 1999. He is remembered as a notable international player of the 90s by the Italian fans due to his World Cup performances, and as he was able to obtain a first-team midfield spot over many other talented players in their prime, such as Roberto Donadoni, Luigi Di Biagio, Demetrio Albertini, Roberto Di Matteo, Nicola Berti, Alberigo Evani, Attilio Lombardo, Diego Fuser, Francesco Moriero, Sandro Cois, Stefano Fiore, Fernando De Napoli, Antonio Conte, Angelo Di Livio, Gianluca Pessotto, Carlo Ancelotti, Giancarlo Marocchi, Giuseppe Giannini, Giuseppe Signori, Roberto Baggio, Roberto Mancini, and Gianfranco Zola, among others.