Enrico Chiesa was born in Genoa on December 29, 1970.
He started playing football in the youth teams of Pontedecima and at the age of 16 he moved to Sampdoria. He debuted in Serie A on April 16 1989 against Roma. In 1990 he was sent to Teramo in Serie C2 on loan and for the next season he was at Chieti in Serie C1. He returned to the Doria side of Genoa in 1992 and played the whole season in Serie A. Two more years on loan followed: first at Modena in Serie B where he did very well scoring 14 goals, and the next year at Cremona where again he scored 14 goals. In 1995 he was back with Sampdoria and scored 22 goals in 27 appearances alongside Roberto Mancini.
At this point he became one of the most sought after players in the “mercato” of 1996. Parma won and he moved to Emilia Romagna and partnered with Hernan Crespo. He spent three years with the Gialloblu, 120 appearances and 55 goals, winning a Coppa Italia and a UEFA Cup in 1998-99.
In 1999 he signed for Fiorentina. Since the Viola had Gabriel Batistuta as centre-forward he was placed on the wing, a position he did not particularly like. This, plus a number of injuries meant that his goal tally was only 12 in 39 appearances. But with Batistuta sold to Roma, during the following season he returned to being the goal scoring machine that he was and scored 27 goals in all competitions. In the 2001-02 season after a promising start he suffered a bad knee injury in September and was out for the rest of the season. Fiorentina were relegated and then went bust and he was a free agent.
In 2002 he signed for Lazio. It was a difficult year for him, coming back from such a severe injury, so he could not perform as well as he did in previous years. In a 2014 interview he said “I’d like to make a premise. I have experienced many beautiful moments during my career and I am happy with what I have done, but perhaps arriving at Lazio after a serious injury is one of the biggest regrets I have. I was especially sorry for the fans, who probably expected from me what I had shown at Sampdoria, Parma and Fiorentina. I tried to give everything I could. We were a very strong team, so strong that at the end of the season we reached the Champions League and only went out in the semi-finals of both the UEFA Cup and the Coppa Italia”.
At Lazio, Chiesa made 29 appearances with 7 goals.
In 2003 he signed for Siena. He stayed in Tuscany for 5 years and in the first three he reached double figures as far as goals were concerned. In the last two years though he played less and less. In 2008 he signed for Figline in the fourth tier and helped them get promoted to the former Serie C1. At the end of the 2010 season he retired.
Chiesa has 17 caps for Italy with 7 goals. He played in Euro 1996 and the 1998 World Cup.
After retirement he became a manager. He started with the Sampdoria Under 17s in 2012 and in the next year he was promoted head coach of the Primavera where he stayed for two years.
Enrico Chiesa is father of Federico Chiesa who currently plays for Liverpool.
Chiesa was an excellent goal scoring machine. Unfortunately, he arrived at Lazio late in his career and took time to get back to form after a year of inactivity due to injury. A pity.
Lazio Career
Season | Total appearances (goals) | Serie A | Coppa Italia | UEFA Cup |
2002-03 | 29 (7) | 12 (2) | 6 (1) | 11 (4) |
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