Tommaso Rocchi was one of the first players signed by President Claudio Lotito and became a club legend winning two trophies.
Rocchi was born in Venice on September 19, 1977. He started his career in the Venezia youth teams but once he turned 16 he moved to Juventus. With the Bianconeri he won the Primavera Championship 1993-94 and the year after he was included in the roster of the first team but he never played. He was loaned to Pro Patria in Serie C2 in 1996 and stayed a year playing regularly (26 appearances with 6 goals). For the 1997-98 season he moved up to C1 with Fermana but after a few months left for Saronno. He scored 10 goals. In 1998 he signed with Como where he stayed for two years appearing in 69 games and scoring 25 goals. The next year he signed for Treviso in Serie B and despite a good contribution could not avoid them from relegation to Serie C. He however was noticed by Empoli who signed him for the 2001-02 season in Serie B. His 11 goals contributed to the Empolesi’s promotion and he stayed in Tuscany for another two years in Serie A. He moved from being at the centre of the attack to helping out his attacking partner but still was able to score 17 goals in Serie A including a hat trick against Juve.
In August 2004 he signed for Lazio. He stayed in Rome eight and a half years, becoming a fan favourite and captain. He took Lazio to an incredible Champions League qualification in 2006-07, a Coppa Italia triumph in 2009 and a Super Coppa victory against Inter, who would go on to win the "triplete" (scudetto, Coppa Italia and Champions League). It was a Lazio that was rebuilding following the disastrous financial situation of the early 2000s. President Claudio Lotito was in charge and Rocchi became a point of reference for the team and the club. He formed a marvellous attacking partnership with Goran Pandev. Rocchi is not particularly tall (1.77 metres) but was very fast, had a great sense of position and even gave a hand in defence. He played 293 games for Lazio (244 in Serie A, 20 in Coppa Italia, 8 in Champions League, 17 in Europa League, 3 in the Intertoto Cup and one Super Coppa Final) and scored 105 goals (82 in Serie A, 10 in Coppa Italia, 4 in Champions League, 7 in Europa League, 1 in Intertoto and 1 in the Super Coppa).
In January 2013 he signed for Inter for six months and in November moved to Padova in Serie B for the rest of the season. His last two years of active football were played in Hungary first with Haladas and then with Tatabanya.
Rocchi earned three caps for Italy and also played in the Beijing Olympic Games in 2008 scoring in the second game against South Korea before an injury took him out of the competition.
In the summer of 2016 he started his career as a manager with Lazio youth teams and also did a little punditry for Lazio Style Radio.
Tommaso Rocchi is one of Lazio’s greats. He is in sixth place for the most goals scored for the club, sixth for goals in the Italian championships and fourth for goals in Serie A behind Ciro Immobile, Silvio Piola, Beppe Signori and above Giorgio Chinaglia. Great company to be in.
Lazio Career
Season | Total games (goals) | Serie A | Coppa Italia | Champions League | Europa League | Intertoto Cup | Super Coppa |
2004-05 | 41 (17) | 35 (13) | 1 (2) | - | 5 (2) | - | - |
2005-06 | 41 (17) | 37 (16) | 1 | - | - | 3 (1) | - |
2006-07 | 39 (19) | 36 (16) | 3 (3) | - | - | - | - |
2007-08 | 48 (19) | 36 (14) | 4 (1) | 8 (4) | - | - | - |
2008-09 | 32 (11) | 27 (9) | 5 (2) | - | - | - | - |
2009-10 | 40 (10) | 32 (6) | 2 (1) | - | 5 (2) | - | 1 (1) |
2010-11 | 20 (3) | 18 (3) | 2 | - | - | - | - |
2011-12 | 29 (9) | 20 (5) | 2 (1) | - | 7 (3) | - | - |
2012-Jan 2013 | 3 | 3 | - | - | - | - | - |
Total | 293 (105) | 244 (82) | 20 (10) | 8 (4) | 17 (7) | 3 (1) | 1 (1) |
Sources