Luca Toni

Luca Toni (born 26 May 1977) is an Italian former professional footballer who played as a striker.

A prolific goalscorer, Toni scored over 300 goals throughout his career, and is one of the top-five highest scoring Italians in all competitions; with 322 career goals, he is currently the fourth-highest scoring Italian player of all time, second only to Alessandro Del Piero in the post-World War II era.

Something of a footballing nomad, at club level, Toni played for thirteen different Italian teams throughout his career.

His goal scoring ability brought Fiorentina to heights never seen since Gabriel Batistuta's days in the late 1990s.

They finished the season fourth in the league and qualified for the Champions League.

This league position, however, was revoked in the courts during the Calciopoli scandal.

After a Serie B season with Treviso in 1999, he moved to Vicenza, playing in Serie A for the first time.

He then moved to Brescia, playing for two seasons under manager Carlo Mazzone, alongside Roberto Baggio and Pep Guardiola.

A late bloomer, he spent several seasons in the lower divisions of Italian football, as well as promising spells with minor Serie A clubs Vicenza and Brescia, before finally making his breakthrough with Palermo: he helped the team to Serie A promotion during the 2003–04 season by winning the Serie B title, and was the league's top scorer with 30 goals; the following season, he helped the club qualify for Europe, scoring 20 goals in Serie A. After two prolific seasons with Fiorentina, Toni also spent three seasons with German side Bayern Munich, where he helped the club to a domestic treble during the 2007–08 season, also reaching the UEFA Cup semi-finals; after falling out with the club's manager during his third season with the team, and being demoted to the reserve squad, he later returned to Italy on loan with Roma in 2010, and subsequently had spells with Genoa and Juventus.

In 2003, he agreed to join ambitious Serie B club Palermo, being one of the main factors behind the winning team campaign that brought the Rosanero back to Serie A after over 30 years, thanks to a record 30 goals scored during the season.

He made his international debut in 2004 and took part at the 2006 FIFA World Cup, UEFA Euro 2008, and the 2009 FIFA Confederations Cup with Italy; he most notably contributed to Italy's 2006 World Cup victory, as he scored twice and was elected to the tournament's All-star team.

He consequently gained his first cap for the Italy national team in a friendly match 18 August 2004 lost 2–0 to Iceland in Reykjavík, which also marked Marcello Lippi's debut at the helm of the Azzurri.

In the following season, Toni confirmed his prolificity by scoring 20 goals in Palermo's first Serie A campaign, leading the Sicilian club to a historical first qualification to the UEFA Cup.

Toni's move to Fiorentina was marked by controversy as Palermo fans dubbed him a traitor for his departure.

I Viola paid €10 million to sign him.

During his first season in Florence he scored 31 goals, only five shy of the single season record by one player.

This was the first time in 50 years that a Serie A player had scored 30 or more goals in the league, a feat which cemented his status as one of the most prolific Serie A strikers in history.

Toni was awarded the European Golden Shoe for his achievement and is first Italian player to win this award.

In addition to the team medals he collected, Toni also won several individual honours: during his first spell with Fiorentina, he won the Capocannoniere (Serie A top scorer) award during the 2005–06 season, in which he scored 31 goals (the most goals in a Serie A season since 1958–59), which also earned him the European Golden Shoe, becoming the first Italian player ever to win the award; he was also the league's joint top scorer in the 2014–15 Serie A season, in which he became the oldest player to win the award at the age of 38, with 22 goals.

Fiorentina was found guilty of influencing the Italian Referee's Association and as a result had to start the 2006–07 season with a 19-point deduction.

Toni expressed his desire to leave the team several times during the summer to the press, but was eventually convinced by club President Andrea Della Valle to stay.

The following season was plagued by injury, limiting Toni's contributions to 16 goals.

He would leave during the summer after promising Della Valle not to sign for any Italian rivals.

Toni also finished as top scorer in the 2007–08 Bundesliga, with 24 goals, and in the 2007–08 UEFA Cup, with 10 goals.

Toni started his professional career at Modena.

This was followed by a number of seasons spent around Serie B and Serie C1 with teams such as Empoli, Fiorenzuola, and Lodigiani.

On 30 May 2007, Bayern Munich chairman Karl-Heinz Rummenigge confirmed that Toni had signed a four-year contract with the club after agreeing to a deal worth €11.58 million with Fiorentina.

On 7 June, Toni was presented at a Bayern press conference along with fellow new signing Franck Ribéry.

Toni was given the number 9 shirt.

Toni scored four goals in a 19 December 6–0 home win against Aris of Greece to help Bayern win their UEFA Cup group.

At the 2007–08 UEFA Cup, he shared the first place with Pavel Pogrebnyak from Zenit at the top scorers list with 10 goals.

He scored two goals in the German Cup final against Borussia Dortmund in a 2–1 win; his second goal was the winner in extra time to give Bayern Munich another cup victory.

Toni finished as top scorer in the 2007–08 Bundesliga season with 24 goals.

On 17 February 2008, he scored his first Bundesliga hat-trick (a "perfect hat-trick": a goal with each foot and a header, all coming in one half) against Hannover 96, which was the first hat-trick for a Bayern player in the Bundesliga since Hans Dorfner in 1989.

Bayern won the away fixture 3–0.

In a quarter-final second leg match in the UEFA Cup, Toni scored two dramatic goals in the 115th and 120th minutes of extra time, in a game which finished 3–3 and lifted Bayern Munich past Getafe of Spain on away goals.

Bayern eventually lost to Zenit Saint Petersburg in the semi-final.

In 2012, he played for Al-Nasr Dubai SC, in the UAE Arabian Gulf League, but returned to Fiorentina for a season later that year.

He retired in 2016, after three seasons with Verona, the last as team captain.

At international level, he represented the Italy national team on 47 occasions, scoring 16 goals.