Gianfranco Zola

**Gianfranco Zola** OBE (born 5 July 1966) is an Italian former football player. He is currently the vice-president of Lega Pro, the organisation for the Italian Serie C football league.

As a footballer he played for Napoli, Parma, Chelsea and Cagliari He was renowned for his technique, skill and dribbling. In total, he played in 632 league games and scored 184 goals in his career. He became manager of West Ham on 11 September 2008, replacing Alan Curbishley, after he stopped working as Italy Under-21's manager.

### Club

- Source:

|rowspan="2"|Club|rowspan="2"|Season|colspan="3"|League|colspan="2"|National cup|colspan="2"|League cup|colspan="2"|Continental|colspan="2"|Other|colspan="2"|Total|
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
|rowspan="3"|Nuorese|1984–85|Serie C2|4|0|—|—|—|—|4|0|||||
|1985–86|Serie D|27|10|—|—|—|—|27|10|||||||
|rowspan="4"|Sassari Torres|1986–87|Serie C2|30|8|—|—|—|—|30|8|||||
|1987–88|Serie C1|24|2|—|—|—|—|24|2|||||||
|1988–89|Serie C1|34|11|—|—|—|—|34|11|||||||
|rowspan="5"|Napoli|1989–90|Serie A|18|2|6|1|—|2|0|—|26|3|||
|1990–91|Serie A|20|6|7|0|—|2|0|0|0|29|6||||
|1991–92|Serie A|34|12|4|1|—|—|—|38|13||||||
|1992–93|Serie A|33|12|6|2|—|4|0|—|43|14|||||
|rowspan="5"|Parma|1993–94|Serie A|33|18|7|3|—|9|1|2|0|51|22||
|1994–95|Serie A|32|19|7|4|—|12|5|—|51|28|||||
|1995–96|Serie A|29|10|1|0|1|0|5|2|—|36|12||||
|1996–97|Serie A|8|2|1|0|—|2|0|—|11|2|||||
|rowspan="8"|Chelsea|1996–97|Premier League|23|8|7|4|0|0|—|—|30|12|||
|1997–98|Premier League|27|8|1|0|4|0|8|4|1|0|41|12|||
|1998–99|Premier League|37|13|6|1|0|0|5|1|1|0|49|15|||
|1999–2000|Premier League|33|4|5|1|0|0|15|3|—|53|8||||
|2000–01|Premier League|36|9|3|2|1|1|2|0|1|0|43|12|||
|2001–02|Premier League|35|3|6|1|5|0|4|1|—|50|5||||
|2002–03|Premier League|38|14|3|2|3|0|2|0|—|46|16||||
|rowspan="3"|Cagliari|2003–04|Serie B|43|13|1|1|—|—|—|44|14||||
|2004–05|Serie A|31|9|6|4|—|—|—|37|13||||||

### International

- Source:

|Year|Apps|Goals|
| --- | --- | --- |
|colspan="3"|Italy||
|1991|2|0|
|1992|1|0|
|1993|1|0|
|1994|6|0|
|1995|8|7|
|1996|8|0|
|1997|9|3|

**International goals**
- _Scores and results list Italy's goal tally first._
|#|Date|Venue|Opponent|Score|Result|Competition|
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
|1.|25 March 1995|Stadio Arechi, Salerno||1–0|4–1|Euro 1996 qualifier|
|2.|3–0||||||
|3.|29 March 1995|Republikan Stadium, Kyiv||2–0|2–0|Euro 1996 qualifier|
|4.|26 April 1995|Žalgiris Stadium, Vilnius||1–0|1–0|Euro 1996 qualifier|
|5.|15 November 1995|Stadio Giglio, Reggio Emilia||2–0|4–0|Euro 1996 qualifier|
|6.|3–0||||||
|7.|4–0||||||
|8.|22 January 1997|Stadio La Favorita, Palermo||1–0|2–0|Friendly|
|9.|12 February 1997|Wembley Stadium, London||1–0|1–0|1998 World Cup qualifier|
|10.|29 March 1997|Stadio Nereo Rocco, Trieste||2–0|3–0|1998 World Cup qualifier|

### Manager

|rowspan="2"|Team|rowspan="2"|From|rowspan="2"|To|colspan="5"|Record|
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
|align="left"|West Ham United|align="left"|15 September 2008|align="left"|11 May 2010|||
|align="left"|Watford|align="left"|7 July 2012|align="left|16 December 2013|||
|align="left"|Cagliari|align="left"|24 December 2014|align="left"|9 March 2015|||
|align="left"|Al-Arabi SC|align="left"|11 July 2015|align="left"|27 June 2016|||
|align="left"|Birmingham City|align="left"|14 December 2016|align="left"|17 April 2017|||

## Honours

**Torres**
- Serie C2: 1986–87

**Napoli**
- Serie A: 1989–90

**Parma**
- UEFA Cup: 1994–95
- European Super Cup: 1993

**Chelsea**
- FA Cup: 1996–97, 1999–2000
- Football League Cup: 1997–98
- FA Charity Shield: 2000
- UEFA Cup Winners' Cup: 1997–98
- UEFA Super Cup: 1998

**Italy**
- FIFA World Cup runner-up: 1994
**Individual**
- Serie A Top-assist provider: 1992–93
- ESM Team of the Year: 1994–95
- Premier League Player of the Month: December 1996, October 2002
- FWA Footballer of the Year: 1997
- Chelsea Player of the Year: 1999, 2003
- Officer of the Order of the British Empire: 2004
- Pallone d'Argento: 2004–05
- Chelsea Centenary XI: 2005
- Premio Nazionale Carriera Esemplare "Gaetano Scirea": 2005
- English Football Hall of Fame: 2006
- Premio internazionale Giacinto Facchetti: 2010
- Football League Championship Manager of the Month: February 2013
- Italian Football Hall of Fame: 2022

## Infobox (football biography)

- **name**: Gianfranco Zola
<small>Order of Merit of the Italian Republic, OMRI, Order of British Empire, OBE</small>
- **image**: Zola 2018 (cropped).jpg
- **caption**: Zola in 2018
- **full name**: Gianfranco Zola
- **birth place**: Oliena, Italy
- **height**: 1.68 m
- **position**: Forward (association football), Forward
- **youthyears1**: 1980–1983
- **youthclubs1**: Corrasi Oliena
- **years1**: 1984–1986
- **clubs1**: Nuorese Calcio, Nuorese
- **caps1**: 31
- **goals1**: 10
- **years2**: 1986–1989
- **clubs2**: S.E.F. Torres 1903, Torres
- **caps2**: 88
- **goals2**: 21
- **years3**: 1989–1993
- **clubs3**: S.S.C. Napoli, Napoli
- **caps3**: 105
- **goals3**: 32
- **years4**: 1993–1996
- **clubs4**: Parma Calcio 1913, Parma
- **caps4**: 102
- **goals4**: 49
- **years5**: 1996–2003
- **clubs5**: Chelsea F.C., Chelsea
- **caps5**: 229
- **goals5**: 59
- **years6**: 2003–2005
- **clubs6**: Cagliari Calcio, Cagliari
- **caps6**: 74
- **goals6**: 22
- **totalcaps**: 629
- **totalgoals**: 193
- **nationalyears1**: 1991–1997
- **nationalteam1**: Italy national football team, Italy
- **nationalcaps1**: 35
- **nationalgoals1**: 10
- **nationalyears2**: 1990–1997
- **nationalteam2**: Sardinia national football team, Sardinia
- **nationalcaps2**: 2
- **nationalgoals2**: 1
- **manageryears1**: 2006–2008
- **managerclubs1**: Italy national under-21 football team, Italy U21 (assistant)
- **manageryears2**: 2008–2010
- **managerclubs2**: West Ham United F.C., West Ham United
- **manageryears3**: 2011–2012
- **managerclubs3**: Italy national under-16 football team, Italy U16
- **manageryears4**: 2012–2013
- **managerclubs4**: Watford F.C., Watford
- **manageryears5**: 2014–2015
- **managerclubs5**: Cagliari Calcio, Cagliari
- **manageryears6**: 2015–2016
- **managerclubs6**: Al-Arabi SC (Qatar), Al-Arabi
- **manageryears7**: 2016–2017
- **managerclubs7**: Birmingham City F.C., Birmingham City
- **manageryears8**: 2018–2019
- **managerclubs8**: Chelsea F.C., Chelsea (assistant)