Gianfranco Zola ~ Top Greatest Player Football

Gianfranco Zola OBE (born 5 July 1966 in Oliena, Sardinia) is a retired Italian footballer and, since 11 September 2008, manager of English Premier League side West Ham United, having been assistant coach of the Italy national under-21 football team under Pierluigi Casiraghi.
He spent the first decade of his career playing in Italy, most notably with Napoli, alongside the legendary Argentinian Diego Maradona and Brazilian striker Careca, and at Parma, before moving to English side Chelsea, where he was voted Football Writers' Player of the Year in 1997 and Chelsea's greatest ever player.
He was capped 35 times for Italy.
ola signed his first professional contract with Sardinian team Nuorese in 1984. In 1986 he moved to Torres from Sassari, and three years later he signed for Napoli in Serie A. The young and talented Zola scored two goals as understudy to Diego Maradona as Napoli won the Italian title in 1990. Maradona would prove to be a big influence on Zola's career. The two would spend hours practising free kicks together after training and Zola later said that "I learned everything from Diego. I used to spy on him every time he trained and learned how to curl a free-kick just like him. "He helped Napoli to win the Italian Super Cup in 1991 and he made his debut for the Italian national side under coach Arrigo Sacchi in the same year, winning his first cap against Norway in November. In 1993, Zola left Napoli and joined fellow Serie A side Parma. He won the UEFA Cup with Parma and they were runners-up in Serie A and the Italian Cup in 1995. It was with the blue and yellow club that he cemented his reputation as a creative player. However, coach Carlo Ancelotti came to see Zola as a "square peg" unable to fit into his rigid system. Zola was played out of position and ultimately made available for transfer.

Zola played for his country at the 1994 FIFA World Cup, making one appearance in the second round against Nigeria. He was sent off after only a few minutes and was suspended for the two subsequent World Cup matches.
He played in all three group games at Euro 96, and missed a penalty against Germany as Italy surprisingly crashed out in the first round. He scored the only goal of the game in a World Cup qualifying match against England at Wembley in February 1997, and won his final cap for Italy in the return fixture against England in Rome in October 1997. He retired from international play after he was not called up for the 1998 World Cup, finishing with 35 total caps and ten goals.(Wikipedia)