Paolo Di Canio

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Paolo Di Canio (born July 9, 1968 in Quarticciolo, Rome) is an Italian football player who currently plays for the Italian Serie A club Lazio.

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Biography and career

Paolo Di Canio signed for Lazio in 1985 where he remained until 1990 when he moved to Juventus. He stayed there until 1993 and successive seasons saw him first join Napoli and then A.C. Milan. In 1996 he joined Celtic in Scotland, and his successful season in Glasgow (scoring 15 goals in 37 appearances) saw him make a move to the Premiership as he joined Sheffield Wednesday.

In England, Di Canio is famous for an incident on the pitch in 1998 where he pushed referee Paul Alcock to the ground after being sent off while playing for Sheffield Wednesday against Arsenal. In January 1999, Di Canio signed for West Ham United and helped them to achieve a high league position (5th) and qualify for the UEFA cup. He scored the BBC Goal of the Season in 2000 with a volley against Wimbledon, which is still considered among the best goals in Premiership history. In that season he was also voted Hammer of the Year by the club's fans.

During a match against Everton in December 2000, Di Canio provided a noteworthy display of sportsmanship. He shunned a goal scoring opportunity and caught the ball while the Everton goalkeeper Paul Gerrard was lying injured on the ground. FIFA described the act as "a special act of good sportsmanship" and awarded him the 2001 FIFA Fair Play award. He remained at West Ham until 2003 when, following West Ham's relegation, he signed for Charlton Athletic. In August 2004 he moved back to his home team of Lazio having already signed an extension to his Charlton contract, which involved taking a massive paycut. He scored again in the Rome derby just as he had done fifteen years prior.

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Controversies

Image:Braccioteso.jpg Di Canio has had a chequered career, in which time he has won many honours and been selected for his national team, but also been the centre of much controversy, such as assaulting a referee during a game and has recently made Fascist salutes to celebrate his team winning last Rome derby against arch-rivals Roma. As he repeated the gesture in the matches against Livorno (whose supporters are markedly communist) and Juventus in December 2005, he was suspended for one game by the Italian Football Federation and fined 10,000 Euros. He is known to be outspoken and passionate, and is famous for his on- and off-field flair. Also he is known to have been part of the Ultras neo-Nazi fan group (Lazio's Irriducibili) in his youth and even travelled with the group to away matches, which is quite uncommon among professional football players.

After criticism from most politicians for his fascist gestures, he stated: "I will always salute as I did yesterday because it gives me a sense of belonging to my people." Di Canio also has a tattoo on his arm which reads "DVX", which is the Latin appellative used for former Italian dictator Benito Mussolini, Duce. Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi, owner of AC Milan, stated that the salute "did not have any significance" and described the player as 'an exhibitionist but a good lad'. His own team, Lazio, attempted to distance themselves from his actions, claiming that they rejected any "politicisation" of football. Di Canio initially refused to apologize for his actions and claimed that he did not intend to make a political statement. He insists that he is free to communicate with his fans in the manner of his choosing, although Italian law considers Fascist propaganda a crime. Recently, Di Canio has amended his earlier remarks now claiming to the Italian news agency ANSA that "I'm a fascist, not a racist... The salute is aimed at my people. With the straight arm I don't want to incite violence and certainly not racial hatred." He later denied ever having made that comment which was attributed to his lawyer. Later yet, Di Canio agreed to stop using this controversial gesture, in order to avoid any problem this might cause to Lazio.

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