Christian Riganò facts for kids
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| Personal information | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Date of birth | 25 May 1974 | ||
| Place of birth | Lipari, Italy | ||
| Height | 1.91m | ||
| Playing position | Striker | ||
| Senior career* | |||
| Years | Team | Apps† | (Gls)† |
| 1993–1997 | Lipari | 73 | (34) |
| 1997–1998 | Messina | 29 | (3) |
| 1998–2000 | Igea Virtus | 50 | (28) |
| 2000–2002 | Taranto | 64 | (41) |
| 2002–2006 | Fiorentina | 94 | (57) |
| 2005–2006 | → Empoli (loan) | 33 | (5) |
| 2006–2007 | Messina | 27 | (19) |
| 2007 | Levante UD | 12 | (4) |
| 2008 | → Siena (loan) | 17 | (1) |
| 2008–2009 | Ternana | 5 | (0) |
| 2009–2010 | Cremonese | 7 | (1) |
| 2010–2011 | Rondinella | 68 | (13) |
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Christian Riganò (born 25 May 1974) is an Italian football manager and a former professional footballer. He played as a striker, which means he was a player whose main job was to score goals.
Contents
Career
Early career
Christian Riganò was born in Lipari, Italy. Before becoming a professional footballer, he worked as a bricklayer. He started his football journey with an amateur team called Lipari. Here, he became known as a player who scored many goals.
In 1997, he joined Messina, a team in a lower league called Serie D. He didn't play much or score many goals there. After that, he played two seasons with Igea Virtus, another Serie D team. He scored 28 goals for them.
Taranto
In 2000, when he was 26 years old, Riganò finally started playing professional football. He joined Taranto. He was very important in helping Taranto get promoted in his first season. The next year, he had a great season in Serie C1. He was the top scorer in Serie C1 with 27 goals in the 2001–02 season. His team almost got promoted to Serie B.
Fiorentina
In 2002, Riganò moved to Florentia Viola, a team in Serie C2. He scored a personal best of 30 goals in 32 matches. This made him the top scorer in that league again. He helped Fiorentina get promoted.
During the 2003–04 season, he scored 23 goals in 44 matches in Serie B. This helped Fiorentina get promoted to Serie A, which is Italy's top football league. Riganò played his first game in Serie A when he was 30 years old. In the 2005–06 season, he was loaned to Empoli but didn't have much success there.
Messina again
In August 2006, Riganò joined Messina again. He had a very impressive season, scoring 19 goals in 26 games. He finished as the third-highest scorer in Serie A during the 2006–07 season. This was despite getting injured in January and missing three months of play.
Levante and loans
In August 2007, Riganò signed with Levante UD, a team in Spain. He scored only four goals in 13 matches during his six months there. Three of those goals came in one game against Almería. This made him only the second Italian player to score three goals in a single game in La Liga, Spain's top league.
He was then loaned to Siena in January. Levante later released him after the club moved down to a lower league called Segunda División.
Later years
As a free agent, Riganò joined Ternana on 31 August 2008. This was a club in Lega Pro Prima Divisione, another Italian league. However, his time at Ternana was not very good. He played only a few matches and was later not chosen to play with the main team.
On 2 February 2009, Riganò moved to Cremonese, another Lega Pro Prima Divisione club. Here, he met Emiliano Mondonico, his old coach from Fiorentina. He left Cremonese at the end of the season. He then signed with San Frediano Rondinella S.S., a team from Florence.
How he played
Christian Riganò was a tall striker who was very good at heading the ball. He wasn't super fast or strong, but he was great at finding chances to score. He was known for his good timing and knowing where to be on the field. This made him hard for defenders to mark.
He usually played as a centre-forward. He could also use his strength and skill to hold the ball for his teammates. He would help them score goals by giving them assists, as well as scoring goals himself. He was also good at taking penalty kicks. Because he scored so many goals and was from Lipari, people called him il bomber di Lipari (the bomber from Lipari) and Riga-Gol.
Awards and Achievements
Club
- Taranto
- Serie C2: 2000–01
- Florentia Viola
- Serie C2: 2002–03
Individual
- Serie C1 Top-scorer: 2001–02 (27 goals)
- Serie C2 Top-scorer 2002–03 (30 goals)
- Fiorentina Hall of Fame
See also
In Spanish: Christian Riganò para niños
