Sport: Soccer
Born: February 1, 1987
Town: Clifton, New Jersey
Giuseppe Rossi was born February 1, 1987 in Teaneck and grew up in Clifton, NJ. His parents, Italian immigrants, taught at Clifton High School, where his dad also coached soccer. Giuseppe excelled in youth soccer, starring for the Clifton Stallions. Believing his son had the makings of a world-class player, Fernando Rossi moved with his son to Italy, where Giuseppe entered the youth program with Parma FC. He proved to be effective in a variety of attacking roles, showing exception skill converting difficult passes into quick, hard left-footed shots.
In 2004, Manchester United purchased Giuseppe’s contract. He scored his first goal for ManU in a 2005 win over Sunderland. Three months later, in January 2006, he had his first multi-goal game. Giuseppe had to make a tough call in 2006. Coach Bruce Arena invited him to train with Team USA as they prepared for World Cup 2006. He declined, hoping to earn a spot on the Italian national team instead.
Later in 2006, Manchester United loaned Giuseppe to Newcastle United so he could gain more first-team experience. In the second half of the 2006–07 season, he was loaned out to Parma. He scored 9 goals in 19 games for his old team. He would appear in the 2008 Olympics for Italy, leading the tournament with 4 goals; in 2010, he wore the captain’s armband for the first time, in a friendly against Romania.
In the summer of 2007, Manchester sold Giuseppe to the Spanish club Villarreal. He proved to be an effective striker, scoring 82 goals in 192 games over four-plus seasons, including 32 in 2010–11. An ACL injury suffered at the beginning of the 2011–12 season kept him off the field for more than a year.
The next time Giuseppe suited up it was for the Italian club Fiorentina, in the spring of 2013. In 2013–14, he netted 15 goals in 20 games for his new club. Three came in a 14-minute span against powerhouse Juventus, turning a 4–2 deficit into a historic 5–4 win. Fiorentina hadn’t beaten Juventus in 15 years.
Another knee injury sidelined Giuseppe early in 2014. His rehab schedule had him on track to be 100% by World Cup 2014 and he was added to the 30-man select team. However, he did not make the final 23-man roster.
Giuseppe did make a brief comeback in the summer of 2014 but suffered yet another knee injury that kept him out until the summer of 2015. Giuseppe went on loan to Levante to finish the 2015–16 season. He played for Celta Vigo in 2016–17, scoring all of the Celticos’ goals in a 3–1 win over Las Palmas a week before inuring his left ACL and missing the rest of the season.
Giuseppe signed in 2017 with Genoa. Near the end of the 2017–18 season he was shocked to hear that he had failed a drug test. Normally, a one-year suspension would have been in order, but no one could figure out how dorzolamide, a gluocoma drug, had gotten into his system and he was allowed to play in 2018–19. Ironically, although he trained with several top European teams, he never made it onto the pitch.Giuseppe ended up back in America, playing the 2020 season with Real Salt Lake. In 2021, Giusepp e returned to Ital with SPAL, a Series B club in Ferrara, for what would be his final season as a player. In all, he scored 130 goals in 346 games despite never being 100% physically after the age of 25.
Giuseppe made a smooth transition into broadcasting, hosting “Calcio e Cappuccino” for the CBS Sports Network and Paramount+.