Vieri was named in the FIFA 100, a list of the 125 .
greatest living footballers selected by Pelé as a part of FIFA’s centenary celebrations.
A prolific goalscorer, for a number of years, he was regarded as one of the best strikers in Europe, leading to him becoming the world’s most expensive player in 1999 when Inter Milan paid Lazio £32 million (€43 million) for his services.
Something of a footballing nomad, Vieri played for no fewer than 12 clubs throughout his career, mainly in Italy, but also in Spain and France. He started his career with Torino in 1991, but his most notable and successful spells were those at Juventus, Atlético Madrid, Lazio and Inter, clubs with which he won several honours.
As well as picking up several winners medals during his career, Vieri also claimed many individual awards including the Pichichi Trophy and Capocannoniere awards for the league’s top scorer in Spain and Italy respectively, and the Serie A Italian Footballer of the Year twice.
At international level, Vieri scored 23 goals in 49 appearances for Italy between 1997 and 2005, and is the joint ninth-highest goalscorer for his national team, alongside Francesco Graziani. He is also Italy’s highest ever goalscorer in the FIFA World Cup, along with .
Roberto Baggio and Paolo Rossi, with a combined nine goals from nine matches at the 1998 and 2002 editions of the tournament; he also took part at Euro 2004.
We had the pleasure interviewing Christian Vieri, at the 34th Annual Great Sports Legends Annual Dinner ,to benefit the Buoniconti Fund to Cure Paralysis , where he was honored as a Great Sports Legend.
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