Mark Iuliano

Mark Iuliano

Personal information
Date of birth	12 August 1973 (1973-08-12) (age 38)
Place of birth	Cosenza, Italy
Height	1.91 m (6 ft 3 in)
Playing position	Defender
Senior career*
Years	Team	Apps†	(Gls)†
1990–1996	Salernitana	83	(1)
1992–1993	→ Bologna (loan)	24	(1)
1993–1994	→ Monza (loan)	16	(0)
1996–2004	Juventus	187	(7)
2005	Real Mallorca	29	(4)
2006	Sampdoria	4	(0)
2006–2007	Messina	21	(0)
2008	Ravenna	10	(2)
National team
1998–2003	Italy	19	(1)
* Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only. † Appearances (Goals).

Mark Iuliano (born 12 August 1973 in Cosenza) is a former Italian football (soccer) defender, who spent the bulk of his career with Italian powerhouse, Juventus FC, in the Italian Serie A.

Career

Salernitana Calcio 1919

Mark Iuliano started his professional football career with Salernitana Calcio in 1990. He would transfer to Bologna FC on a season loan deal in 1992 and scored 1 goal in 24 appearances. After returning to Salerno, he was again sent out on loan in 1993, for another season loang loan deal. This time, Iuliano moved to A.C. Monza He would go on to make 16 appearances for the club. After two impressive loan spells in Bologna and Monza, Iuliano returned to Salernitana Calcio, and became a regular starter after his return, making over 85 appearances, and scoring a single goal from both center back and full back.

Juventus FC

After greatly impressing in his second spell with Salernitana, Iuliano caught the eye of several major scouts, most notably those of Serie A giants Juventus FC. In July 1996, Iuliano transferred to the Torino based outfit, and was a big hit right from the start, as Juve continued their Serie A and European dominance. He made his Serie A debut on 15 September 1996, 2–1 win over Cagliari Calcio. In his first season with Juventus he played in 21 league games scoring a single goal. Iuliano would become an eventual starter for the club the following season, but was hamperred by injuries in the 1999–2000 season, limiting him to just 20 appearances. Juventus had what was considered as the best defence in the world at this time, and teams strongly regretted ever going down a goal to the club, as they knew how hard it would be to score one back for themselves. Iuliano formed impressive defensive partnerships with the likes of Ciro Ferrara, Moreno Torricelli, Paolo Montero, Gianluca Pessotto, Lilian Thuram, Alessandro Birindelli, Igor Tudor, Gianluca Zambrotta, Nicola Legrottaglie, and Fabio Cannavaro during his 10 year tenure with the club. After the 2004–2005 Serie A triumph, veteran teammates Paolo Montero and Ciro Ferrara called it quits on their Juventus career. The Uruguayan opted to return to his homeland, while Iuliano remained, but in January 2005, he left for La Liga side RCD Mallorca on free transfer after having not played regularly in the first portion season. Iuliano made well over 200 total appearances for i bianconeri, scoring nearly 15 goals. ^[1]

Real Mallorca

Iuliano transferred to RCD Mallorca in the Spanish La Liga in the summer of 2005 after 10 years with Juventus. He would remain at the club for only one season however, despite a fairly decent season starting 29 total games and scoring 4 goals.

UC Sampdoria

Iuliano returned to Italy in January 2006, by transferring to Serie A club, UC Sampdoria. He remained at the Genoa based club for just a mere six months, before a July transfer away from Liguria after making just 4 appearances in the league.

FC Messina Peloro

After a disappointing period with Sampdoria, Iuliano moved to Sicilian club F.C. Messina Peloro in the summer of 2006. After two consecutive fairly impressive Serie A seasons, Messina failed to avoid relegation in the 2006–2007 Serie A season. Iuliano made a total of 24 appearances for the club between the Coppa Italia and the Serie A, and scored 1 goal. Following Messina's relegation to Serie B, Iuliano's contract was not renewed, and hence he became a free agent on 1 July 2007.

Ravenna Calcio

Iuliano was unable to find a club during the 2007 summer transfer window, and was linked with a return to former club Juventus, following their re-building of the club's squad. This news turned out to be just rumors, as the deal never took off, and Iuliano remained a free agent for the next 6 months. After those 6 months without a club, he signed for Serie B side Ravenna Calcio in January 2008. The veteran was instantly inserted into the starting eleven, and picked up good form before he failed a doping test after playing for Ravenna Calcio in a Serie B match against A.C. Cesena, in May 2008. After being found positive for cocaine he was successively disqualified for two years.

Retirement

After this series of events, Iuliano opted to call it quits on his career and officially retired from professional footaball in June 2008. The Juventus legend was 35 years old.

Italian National team

Iuliano was a regular in the Italy national football team setup during the peak of his career as he earned his first call-up in 1998 and received his last cap in 2003. capped for Italy national football team in UEFA Euro 2000 and FIFA World Cup 2002. He would make 20 total international appearances, scoring one goal for his country.

His debut came on 5 September 1998 against Wales.

He scored his only international goal against Portugal on 26 April 2000.

References

1. ^ "Island move suits Iuliano". UEFA.com. 12 January 2005. http://www.uefa.com/footballeurope/news/kind=2/newsid=272744.html. Retrieved 12 November 2008. 

External links

• Short bios at 2002 FIFA world Cup site
• (Italian) National team stats.
• Mark Iuliano – FIFA competition record

Persondata
Name	Iuliano, Mark
Alternative names	Iuliano, Mark
Short description	Footballer
Date of birth	1973-8-12
Place of birth	Cosenza, Italy
Date of death
Place of death