Francesco Totti
Forward / Attacking Midfielder · Roma · Italy
About Francesco Totti
Francesco Totti is Roma itself — "Il Re di Roma" (The King of Rome (ITA)) — the only major player in modern football to spend his entire 25-year career at a single club without playing in Serie B. He is Roma's all-time top scorer with 307 goals and a Serie A champion with them in 2001. A player who rejected every offer from every club in Europe because, for him, Rome (ITA) was football.
Francesco Totti's story
Rome's Eternal No.10
Totti was born in Porta Metronia, Rome (ITA), and joined Roma's youth academy at eight. He is the embodiment of a footballing culture where city and club are one. He was offered astronomical contracts by Real Madrid (twice), AC Milan, Chelsea and Barcelona (ESP) — and turned every one down. "I am Roma," he told journalists. "What would I be without Roma?"
Loyalty Above All
His most extraordinary achievement is not tactical — it is longevity of devotion. He played his 25th and final season aged 40, scoring on occasion and receiving standing ovations in stadiums across Italy. When he retired in 2017, grown men wept in the Stadio Olimpico. His farewell speech was broadcast live across Italy.
A Complex Legacy
His relationship with Italy's national team was complicated by tactical clashes with Marcello Lippi and injuries. At the 2006 World Cup he played a secondary role in Italy's triumph. He later became Roma's director of football but left in 2021 amid disputes with the club's American ownership, which he criticised publicly.
Did you know?
- 👑 Totti received five marriage proposals in a survey of Roman women as the city's most eligible bachelor — while still being married. His wife Ilary Blasi was one of Italy's most famous TV presenters.
- 🚫 Real Madrid, AC Milan, Barcelona, Chelsea, and Inter Milan all made major bids for him across his career. He rejected every single offer.
- 👨👩👧👦 Married TV presenter Ilary Blasi in 2005; they have three children: Cristian, Chanel, and Isabel. Their separation in 2022, after 17 years of marriage, was a major Italian news story.
- 😂 A book of "Totti jokes" — where he is portrayed as comically dim — sold over 2 million copies in Italy. He embraced them publicly, even publishing his own expanded collection.
- ⚽ He is the oldest player to score a hat-trick in Serie A history, doing so aged 36 in 2012 against Atalanta.
- 🥇 He won the European Golden Shoe in 2007 at age 30 — the oldest player to win the award at that point in history.
- 💔 His 2017 retirement was one of football's most emotional farewells. He gave a sobbing press conference watched live by millions in Italy and internationally.
- 🏟️ The Stadio Olimpico section known as the Curva Sud — the Roma ultras — have a life-size mural of Totti that has stood since 2001 and has never been defaced.
- 🌍 He is the only major European footballer in the modern era to spend 25 years at a single club without ever being sold, loaned out, or playing for any other professional team.
Honours
- Serie A: AS Roma (2001)
- Coppa Italia x4: Roma (2007, 2008, 2014, 2023)
- FIFA World Cup: Italy (2006)
- Serie A Top Scorer (Capocannoniere): 2006–07 (26 goals, age 30)
- European Golden Shoe: 2007
See the full Francesco Totti profile
Stats, photo gallery, what the press are saying and the daily challenge, free on DailyPlayer.
Open the full profile