Enzo Francescoli

Enzo Francescoli

Francescoli in 2007.
Personal information
Full name	Enzo Francescoli Uriarte
Date of birth	(1961-11-12) 12 November 1961 (age 55)
Place of birth	Montevideo, Uruguay
Height	5 ft 11 1⁄4 in (1.81 m)
Playing position	Attacking midfielder
Senior career*
Years	Team	Apps	(Gls)
1980–1982	Wanderers	74	(20)
1983–1986	River Plate	113	(68)
1986–1989	RC Paris	89	(32)
1989–1990	Olympique Marseille	28	(11)
1990–1993	Cagliari	98	(17)
1993–1994	Torino	24	(3)
1994–1997	River Plate	84	(47)
Total		510	(198)
National team
1982–1997	Uruguay	73	(17)
* Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only.

Enzo Francescoli Uriarte (Spanish pronunciation: [ˈenso fɾansesˈkoli uˈɾjarte]; Italian: [ˈɛntso frantʃeˈskɔːli]; born 12 November 1961 in Montevideo) is a former Uruguayan football player. Due to his elegant style of play, Francescoli was nicknamed El Príncipe ("The Prince" in Spanish) or Le Prince (in French), and El Flaco, due to his slender frame. He played 73 times for the Uruguay national team between 1982 and his retirement in 1997, making him the most capped outfield player in Uruguayan international football at the time. He is regarded as one of the greatest players of Uruguay, perhaps the greatest to have never played for the two biggest clubs in the country. He was known for his classic and elegant style, like El Príncipe, in reference to Hannibal Ciocca, a former Uruguayan player from the 1930s and 40. He later was the only Uruguayan included by Pelé in the FIFA 100 list, and was chosen by the International Federation of Football History and Statistics as the sixth greatest player of his country and 24th of South America in the Twentieth Century.

A former attacking midfielder, he was considered an elite playmaker in a decadent period for the Celeste. With the Uruguay national football team, he participated in two World Cups, in 1986 and 1990, where Uruguay were defeated in the round of 16 on both occasions (against South American rivals and eventual champions Argentina, and hosts and semi-finalists Italy, respectively), after qualifying for the second round, in both cases, as one of the best third-placed teams in the first round. In his later career, Uruguay failed to qualify for the world cups of 1994 and 1998. Altogether, he played in eight World Cup matches, winning only one - against the then very inexperienced South Korea, and only 1–0.