Pierluigi Casiraghi was born on 4 March 1969 in Monza. He grew up playing for his city’s youth team before making his Monza debut in Serie B at the age of 16. He also played for Juventus, Lazio and Chelsea during his career.

He made his Serie A debut for the Bianconeri and won his first trophies there: a Coppa Italia (1990) and two UEFA Cups (1990 and ’93). In ’93 he then moved to the capital where he remained for five years and added a second Coppa Italia (’98) to his trophy cabinet.

In 1998 he then moved to Chelsea where he immediately won a European Super Cup before a knee injury interrupted his career prior to reaching the age of 30. His National Team debut was on 13 February 1992 in a friendly against Belgium, while his first goal came a year later on his third appearance for the Azzurri: on 19 February 1992 he scored the third goal in a 4-0 win for Sacchi’s team in a friendly against San Marino in Cesena.

He also played a part in the ’94 World Cup in the United States, making three appearances in the tournament. Still under Sacchi’s management, he was also called up for the ’96 European Championship where he scored a brace in his first appearance against Russia.

On 15 November 1997, again against Russia, he scored the goal that granted Italy qualification to the 1998 World Cup. However, Casiraghi’s journey with the National Team was cut short a few weeks before the tournament. In fact, his last appearance was on 22 April 1998 in a friendly between Italy and Portugal in Parma. 

His Azzurri career ended with 44 appearances and 13 goals. He returned to the national set up in the summer of 2006 as coach of the U21 team. 

He remained at the Azzurrini’s helm for four years and guided the team to the quarter-final at the 2008 Beijing Olympics as well as the semi-final of the 2009 European Championship before leaving the role on 21 October 2010.