Pierluigi Casiraghi was born on 4 March 1969 in Monza. He came through the youth ranks of his hometown club 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 1993). He moved to the capital in 1993 and remained for five years there, adding a second Coppa Italia (1998) to his trophy cabinet. He moved to Chelsea in 1998 and immediately won the European Super Cup, but a knee injury interrupted his career before he turned 30.

His National Team debut came on 13 February 1992 in a friendly against Belgium, while his first goal arrived a year later on his third appearance for the Azzurri: on 19 February 1992, he scored the third of the match in a 4-0 win for Sacchi’s team in a friendly against San Marino in Cesena.

He also played a part in the 1994 World Cup in the United States, making three appearances in the tournament. With Sacchi still in charge, he was also called up for the 1996 European Championship, where he scored a brace in the Azzurri’s first match against Russia.

On 15 November 1997, again against Russia, he scored the goal that secured Italy’s spot at the 1998 World Cup. However, Casiraghi’s journey with the National Team ended 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 Italy set-up in the summer of 2006 as Head Coach of the U21 team. He remained at the helm of the Azzurrini for four years and guided the team to the quarter-finals at the 2008 Beijing Olympics as well as the semi-finals of the 2009 European Championship. He left the role on 21 October 2010.