Franchino Baresi (; born 8 May 1960) is an Italian football youth team coach and a former player and manager. He mainly played as a sweeper or as a central defender, and spent his entire 20-year career with Serie A club AC Milan, captaining the club for 15 seasons. Widely regarded as one of the greatest defenders of all time, he was ranked 19th in World Soccer magazine's list of the 100 greatest players of the 20th century. With Milan, he won three European Cup/UEFA Champions League titles, six Serie A trophies, four Supercoppa Italiana titles, two European Super Cups and two Intercontinental Cups, as well as a World Cup with Italy.
With the Italy national team, he was a member of the squad that won the 1982 FIFA World Cup, the first in 44 years. He also played in the 1990 World Cup held on home soil, where he was named in the FIFA World Cup All-Star Team, while leading them to a third place in the tournament. At the 1994 World Cup, he was named Italy's captain and was part of the squad that reached the final, although he would miss a penalty in the resulting shoot-out as Brazil lifted the trophy. Baresi also represented Italy at two UEFA European Championships, in 1980 and 1988, and at the 1984 Olympics, reaching the semi-finals on each occasion.
The younger brother of former footballer Giuseppe Baresi, after joining the Milan senior team as a youngster, Franco Baresi was initially nicknamed "Piscinin", Milanese for "little one". Due to his skill and success, he was later known as "Kaiser Franz", a reference to fellow sweeper Franz Beckenbauer. In 1999, he was voted Milan's Player of the Century. After his final season at Milan in 1997, the club retired Baresi's shirt number 6. He was named by Pelé one of the 125 Greatest Living Footballers at the FIFA centenary awards ceremony in 2004. Baresi was inducted into the Italian Football Hall of Fame in 2013.
Early life
Baresi grew up in a farmstead on the outskirts of a small north Italian town, Travagliato. He did not watch football on television until he was 10.
Club career
Originally an AC Milan youth product, Baresi went on to spend his entire 20-year professional career with AC Milan, making his Serie A debut at age 17 during the 1977–78 season on 23 April 1978. He had initially been rejected by the Inter Milan youth team, who chose his brother Giuseppe instead, hence the Milan youth team signed Franco Baresi. The two brothers ended up captaining their respective teams shortly after, with their image while exchanging pennants became the trademark of Milan's derby della Madonnina throughout the 80s.
The following season, he was made a member of the starting 11, playing as a sweeper or as a centreback, winning the 1978–79 Serie A title, Milan's tenth overall, playing alongside Fabio Capello and Gianni Rivera. When the attacking Dutch trio of Marco van Basten, Ruud Gullit and Frank Rijkaard arrived at the club in the late 1980s, Milan began a period of domestic and international triumphs, and between 1987 and 1996, at the height of the club's success, the Milan squad contained many Italian and international stars, such as Roberto Donadoni, Carlo Ancelotti, Marco van Basten, Ruud Gullit, Frank Rijkaard and later Demetrio Albertini, Dejan Savićević, Zvonimir Boban, Marcel Desailly, George Weah, Jean-Pierre Papin, Brian Laudrup and Roberto Baggio. Under Sacchi, Milan won the Serie A title in 1987–88, with Baresi helping Milan to concede only 14 goals. This title was immediately followed by a Supercoppa Italiana in 1988 the next season, and back-to-back European Cups in 1988–89 and 1989–90; Baresi was also runner-up to teammate Van Basten for the Ballon d'Or in 1989, finishing ahead of his other teammate Frank Rijkaard, and was named Serie A Footballer of the Year in 1989–90. Milan also reached the Coppa Italia final during the 1989–90 season. The Azzurri won their third World Cup, defeating West Germany in the final, but Baresi, once again, was not selected to play a match throughout the tournament. Baresi was also a member of the Italy squad that took part in the 1984 Olympics. Italy finished in fourth place after a semi-final defeat to Brazil, and losing the bronze medal match to Yugoslavia. Baresi scored a goal against the United States during the group stage.
Baresi won his first senior international cap in a 1984 UEFA Championship qualifying match against Romania in Florence, on 14 December 1982, a 0–0 draw.
Baresi was not included in Italy's squad for the 1986 World Cup by coach Enzo Bearzot, who saw him as being more of a midfielder than a defender (although his brother Giuseppe was selected as a defender for the World Cup, as well as Roberto Tricella). During his time at Milan, he formed one of the most formidable defensive units of all time, alongside Paolo Maldini, Alessandro Costacurta, Mauro Tassotti, Filippo Galli, and later Christian Panucci.
thumb|right|Baresi's Italy jersey (6) next to [[Paolo Maldini's jersey at the San Siro museum, September 2018]]
Although Baresi was capable of playing anywhere along the backline, he primarily excelled as a centreback and as sweeper, where he combined his defensive attributes, and his ability to read the game, with his excellent vision, technique, distribution and ball skills. These qualities also enabled him to excel in a zonal marking system, maintain a high defensive line, and play the offside trap, in particular during his time at Milan under Sacchi; indeed, Baresi came to be known for often raising his arm towards the linesman whenever his team attempted to play the offside trap. Baresi's passing range, technical ability and ball control allowed him to advance forward into the midfield to start attacking plays from the back, enabling him to function as a secondary playmaker for his team, and also play as a defensive or central midfielder when necessary. throughout the course of his career, he also stood out for his professionalism, athleticism, longevity, and discipline in training, as well as his outstanding leadership, commanding presence on the pitch and his organisational skills; indeed, he captained both Milan and the Italy national team.
Baresi also shares the record of most own goals scored in Serie A history (eight, along with Riccardo Ferri).
Coaching career
On 1 June 2002, Baresi was officially appointed as director of football at Fulham, but tensions between Baresi and then Fulham manager Jean Tigana led to resignation from the club in August.
He was appointed head coach of Milan's Primavera Under-20 squad. In 2006, he was moved by the club to coach the Berretti Under-19 squad, with his former teammate Filippo Galli replacing him at the helm of the Primavera squad. He retired from coaching and was replaced by Roberto Bertuzzo.
Personal life
Franco Baresi is the younger brother of Inter Milan legendary defender Giuseppe Baresi. As youngsters, both players had tryouts for Inter, but Franco was rejected, and purchased by local rivals Milan. As he was the younger player, Franco was initially known as "Baresi 2".
In 1981, Baresi suffered from a blood infection that forced him out of play for nearly four months and worsened his health to the point of him needing a wheelchair. While in treatment, he participated in a medical research for the disease.
In August 2025, Baresi had a lung surgery, with a pulmonary nodule removed from his body. Then, he began a course of immunotherapy as a means of cancer prevention.
Media
Baresi is featured in the EA Sports football video game series FIFA 14s Classic XI – a multi-national all-star team, along with compatriots Bruno Conti, Gianni Rivera and Giacinto Facchetti. He was also named in the Ultimate Team Legends in FIFA 15.
Career statistics
Club
{| class="wikitable" style="text-align:center"
|+ Appearances and goals by club, season and competition
|-
!rowspan="2"|Club
!rowspan="2"|Season
!colspan="3"|League
!colspan="2"|Coppa Italia
!colspan="2"|Europe
!colspan="2"|Other
!colspan="2"|Total
|-
!Division!!Apps!!Goals!!Apps!!Goals!!Apps!!Goals!!Apps!!Goals!!Apps!!Goals
|-
|rowspan="20"|AC Milan
|1977–78
|Serie A
|1||0||2||0||colspan="2"|–||colspan="2"|–||3||0
|-
|1978–79
|Serie A
|30||0||4||0||6||0||colspan="2"|–||40||0
|-
|1979–80
|Serie A
|28||0||6||0||1||0||colspan="2"|–||35||0
|-
|1980–81
|Serie B
|31||0||4||1||0||0||colspan="2"|–||35||1
|-
|1981–82
|Serie A
|18||2||4||0||colspan="2"|–|||3||2||25||4
|-
|1982–83
|Serie B
|30||4||9||2||colspan="2"|–||colspan="2"|–||39||6
|-
|1983–84
|Serie A
|21||3||9||2||colspan="2"|–||colspan="2"|–||30||5
|-
|1984–85
|Serie A
|26||0||10||0||colspan="2"|–||colspan="2"|–||36||0
|-
|1985–86
|Serie A
|20||0||4||0||3||0||3||0||30||0
|-
|1986–87
|Serie A
|29||2||6||3||colspan="2"|–||colspan="2"|–||35||5
|-
|1987–88
|Serie A
|27||1||6||0||3||0||colspan="2"|–||36||1
|-
|1988–89
|Serie A
|33||2||8||2||8||0||1||0||50||4
|-
|1989–90
|Serie A
|30||1||7||4||8||0||1||0||46||5
|-
|1990–91
|Serie A
|31||0||1||0||5||0||1||0||38||0
|-
|1991–92
|Serie A
|33||0||6||1||colspan="2"|–||colspan="2"|–||39||1
|-
|1992–93
|Serie A
|29||0||7||0||8||0||1||0||45||0
|-
|1993–94
|Serie A
|31||0||0||0||11||0||2||0||44||0
|-
|1994–95
|Serie A
|28||0||0||0||13||0||2||0||43||0
|-
|1995–96
|Serie A
|30||1||3||0||7||0||colspan="2"|–||40||1
|-
|1996–97
|Serie A
|26||0||1||0||2||0||1||0||30||0
|-
!colspan="3"|Career total
!532!!16!!97!!15!!75!!0!!15!!2!!719!!33
|}
International
{| class="wikitable" style="text-align:center"
|+ Appearances and goals by national team and year
|-
!National team!!Year!!Apps!!Goals
|-
|rowspan="13"|Italy
|1982||1||0
|-
|1983||3||0
|-
|1984||5||0
|-
|1985||0||0
|-
|1986||3||0
|-
|1987||5||0
|-
|1988||11||1
|-
|1989||10||0
|-
|1990||11||0
|-
|1991||9||0
|-
|1992||7||0
|-
|1993||7||0
|-
|1994||9||0
|-
!colspan="2"|Total!!81!!1
|}
:Scores and results list Italy's goal tally first, score column indicates score after each Baresi goal.
{| class="wikitable sortable"
|+ List of international goals scored by Franco Baresi
|-
!scope="col"|No.
!scope="col"|Date
!scope="col"|Venue
!scope="col"|Opponent
!scope="col"|Score
!scope="col"|Result
!scope="col"|Competition
|-
| align="center"|1 || 20 February 1988 || Stadio della Vittoria, Bari, Italy || || align="center"|1–0 || align="center"|4–1 || | Friendly
|}
Honours
AC Milan
- FIFA World Cup: 1982; Runner-Up: 1994; Third Place: 1990
- Scania 100 Tournament: 1991
Individual
- Serie A Team of The Year: 1987, 1988, 1989, 1990, 1992
- Ballon d'Or Runner-Up: 1989
- Guerin d'Oro: 1989–90
- FIFA World Cup All-Star Team: 1990
- Onze de Onze: 1990, 1991, 1992
- Premio Nazionale Carriera Esemplare "Gaetano Scirea": 1994
- World Soccer The Greatest Players of the 20th Century #19
- AC Milan Player of the Century: 1999
- AIC Serie A Player of the Century: 2000
- FIFA 100: 2004
- UEFA Golden Jubilee Poll: #17th
- AC Milan Hall of Fame
- Italian Football Hall of Fame: 2013
- Ballon d'Or Dream Team (Silver): 2020
- IFFHS All-Time Men's Dream Team: 2021
Orders
:*left|50px 4th Class / Officer: Ufficiale Ordine al Merito della Repubblica Italiana: 1991
See also
- List of one-club men in association football
References
External links
- 2009 Interview at fourfourtwo.com