Franco Cucinotta

{{Infobox football biography

| name = Franco Cucinotta

| image =

| caption =

| full_name =

| birth_date = {{birth date and age|1952|6|22|df=y}}

| birth_place = Novara di Sicilia, Italy

| height = 1.71 m

| position = Forward

| years1 = 1970–1974

| clubs1 = FC Lausanne-Sport

| caps1 = ?

| goals1 = ?

| years2 = 1974–1976

| clubs2 = FC Sion

| caps2 = ?

| goals2 = ?

| years3 = 1976–1978

| clubs3 = FC Zürich

| caps3 = ?

| goals3 = ?

| years4 = 1978–1979

| clubs4 = FC Chiasso

| caps4 = ?

| goals4 = ?

| years5 = 1979–1981

| clubs5 = Servette FC

| caps5 = ?

| goals5 = ?

| years6 = 1981–1983

| clubs6 = FC Sion

| caps6 = ?

| goals6 = ?

| totalcaps = ?

| totalgoals = ?

}}

Franco Cucinotta (born 22 June 1952) is an Italian former professional footballer who played as a striker. He spent his entire career in the Swiss Super League, and during the 1976–77 season, he was the top scorer in both the Swiss League, and the European Cup with FC Zürich.

Career

Born in Novara di Sicilia, Franco Cucinotta grew up in Montreux, Switzerland, the city to which his family had emigrated for work in 1960.{{cite news|url=http://www.archiviolastampa.it/component/option,com_lastampa/task,search/mod,libera/action,viewer/Itemid,3/page,19/articleid,1092_01_1977_0058_0019_15580013/|title=Il sogno "italiano" di Cucinotta|work=La Stampa|page=19|language=it|author1=Bruno Bernardi|date=20 March 1977|access-date=10 December 2015}} He also later began his professional footballing career in Switzerland, and despite being Italian, is one of the few Italian footballers to have never once played in Italy, spending his entire career in the Swiss League.{{cite web|url=http://www.cooperation.ch/4473813|title=Un buteur à la vie riche|language=fr|author1=Jacques Wullschleger|date=2 July 2012|access-date=10 December 2015}}

While playing for Swiss club FC Zürich (1976–78), Cucinotta was the top scorer of the 1977 European Cup alongside Gerd Müller,{{in lang|de}} [http://www.weltfussball.de/spieler_profil/franco-cucinotta/ Weltfussball.de profile] scoring a total of five goals in the competition, in which he helped Zürich to reach the semi-finals.[https://www.rsssf.org/ec/ec197677det.html RSSSF - European Champions' Cup 1976-77] He also finished the 1976–77 season as top scorer in the Nationalliga A, with 21 goals, scoring a total of 28 goals in all competitions, which earned him nominations for the Swiss Footballer of the Year and the Swiss Foreign Footballer of the Year Awards.{{cite web|url=https://www.rsssf.org/miscellaneous/zwitpoy.html|title=Switzerland - Footballer of the Year|author1=Erik Garin|date=20 June 2007|website=RSSSF|access-date=31 March 2016}}

Cucinotta also played in Switzerland for FC Lausanne-Sport (1970–74), FC Sion (1974–76; 1981–83), winning the Swiss Cup in 1982, FC Chiasso (1978–79), and Servette FC (1979–1981), winning the Swiss League Cup in 1980, and retiring in 1985.{{in lang|de}} [http://www.dbfcz.ch/spieler.php?spieler_id=4689 dbFCZ profile]{{cite web|url=http://www.calciozz.it/jogador.php?id=344383|title=Franco Cucinotta|language=it|access-date=10 December 2015}}

After retirement

After retiring, Cucinotta worked in insurance, and, after his divorce in 1988, also later moved to Africa for work, where he remained until 2007. He later returned to Switzerland, where he pursued a career in finance.

Style of play

Cucinotta was a very fast centre-forward, with a keen eye for goal, who was also capable of playing as a winger. Due to his abilities, he was compared to fellow Sicilian footballer Pietro Anastasi.{{cite news|url=http://www.archiviolastampa.it/component/option,com_lastampa/task,search/mod,libera/action,viewer/Itemid,3/page,13/articleid,1092_01_1977_0054_0013_15578716/|title=L'Anastasi di Svizzera|work=La Stampa|language=it|author1=Giorgio Gandolfi|page=13|date=16 March 1977|access-date=10 December 2015}}

Honours

=Club=

;Servette

Swiss League Cup: 1979–80

;Sion

Swiss Cup: 1981–82

=Individual=

Swiss-League Top-scorer: 1976–77 (21 goals){{cite web|url=https://www.rsssf.org/tablesz/zwit77.html|title=Switzerland 1976/77|author1=Erik Garin|date=26 January 2007|website=RSSSF|access-date=10 December 2015}}
European Cup top-scorer: 1976–77 (5 goals){{cite web|url=https://www.rsssf.org/ec/ec1tops.html|title=Champions Cup/Champions League Topscorers|author1=Roberto Di Maggio|author2=Roberto Mamrud|author3=Jarek Owsianski|author4=Davide Rota|date=11 June 2015|website=RSSSF|access-date=10 December 2015}}