Damiano Tommasi

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Personal information
Damiano Tommasi
Date of birth	May 17, 1974
Place of birth	Negrar, Italy
Height	1.77 m
Position	Midfielder
Club information
Current club	Levante UD
Number	15
Professional clubs*
Years	Club	Apps (goals)
1991-1996 1996-2006 2006-	Hellas Verona A.S. Roma Levante	77 (4) 262 (14) 1 (0)
National team**
1998-	Italy	23 (1)
* Professional club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only and correct as of August 30, 2006. ** National team caps and goals correct as of August 30, 2006.

Damiano Tommasi (born May 17, 1974 in Negrar, Italy) is an Italian football player who currently plays for Levante UD of the La Liga. Also a noted philanthropist, Tommasi arranges for footballers' disciplinary fines to go to good causes.

Tommasi started his career playing for Hellas Verona in Serie B from 1993 to 1996. He made his Serie A debut on September 7, 1996 with A.S. Roma, a 3-1 win over Piacenza Calcio.

Tommasi played for the Italian national team that won the 1996 European Under-21 Championship and for the 1996 Olympic Games squad in Atlanta. He made his first senior squad appearance for the Azzurri on November 18, 1998 against Spain, but did not become a regular until 2001. He played in all four of Italy's matches at the 2002 World Cup.

During a summer friendly match against Stoke City in 2003 he suffered a horrible knee injury, caused by Gerry Taggart <ref>http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport2/hi/football/teams/s/stoke_city/3920627.stm</ref>, and was out of action for a long time. In the summer of 2005 he accepted a one-year contract from Roma with youth player wages - a contract which, astonishingly, Tommasi instigated himself in the name of fairness. On October 30, 2005, he finally returned to play, entering on the second half in place of team mate Olivier Dacourt during a league match against Ascoli Calcio 1898, being even hailed with a long standing ovation by the A.S. Roma supporters.

On July 18, 2006. Damiano Tommasi, a 10 year veteran of Roma, joined Levante.

[edit] External links

Official site (in Italian)

Image:Flag of Italy.svg	Italy squad - 2002 FIFA World Cup	Image:Flag of Italy.svg
1 Buffon \| 2 Panucci \| 3 Maldini \| 4 Coco \| 5 Cannavaro \| 6 Zanetti \| 7 Del Piero \| 8 Gattuso \| 9 Inzaghi \| 10 Totti \| 11 Doni \| 12 Abbiati \| 13 Nesta \| 14 Di Biagio \| 15 Iuliano \| 16 Di Livio \| 17 Tommasi \| 18 Delvecchio \| 19 Zambrotta \| 20 Montella \| 21 Vieri \| 22 Toldo \| 23 Materazzi \| Coach: Trapattoni

Levante UD - Current Squad
1 Cavallero \| 2 Manolo \| 3 Alexis \| 4 Camacho \| 5 Álvaro \| 6 N'Diaye \| 7 Ettien \| 8 Kapo \| 9 Nino \| 10 Riga \| 11 Zé María \| 12 Berson \| 13 Molina \| 14 Harte \| 15 Tommasi \| 16 César \| 17 Rubiales \| 18 Carmelo \| 19 Luyindula \| 20 Déhu \| 21 Courtois \| 22 Robert \| 23 Descarga \| 24 Meyong \| Manager: López Caro