Stefano Eranio

Stefano Eranio

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Personal information
Date of birth	(1966-12-29) 29 December 1966
Place of birth	Genoa, Italy
Height
Position(s)	Winger
Team information
Current team	Milan (youth coach)
Senior career*
Years	Team	Apps	(Gls)
1984–1992	Genoa	212	(13)
1992–1997	Milan	98	(6)
1997–2001	Derby County	95	(7)
2002–2003	Pro Sesto	15	(1)
Total		420	(27)
International career
1990–1997	Italy	20	(3)
*Club domestic league appearances and goals

Stefano Eranio (born 29 December 1966 in Genova, Italy) is an Italian former football player, most remembered for his time with A.C. Milan and Genoa. Throughout his career, Eranio played mainly as a right winger, and he represented Italy 20 times between 1990 and 1997. His main attributes were his technique, pace, stamina, and his ability to make attacking runs. Although he was primarily an offensive wide midfielder, he was also competent defensively, and he was occasionally deployed as a fullback. He was voted one of Derby County's 11 greatest ever footballers.

Club career

Eranio started his professional football career with Genoa in August 1984. His first five seasons at Genoa were in Serie B before in 1989 the club were promoted to Serie A. In total, Eranio played for the club for eight seasons before he moved to AC Milan in August 1992. At Milan he won three league titles (1993, 1994 and 1996), three Italian Super Cups (1992, 1993 and 1994) and he also played in two Champions League finals. The first was in 1992–93 when Milan lost 1–0 to Olympique de Marseille, and the second was in 1994–95 when his club lost 1–0 to Ajax Amsterdam. Part of the team's successful campaign in 1993–94, he did not play in the final due to injury. He added to his trophy collection with the 1994 European Super Cup.

In May 1997 he moved for free to the English club Derby County where he became a fan favourite, and he made his Derby, and FA Premier League debut, on 9 August 1997 against Blackburn Rovers. His first goal for the Derbyshire club came on 30 August 1997 when he scored in a league game against Barnsley. In this season, Derby County moved from their former home at the Baseball Ground to their new home, Pride Park Stadium, and Eranio's goal, to take the score to 1–0 against Barnsley was the first that was scored at Derby's new home ground. Eranio had thought of retiring after the 2000–01 season, but manager Jim Smith persuaded him to stay on. When Smith was fired in October 2001, Eranio chose to leave Derby County. He retired in 2003 after spending a season with lowly fourth division Serie C2 side Pro Sesto, where he was featured in a player/assistant manager position.

He is widely considered to be one of the greatest and most influential players to play for Derby County and, on 1 May 2006, Eranio and Ted McMinn were inducted as Derby Legends.

International career

Eranio debuted for the Italian team on 22 December 1990 in a game against Cyprus. The game was a qualification match for the UEFA Euro 1992, and Italy won the game 4–0. His first international goal came against the Netherlands on 9 September 1992. Italy won the game 3–2.

On 29 March 1997, Eranio played his last game for Italy, against Moldova in a 3–0 home win. In total, he received 20 caps, and scored three goals, with six of the appearances in qualifiers for World Cups, and other five in qualification for European Championships.

Post-playing career

Coaching

Eranio is part of the AC Milan youth coaching staff since 2005, and he is currently working as head of the Giovanissimi Nazionali (under-15) youth team.

Media

On 22 October 2015, Eranio was fired by Swiss television station RSI following racist remarks. Criticising an error made by Roma defender Antonio Rüdiger during the 4-4 draw in the Champions League against Bayer Leverkusen, Eranio had stated: "Black players in the defensive line often make these mistakes because they’re not concentrated. They are powerful physically, but when it is time to think … they often make this type of error."

Career statistics

Club

	Club	Contract	Club games	League games	Club goals	League goals	Dates
Italy	Genoa	Contract	?	212	?	13	08/1984 – 05/1992
Italy	Milan	Contract	?	98	?	6	08/1992 – 05/1997
England	Derby County	Contract	108	95	10	7	05/1997 – 10/2001

Honours

Milan

• Serie A: 1992-93, 1993-94, 1995-96
• Supercoppa Italiana: 1992, 1993, 1994
• UEFA Champions League: 1993-94
• UEFA Supercup: 1994

Genoa

• Serie B: 1988-89

Sources

• Mortimer, Gerald (2004): The Who's Who of DERBY COUNTY.
  Breedon Books Publishing, Derby. ISBN 1-85983-409-4

External links

• Stefano Eranio career statistics at Soccerbase
• Overview of Eranio's international career (RSSSF)