Vincenzo Iaquinta, Cavaliere Ufficiale OMR, (born November 21, 1979 in Cutro, Crotone) is an Italian World Cup-winning footballer who plays for Serie A club Juventus. He is a tall, strong striker who possesses a good and powerful shot and is great in the air. He can also play on the wing.
Iaquinta was born in in Cutro, in the province of Crotone. Like many Calabrians in the 1980s, his parents immigrated to Emilia-Romagna, in Northern Italy, because of better job opportunities. Prior to joining Udinese in 2000, Iaquinta played with his brother in the lower divisions for Reggiolo (1996-97), Padova (1998), and Castel di Sangro (1998-2000).
Owner of Udinese Calcio Giampaolo Pozzo recently revealed that FC Barcelona had sought the player in January 2006, but Juventus signed Iaquinta on a five-year contract in the summer of 2007 for a fee reported to be €13.3 million.
During the 200708 season, Iaquinta made only a handful appearances for Juventus, mostly being used as backup to experienced strikers and long-term bianconeri Alessandro Del Piero and David Trezeguet. It appeared as if he may have been surplus to requirements after the signing of Brazilian striker Amauri Carvalho de Oliveira, this leading to rumours about a possible move out of Juventus for the player. However these rumours did not actually bring to a move in the summer window, and Iaquinta was therefore confirmed also for the 200809 season. Iaquinta started the season as fourth-choice striker, but enjoyed a particularly impressive string of performances when both Amauri and Trezeguet were injured, thus giving Iaquinta a chance to play more regularly with Juventus. Most notably, he scored the first goal against Chelsea F.C. in the second leg of the first knockout stage of the UEFA Champions League. Despite this, Juve went to draw the match 22, which meant the bianconeri were out of European football. Since then, he also started playing regularly also in Serie A games, also taking implicitly advantage of a falling-out between Trezeguet and head coach Claudio Ranieri.
He was a member of the Italian squad that won the 2006 FIFA World Cup. He scored Italy's second goal in their opening match against Ghana. He played in 5 out of 7 of Italy's matches including the semi-final and final. Iaquinta missed out on Euro 2008, due to an injury suffered over a month before.
