Giuseppe Rossi

Giuseppe Rossi (Italian pronunciation: [dʒuˈzɛppe ˈrossi]; born 1 February 1987) is a former professional footballer who played as a forward.

Born in the United States, Rossi spent most of his career in Europe with Villarreal and Fiorentina, in addition to spells with other clubs in England, Italy and Spain, before returning to his country of birth to join Real Salt Lake for a single season in 2020.

At international level, Rossi represented Italy at the 2008 Summer Olympics, and at the 2009 FIFA Confederations Cup, collecting thirty appearances and scoring seven goals at senior level between 2008 and 2014. Along with Mario Balotelli and Daniele De Rossi, he is Italy's all-time top scorer in the FIFA Confederations Cup, with two goals.

Due to his prolific performances in the Spanish La Liga, Rossi earned the nickname Pepito Rossi, a reference to his namesake Paolo Rossi, who was nicknamed Pablito following his goalscoring performances in Italy's victorious 1982 FIFA World Cup campaign in Spain.

Rossi is Italian American, born to Italian immigrant parents in Teaneck, New Jersey. His father, Fernando Rossi from Fraine, Abruzzo, coached soccer and taught Italian and Spanish at Clifton High School. His mother, Cleonilde Rossi from Acquaviva d'Isernia, Molise, was also a language teacher at Clifton, and his sister, Tina, currently lives in the United States. Rossi played prep soccer at Clifton High School.

After his father died in 2010, Rossi began to wear the number 49, which was the year of his father's birth. In 2014, he switched back to the number 22 jersey.

On 1 December 2020, his daughter was born.

When offered a spot on the youth team of Parma, Rossi (then 12) and his father moved to Italy until Manchester United bought his contract when he was 17. His first-team debut came on 20 November 2004, at home to Crystal Palace in the fifth round of the League Cup, as an 84th-minute substitute for David Bellion.