Davide Astori

Club

_Deceased Soccer

Position

Defender

Nationality

Italy

Date of birth

1987-01-07

Birthplace

San Giovanni Bianco, Italy

Height

1.85

Weight

78.46

Signing / transfer fee

3,50 Mill. €

Davide Astori (Italian pronunciation: ; 7 January 1987 – 4 March 2018) was an Italian professional footballer who played as a central defender.

After playing youth football for Pontisola and AC Milan, Astori started his senior career at Serie C clubs Pizzighettone and Cremonese, playing one season for each while on loan from Milan. In 2008, Cagliari signed him in a co-ownership deal, before signing him fully from Milan, for whom he never made a first team appearance, in 2011. He later spent loan spells at Roma and Fiorentina, before signing with the latter club permanently in 2016; he was subsequently named the team's captain in 2017.

Astori made his international debut for Italy in 2011 and represented his country on 14 occasions, scoring one goal, which came in the 2013 FIFA Confederations Cup third place play off, where he won a bronze medal.

On 4 March 2018, Astori was found dead in his hotel room prior to a league match. His autopsy revealed cardiac arrest as his cause of death.

Style of play
Astori was a tall, consistent, tenacious, attentive, and physically strong left-footed central defender, with good aerial ability and heading accuracy, which made him a goal threat on offensive set pieces; although he was not the quickest defender, he also possessed good leadership qualities, positional sense, organisational skills, distribution, and technique, which enabled him to play the ball out or start attacking plays from the back. A versatile defender, he was comfortable playing as left-sided centre-back in both a three-man or a four-man defensive line.

Personal life
Astori spoke about his fondness of Bergamo, saying: "Let's say it's always nice, I leave my childhood, my family. It is a place that I will cherish in my life." He also spoke about his interests outside of football, saying: "More design because it is less difficult to understand (jokes, ed). Interior design, my brother is an architect. I started to bring some design magazines to training camp with me, my passion started."

Astori and his partner Francesca Fioretti had a daughter, Vittoria, who was two years old at the time of his death. Their daughter was born in Florence.

Death and legacy

A memorial wall dedicated to Davide Astori, Stadio Artemio Franchi, Florence. "Ciao Capitano" became a farewell to Astori.
On 4 March 2018, Astori died in his sleep while staying in a hotel in Udine prior to Fiorentina's match against Udinese, proven to be caused by cardiac arrest