10 Facts About Francesco Flachi

Francesco Flachi was born on 8 April 1975 and is an Italian former professional footballer, currently playing for Promozione amateurs Praese.

Francesco Flachi would appear rarely for the Viola in the top flight facing stiff competition from the likes of Gabriel Batistuta and Luis Oliveira - only three league games in each of his three last seasons.

Francesco Flachi scored career-bests 17 and 16 goals in his second and third seasons, under manager Luigi Cagni who had succeeded Giampiero Ventura.

Francesco Flachi became known by the Genovese club fans as "Salvatore della patria", and welcomed his first daughter, Valentina.

On 21 September 2006, Francesco Flachi was suspended for two months by the Italian Football Federation as investigations concluded he and teammate Moris Carrozzieri were gathering information for gamblers in Italian football.

Francesco Flachi played 14 games, mostly as a substitute, until he was suspended again in January 2010 following a positive for cocaine in a test held on 19 December of the previous year; in June, he was handed a 12-year ban, effectively ending his career as a player.

In 2021, Francesco Flachi announced he had been training with the Italy fifth-tier team Signa 1914, and was planning to make a comeback as a player when his ban expired in January of 2022.

Francesco Flachi successively moved back to Genoa and signed for Promozione amateurs Praese during the summer of 2022, with whom he finally scored his first league goal since his comeback in October at the age of 47.

Francesco Flachi represented Italy national U18 team at the 1992 UEFA European Football Championship.

Francesco Flachi was called up once by the main squad, for a friendly with Iceland in August 2004, but would never make his debut.