Francesco Baiano was an Italian football

Football in Italy

Football is the most popular sport in Italy. The Italian national football team has won the FIFA World Cup 4 times , trailing only Brazil . Italy's club sides have won 27 major European trophies, making them the most successful European nation in the subject of football...

 and currently a coach. He is a well-known striker famous for his shooting technique.

During his career, Baiano played for several clubs including Foggia

U.S. Foggia

Unione Sportiva Foggia is an Italian football club, based in Foggia, Puglia. The club was founded in 1920. Foggia currently plays in Lega Pro Prima Divisione, having last been in Serie A in 1995....

, which made him famous at the Serie A level, Fiorentina

ACF Fiorentina

ACF Fiorentina, commonly referred to as simply Fiorentina, is a professional Italian football club from Florence, Tuscany. Founded by a merger in 1926, Fiorentina have played at the top level of Italian football for the majority of their existence; only four clubs have played in more Serie A...

, being part of the so-called Ba-Ba strikers duo together with Gabriel Batistuta

Gabriel Batistuta

Gabriel Omar Batistuta , nicknamed Batigol, is a former professional footballer. The prolific Argentine striker played most of his club football at Fiorentina in Italy, and he is the tenth top scorer of all-time in the Italian Serie A league, with 184 goals in 318 matches...

 (he scored 29 goals in 118 games for Fiorentina), and Derby County

Derby County F.C.

Derby County Football Club is an English football based in Derby. the club play in the Football League Championship and is notable as being one of the twelve founder members of the Football League in 1888 and is, therefore, one of only ten clubs to have competed in every season of the English...

. He joined Derby in 1997 along with Stefano Eranio

Stefano Eranio

Stefano Eranio is an Italian former football player, most remembered for his time with AC Milan and Genoa. Eranio played as a winger and represented Italy 20 times between 1990 and 1997. He was voted one of Derby County's 11 greatest ever footballers.-Clubs:Stefano Eranio started his professional...

 and together were among the first group of Italian footballers to play in the Premier League. He hit 16 goals in 64 games in a resurgent Derby team and was named as one of their best ever imports by the fans.

Baiano went on to play for Sangiovannese

A.C. Sangiovannese 1927

Associazione Sportiva Dilettantistica SanGiovanniValdarno is an Italian association football, based in San Giovanni Valdarno, Tuscany.It currently plays in Eccellenza Tuscany....

 of Serie C1

Serie C

The Lega Italiana Calcio Professionistico , commonly known as Lega Pro , is the governing body that runs the third and fourth highest football divisions in Italy, the Prima Divisione and Seconda Divisione respectively. It also includes the sole professional club of San Marino...

, a team he joined in 2002 to leave only in 2008 after a string of successful seasons with the small Tuscan side. He then served a single season as player/manager of Serie D

Serie D

Serie D is the top level of the Italian non-professional football association called Lega Nazionale Dilettanti. The association represents over a million football players and thousands of football teams across Italy. Serie D ranks just below Lega Pro Seconda Divisione , and is thus considered the...

 club Sansovino

A.C. Sansovino

Associazione Calcio Sansovino is an Italian association football club, based in Monte San Savino, Tuscany. Sansovino currently plays in Serie D...

with little success.

He won two international caps, both in late 1991, scoring no goals.