The spearhead of the Italian attack, Gabriele Gori, opens up about his personal and professional journey
Gabriele Gori was born on 10 October 1987 in Viareggio (Toscana, Italy). Being raised in Viareggio with a ball at your feet means that you have most likely played beach soccer and taken part in one of the biggest beach soccer festivals in the world, the Matteo Valenti memorial, at least once in your life. What many didn’t expect, though, was that he would become “il re delle rovesciate” (the king of bicycle-kicks).
Since beginning his beach soccer career, Gori has scored 617 goals, 224 of which came for the Italian national team – and that number is rising rapidly.
On the personal side, Gori is a proud dad of 1-year old Cristian, passionate Juventus supporter, who had worked as a quantity surveyor in the family business until last year, when he decided to open his own real estate business in his hometown of Viareggio.
Although he is one of the top scorers of all time and keeps breaking records (including scoring 26 in only eight matches at the Euro Winners Cup 2019), his beach soccer career only started nine years ago when, in 2010, he was invited by Stefano Santini to play in the Matteo Valenti memorial.
“Santini was the first one to believe in me, in my abilities and my potential”. Gori enrolled in a team composed of his childhood friends Andrea Carpita, Dario Ramacciotti, Simone Marinai, Matteo Marrucci and Michele di Palma. A group that has ended up being a significant part of the Nazionale Italiana of the last 10 years.
At that time, he was playing football professionally having reached Serie C in Italy three times with Pisa (2006 and 2007) and Lucchese (2008). It’s easy to see why his father had high expectations in his football career…
“My dad has always been by my side in every aspect of life. He never missed a single match not on the grass nor on the sand, so at the beginning of my journey in beach soccer he was disappointed and upset that I was spending more and more time on the beach every time and thought I was making the wrong decision”.
However, that same summer the call from the FIGC arrived and his dad’s doubts quickly vanished. It was Massimiliano Esposito, coach of the Italian National Team at the time.
“Massimiliano had seen me playing the Italian Championship with Viareggio,” explains Gori. “He called me to be part of the team in the EBSL Superfinal 2010 that took place in Lisbon.”
The Italian number ten has hardly missed out on a cap since then. Not even the knee surgery he underwent in 2011 denied him his debut in the FIFA Beach Soccer World Cup in Ravenna in 2011, when he met his beach soccer idol, Ramiro Amarelle, for the first time.
“When I started playing beach soccer in 2010 everyone was speaking about Amarelle. He was playing the Italian championship that season so I watched every single one of his matches. I completely fell in love with his play and his bicycle-kicks. Then one day, when I had already had the surgery, we crossed at an event and he stopped by to ask me about my knee. I was so excited, I literally couldn’t speak. I am sad I have not had the chance to play alongside him, but I still hope we can meet someday in a team as coach and player”.
The Italian is the artist behind some of the most wonderful goals of the last decade but if he had to choose one…? “I would definitely choose the goal I scored in Jesolo in 2014 against Belarus that qualified us to the FIFA Beach Soccer World Cup Portugal 2015”.
When asked about his most relevant achievements, there is no hesitation. “Nothing can beat the feeling in 2016 when we won it all with Viareggio, the club of our hearts and our city: the Euro Winners Cup, the Coppa Italia and the Scudetto”.
As for his time with the Azzurri, Gori was crowned European champion in his home country last September (2018) and “winning the European title for the first time, at home, in front of our friends and family and the amazing fans of Sardinia… what else could we ask for?”
Individual Awards
adidas Golden Scorer in the FIFA Beach Soccer World Cup Bahamas 2017
Top Scorer on 6 occasions with the Italian National Team, 3 in the Euro Winners Cup, 4 in the Italian National Championship and 5 in the Coppa Italia.
Nominated to Best Player of the year in 2016
Team Awards
Euro Beach Soccer League 2018 Champion
Bronze Medal in Baku 2015
Gold in the Mediterranean Games Pescara 2015
Euro Winners Cup 2016 Champion
4th Place in the FIFA Beach Soccer World Cup 2015 and 2017
