Geography of Lazio’s foreign players

The first foreigner to play for Lazio was Portuguese and the last one Danish. Out of a total of 991 players that have made at least one official appearance, 226 have been foreign (23%). Of these 226, 78 have been forwards, 77 midfielders, 59 defenders and 12 goalkeepers.

In this article we will have a look at the geography of these players.

Top countries

The majority of the foreign players Lazio have signed have come from Latin America or Europe.

Country	No of players
Argentina	39
Brazil	34
Spain	14
France	11
Portugal	11
Serbia	11
Uruguay	10
Netherlands	9
Denmark	8
Albania	6
Germany	6

European

121 foreign players have come from Europe: 38 forwards, 38 midfielders, 36 defenders and 9 goalkeepers. The top five European countries have been Spain with 14 (and with the exception of Iván de la Peña, all this century), France 11 (with Ousmane Dabo the earliest in 2003), Portugal 11 (including one of the club’s founders Francisco Dos Santos), Serbia 11 (first one being Vladimir Jugovic) and Netherlands 9 to whom we could add Rene van de Kerkhoff who was signed but never played.

Top five appearances Europe

Player	Country	Years	Appearances	Goals
Stefan Radu	Romania	2008-2023	427	8
Senad Lulic	Bosnia	2011-21	371	34
Sergej Milinkovic-Savic	Serbia	2015-2023	341	69
Adam Marusic	Montenegro	2017-ongoing	316	15
Luis Alberto	Spain	2016-24	307	52

South America

90 have come from Latin America: 37 forwards, 30 midfielders, 20 defenders and 3 goalkeepers. There have been 39 Argentinians, 34 Brazilians and 10 from Uruguay, these three being the main countries. Argentina and Brazil are the two top nations from where Lazio have picked up players and many date back to the 1930s and 40s when those who had Italian ancestry took the boat trip across the Atlantic in search for a better life.

Top five appearances LATAM

Player	Country	Years	Appearances	Goals
Felipe Anderson	Brazil	2013-18, 2021-24	326	58
Cristian Ledesma	Argentina	2006-15	318	14
Enrique Flamini	Argentina	1939-43, 1946-52	286	44
Giancarlo Morrone	Argentina	1960-64, 1966-71	269	53
Salvador Gualtieri	Argentina	1940-48	223	26

Africa

The rise of African football in the 1980s has meant that the choice of players from this continent has been a relatively recent thing, hence, whereas from the beginning of football foreign players used to be picked predominantly from Europe and Latin America, there have been fewer Africans who have played for Lazio, the first one being Mark Fish, a white South African. In total there have been 11, three of whom from Nigeria and 2 from Senegal.

Also to note that many French born players of African descent had a choice whether to play for France or the country of their fathers. Some have even played for both, such as Mourad Meghni.

Top three appearances Africa

Player	Country	Years	Appearances	Goals
Keita Balde	Senegal	2013-17	137	31
Eddy Onazi	Nigeria	2011-16	110	7
Bastos	Angola	2016-20	94	9

Asia

Daichi Kamada was not just the first player from Japan to play for Lazio he is also the sole Asian representative. The problem of EU status is obviously an issue here since many Latin American and African players have dual nationality, it is more difficult for Asians. It is a pity because Lazio have a considerable following in Asia.

Oceania

Three Australians have played for Lazio: Paul Okon, Mark Bresciano and Chris Oikonomidis, all midfielders. To these we could also add Anthony Seric, Aussie born but who chose Croatia.

Top appearances

Obviously, the top appearances are headed by the one who has played the most games in Lazio history overall: Stefan Radu.

Player	Country	Years	Appearances	Goals
Stefan Radu	Romania	2008-2023	427	8
Senad Lulic	Bosnia	2011-21	371	34
Sergej Milinkovic-Savic	Serbia	2015-2023	341	69
Felipe Anderson	Brazil	2013-18, 2021-24	326	58
Cristian Ledesma	Argentina	2006-15	318	14
Adam Marusic	Montenegro	2017-ongoing	316	15
Luis Alberto	Spain	2016-24	307	52
Enrique Flamini	Argentina	1939-43, 1946-52	286	44
Giancarlo Morrone	Argentina	1960-64, 1966-71	269	53
Patric	Spain	2015-ongoing	228	6

Top goal scorers

The top foreign scorers are headed by Henglebert Koenig, favoured by the high number of goals he scored in the Roman War championships between 1943 and 1945. Not taking these into account we have Sergej Milinkovic Savic as top scorer.

Player	Country	Years	Appearances	Goals
Henglebert Koenig	Austria	1942-47	103	79
Sergej Milinkovic-Savic	Serbia	2015-23	341	69
Goran Pandev	North Macedonia	2004-09	191	64
Miro Klose	Germany	2011-16	171	63
Felipe Anderson	Brazil	2013-18, 2021-24	326	58
Giancarlo Morrone	Argentina	1960-64, 1966-71	269	53
Luis Alberto	Spain	2016-24	307	52
Pavel Nedved	Czech Republic	1996-01	208	51
Marcelo Salas	Chile	1998-01	117	49
Hernan Crespo	Argentina	2000-02	73	48

Bench only

There have also been 24 players that made it to the bench but never debuted with the first team. This is a recent phenomenon and mainly only since the opening of the frontiers, after the Bosman ruling of 1995, which allowed free movement of European players. It was rare before that to sign a foreign player and never play him. The country with most players in this category has been Brazil with 4.

Managers

Of the 71 managers Lazio have had so far, 24 have been foreign. The majority were in the 1930s and 40s when they were almost all non Italian. Since the 1970s the foreign coaches have only been 7. This is why the leading nations of Lazio managers are Austria and Hungary with 5, all in the early days. There have also been 5 Argentinian managers but three of these were former players (Enrique Flamini, Salvador Gualtieri and Giancarlo Morrone) who had worked for the club as either scouts or youth managers.