Calcio Compleanno: Luis Figo

1923: Severino Cavone (86) – Bari youth product who appeared twice up front for the Serie B club in the 1941/42 campaign, the same season that the Biancorossi won the title, regaining promotion to the top flight. Offloaded to Serie C side Lecce for a season, before rejoining Bari in 1945, where he went on to make 102 appearances, scoring 16 times.  The attacker had a dismal run in his last two years, as his side dropped to the third division.

1959: Carlo Zampa (50) – Roma voice announcer at the Stadio Olimpico, who is also a renowned commentator in the Italian capital. He is responsible for creating a number of well known nicknames over the years for an array of Roman players including Bimbo de Oro for Francesco Totti, Re Leone for Gabriel Batistuta, Peter Pan for Antonio Cassano and Top Gun for Vincezo Montella.

1967: Alberto Rivolta (42) – Was touted as a potential star of the future, having been apart of the Italian Under-20 side that went on to lift the World Cup at that level in 1987. Following that tournament though, the Inter youth product went on to make just one appearance for the Nerazzurri in his side’s clash with Torino in the 1988-89 Scudetto winning season.

1972: Luis Figo (37) – Former Portuguese superstar of the game, who joined Barcelona in 1995 from Sporting Lisbon in his home country. After winning two Primera Liga titles, two Copa del Rey crowns and a UEFA Cup Winners' Cup, he controversially made the switch to Real Madrid, which infamously resulted in a pig's head being thrown at him by the Camp Nou faithful on a return visit to Catalunya. He went on to win a further two league crowns and a UEFA Champions League title, before earning a move to Italy, where he spent the remainder of his days with Inter from 2005-2009. Fortunately, he was successful in winning the Scudetto four times in the Italian peninsula, as well as three Super Cups and a Coppa Italia title in 2006. Figo collected both the Ballon d'Or and FIFA World Player of the Year honours and managed to score 164 goals in 916 games in a distinguished career that included 32 goals in 127 appearances for Portugal, who he also led to a runner’s up place at the 2004 European Championships.

1975: Jose Ignacio Castillo (34) – Argentinean hitman, who has been plying his trade in Italy since 2001. After playing with a host of lower level clubs, including Gallipoli and Pisa, the 188cm attacker joined Lecce last term, before being sold to Fiorentina at the commencement of this season. Is yet to open his account with La Viola. However, with a record of 126 goals in 230 matches whilst playing in the peninsula, he will be confident of doing so shortly.

Adrian Del Monte, Goal.com