Franco Cucinotta

Born in Novara di Sicilia, Franco Cucinotta grew up in Montreux, Switzerland, the city to which his family had emigrated for work in 1960. He also later began his professional footballing career in Switzerland, and despite being Italian, is one of the few Italian footballers to have never once played in Italy, spending his entire career in the Swiss League. While playing for Swiss club FC Zürich (1976–78), Cucinotta was the top scorer of the 1977 European Cup alongside Gerd Müller, scoring a total of five goals in the competition, in which he helped Zürich to reach the semi-finals. He also finished the 1976–77 season as top scorer in the Nationalliga A, with 21 goals, scoring a total of 28 goals in all competitions, which earned him nominations for the Swiss Footballer of the Year and the Swiss Foreign Footballer of the Year Awards. Cucinotta also played in Switzerland for Lausanne-Sport (1970–74), FC Sion (1974–76; 1981–83), winning the Swiss Cup in 1982, Chiasso (1978–79), and Servette (1979–1981), winning the Swiss League Cup in 1980, and retiring in 1985.

Despite spending his entire club career in Switzerland, Cucinotta retained his Italian citizenship in order to keep his eligibility for the Italian national team.

Cucinotta was a very fast centre-forward, with a keen eye for goal, who was also capable of playing as a winger. Due to his abilities, he was compared to fellow Sicilian footballer Pietro Anastasi.

Servette

Swiss League Cup: 1979–80 Sion

Swiss Cup: 1981–82 Individual

Swiss-League top scorer: 1976–77 (21 goals) European Cup top-scorer: 1976–77 (5 goals)