Giuliano Taccola

Giuliano Taccola

Personal information
Date of birth	(1944-06-28)June 28, 1944
Place of birth	Uliveto Terme, Italy
Date of death
Place of death	Cagliari, Italy
Height
Position(s)	Striker
Senior career*
Years	Team	Apps	(Gls)
1961–1962	Genoa	0	(0)
1962–1963	Alessandria	22	(2)
1963–1964	Varese	2	(0)
1964–1965	Entella	27	(7)
1965–1966	Savona	32	(13)
1966–1967	Genoa	32	(4)
1967–1969	Roma	41	(18)
*Club domestic league appearances and goals

Giuliano Taccola (born June 28, 1944 in Uliveto Terme; died March 16, 1969 in Cagliari) was an Italian professional football player.

He played for 2 seasons (41 games, 18 goals) in the Serie A for A.S. Roma.

During his second Serie A season in 1968/69, his level of performance dropped due to fever and high heart rate, but the manager Helenio Herrera decided to continue to play him. On March 2, 1969 he injured his ankle in a game against U.C. Sampdoria, and two weeks later, after a game against Cagliari Calcio, to which he accompanied the team, he suffered a seizure in the locker room. He died in an ambulance on the way to the hospital, with official cause of death being heart failure due to pneumonia.

According to a 2004 interview by Ferruccio Mazzola in L'espresso, Taccola was a victim of performance-enhancing drugs, the use of which allegedly was widespread under Helenio Herrera.