Name	Antonio Cassano
Height	5' 9"
Naionality	Italian
Date of Birth	July 12, 1982
Place of Birth	Bari, Italy
Famous for

Antonio Cassano (born July 12, 1982 in Bari) is an Italian professional football player, who currently plays for Spanish club side Real Madrid and is an occasional member of the Italian national team. He is a forward.

Variously nicknamed Peter Pan, Fantantonio, El Pibe de Bari (a clear reference to Diego Maradona's nickname) and Il Gioiello di Bari Vecchia (the jewel of Old Bari), Cassano has acquired a repuation for petulance that has often attracted more media attention than his ability as a player. He has lent his name to the Italian neologism cassanata, coined by Fabio Capello in November 2002 and subsequently used by journalists to refer to any behaviour incompatible with team spirit in football.
Cassano grew up poor in the old section of Bari. As a child, he always played football in the streets of Bari and was picked up by an A.S. Bari scout and brought up through the AS Bari youth system.

Early career
Cassano made his Italian Serie A league debut for Bari in 1999, against local rivals U.S. Lecce. A week later, he scored a superb goal against Inter Milan, one of the clubs who had courted Cassano before he signed a professional contract with his hometown club.

The top clubs in Italy each kept a close eye on Cassano, and with rumours of a pre-contract agreement having been signed with A.S. Roma, he eventually signed for the then Serie A champions in the summer of 2001. The transfer fee of around €28m, is huge amount to pay for a player who was still only 19 years old - Juventus FC general director Luciano Moggi said at the time: "Cassano is a real talent, but €28m for a player of his age is excessive. It's too soon to understand exactly how much he is worth."

Cassano's first season at Roma produced only five goals. As he developed his game, he began to come to the attention of those in charge of the national side, culminating in a scoring debut for Italy in November 2003, against Poland. Cassano played for the Azzurri squad in Euro 2004, at age 22. When Italian playmaker Francesco Totti was suspended, Cassano won a place in the starting line-up and scored a goal against Sweden and a last-minute winner against Bulgaria. However, Italy was eliminated in the group stage on goal difference.