Delio Onnis

Delio Onnis (born 24 March 1948) is a former professional football player who played as striker. Born in Italy, his family emigrated to Argentina in his youth and he was nicknamed "El Tano" (the Italian) in Argentina.^[1][2][3]

Delio Onnis

Onnis in 1978
Personal information
Date of birth	(1948-03-24) 24 March 1948 (age 76)
Place of birth	Giuliano di Roma, Italy
Height	1.80 m (5 ft 11 in)
Position(s)	Striker
Youth career
1963–1967	Almagro
Senior career*
Years	Team	Apps	(Gls)
1966–1968	Almagro	18	(11)
1968–1971	Gimnasia	95	(53)
1971–1973	Reims	65	(39)
1973–1980	Monaco	232	(187)
1980–1983	Tours	110	(64)
1983–1986	Toulon	74	(39)
Total		594	(393)
Managerial career
1990–1991	Toulon
1992–1995	Paris
*Club domestic league appearances and goals

With 299 goals, he is the all-time top highest goalscorer in the history of Ligue 1 in France, and was the league's top scorer on five occasions. He played the majority of his career for Reims, Monaco, Tours and Toulon. With Monaco, he won one league title and one Coupe de France.^[1][2][4]

Career

Onnis was born in Giuliano di Roma in Italy, but moved to Argentina before he was 3 and subsequently gained Argentinian citizenship.^[3] Beginning his football career as a youth player for Almagro, he made a successful transition to the senior team and subsequently earned a move to Gimnasia La Plata where he played alongside players like Roberto Zywica. He was the star striker for the team that finished third in 1970 which brought him to the attention of scouts from Europe.^[1][2]

In 1971, he joined Reims at the same time as his compatriot Zywica, finishing his first season with 22 goals and his second season with 17.^[4] In 1974, the newly promoted Monaco signed him and over the next seven seasons he was their top scorer every year, eventually scoring 223 goals, with 157 in the league.^[4][3] In 1976, the club were relegated, but Onnis stayed with them and helped them regain their top flight status for the 1977-78 season that saw them finish as league champions, and the following season win the Coupe de France.^[1][2][3]

In 1980, despite playing in one of the best teams in Division 1, he signed for newly promoted and inexperienced team Tours, where he was twice again Division 1 leading goalscorer. In 1983 Tours were relegated, and as a result he joined Toulon, where he finished his career in 1986.^[1][2][4]

International career

Onnis was never called up for Argentina which had a policy of favouring players who remained in the domestic league, and throughout the 70s and 80s he, like Carlos Bianchi, was behind compatriots such as Mario Kempes and Leopoldo Luque in the Argentinian pecking order.

Scoring titles

Carlos Bianchi had been signed as his replacement at Reims in 1973–74. Bianchi went on to win five scoring titles over the next six seasons, including four back-to-back between 1975 and 1979, Onnis breaking Bianchi's run in 1974–75. Following Bianchi's return to Argentina in 1980, Onnis went on to win four back-to-back scoring titles of his own, leaving them with five apiece and meaning that in eleven seasons between 1973–74 and 1983–84 they won five scoring titles each with only Vahid Halilhodžić's win in 1982 for Nantes breaking their dominance.^{[lower-alpha 1]}

Career statistics

Club

Appearances and goals by club, season and competition

Club	Season	League			Cup		Continental		Total
		Division	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals
Reims	1971–72	Division 1	32	22	8	4	—		40	26
	1972–73		33	17	3	2	—		36	19
	Total		65	39	11	6	—		76	45
Monaco	1973–74	Division 1	31	26	9	10	—		40	36
	1974–75		37	30	1	0	2	1	40	31
	1975–76		33	29	1	0	—		34	29
	1976–77	Division 2	32	30	6	4	—		38	34
	1977–78	Division 1	35	29	9	8	—		44	37
	1978–79		34	22	5	3	3	1	42	26
	1979–80		30	21	7	5	4	4	41	30
	Total		232	187	38	30	9	6	279	223
Tours	1980–81	Division 1	38	24	5	3	—		43	27
	1981–82		38	29	7	5	—		45	34
	1982–83		34	11	7	1	—		41	12
	Total		110	64	19	9	—		129	73
Toulon	1983–84	Division 1	36	21	5	1	—		41	22
	1984–85		30	17	1	0	—		31	17
	1985–86		8	1	1	0	—		9	1
	Total		74	39	7	1	—		81	40
Career total			481	329	75	46	9	6	565	381

Honours

Monaco

• Division 1: 1977–78
• Division 2: 1976–77
• Coupe de France: 1979–80

Individual

• French Division 1 top scorer: 1974–75, 1979–80, 1980–81, 1981–82, 1983–84
• French Division 2 top scorer: 1976–77

Records

• Ligue 1 all-time highest goalscorer: 299 goals

References

1. "FRENCH FOOTBALL'S GREATEST EVER STRIKER: DELIO ONNIS". frenchfootballweekly.com. 18 October 2013. Retrieved 19 January 2020.
2. Rincon, Jaime (8 December 2009). "Delio Onnis, the DNA of the goal". Marca.com. Retrieved 19 January 2020.
3. "Happy birthday Delio Onnis". asmonaco.com. 24 March 2019. Retrieved 19 January 2020.
4. "Delio Onnis". lequipe.fr. Retrieved 19 January 2020.

• Barreaud, Marc (1998). Dictionnaire des footballeurs étrangers du championnat professionnel français (1932–1997). L'Harmattan, Paris. ISBN 2-7384-6608-7.
• Futbol Factory profile at the Wayback Machine (archived 20 October 2007) (in Spanish)
• Delio Onnis at BDFA (in Spanish)
• Monaco profile (in French)

Notes

1. Twice the title was shared. In the first instance with Erwin Kostedde in 1979–80, and then with Patrice Garande in 1983–84