Why Did Francesco Totti Son Totti Jr Retire?

Francesco Totti is widely recognized as one of the greatest Italian footballers of all time after having enjoyed a legendary career at AS Roma. He spent over two decades with Roma and made over 600 appearances, gaining an iconic status among fans of the Serie A heavyweights. However, it seems like Totti's genes haven't exactly been passed down to his children, as his eldest son, Cristian Totti, tried to follow in his father's footsteps in football but has come up short in his journey.

Why Did Francesco Totti Son Cristian Totti Retire?

Cristian Totti came up through the AS Roma youth academy as he attempted to ensure that the Totti household name would continue to be represented strongly in Italian football. Cristian Totti spent the 2024/25 season at Serie D (Italian fourth division) club Olbia Calcio, but he struggled to perform at the highest level for the club. Totti only made six appearances for Olbia in the 2024/25 season, which included just one start across all competitions.

Cristian Totti has now confirmed that he has retired from professional football at the age of 19. This is mostly because of the fierce criticism he received from fans, especially those on social media, with supporters criticizing his physical appearance and accusing him of being overweight. After experiencing an underwhelming campaign with Olbia, Totti was also released by the Italian fourth division club and has decided to retire from football after failing to receive any offers from different clubs.

However, Francesco Totti's son is not planning on leaving football altogether after his setback. He is poised to start working in the Totti Soccer School, which was opened by Francesco Totti and currently operates in Rome (Italy). Cristian Totti is going to work alongside the school's general manager, Claudio D'Ulisse. He is expected to work in a role where Cristian will be tasked to scout young footballers for the Soccer School, as well as acting in a mentor role to help them make important decisions in their youth career, as well as deal with the various obstacles that a youth footballer looking to come through the Italian football system has to face.

Cristian Totti's Football Career

Cristian Totti is the firstborn son of Francesco Totti and Ilary Blasi, and was born on 6 November 2005. Cristian had quite a lot of responsibilities on him to uphold the Totti household name in Italian football, which is why he enrolled in AS Roma's youth academy at a very young age in his life. Cristian Totti played for AS Roma's under-17 team as well as their under-18 team across his youth career, making eight appearances for Roma's under-17 team and managing two goal contributions (one goal, one assist).

Cristian Totti, who played as a midfielder in his career, moved to Frosinone's youth academy in 2023 and also played for the Frosinone under-19 team. He made four appearances for the Frosinone Primavera side, scoring one goal. Cristian also moved to Rayo Vallecano's youth academy in early 2024, but had an inefficient stint with them and failed to play for their youth teams. He returned to Italy later in July (2024) to join Avezzano for one month before joining Olbia Calcio. Totti Jr made his professional football debut with Olbia, but he struggled under the intensity and pace of the game and just couldn't survive at the senior level. Cristian has now opted to retire from football rather than try his hand at improving himself as a footballer. He struggled under the weight of expectations on him, especially considering how Francesco Totti enjoyed an amazing career, winning the Serie A title with Roma, the FIFA World Cup 2006 with Italy, and scoring 307 goals in 785 appearances for his club.