Adam Masina (; born 2 January 1994) is a Moroccan professional

footballer A football player or footballer is a sportsperson who plays one of the different types of football. The main types of football are association football, American football, Canadian football, Australian rules football, Gaelic football, rugby le ...

who plays as a

left-back In the sport of association football, a defender is an outfield position whose primary role is to stop attacks during the game and prevent the opposition from scoring. Centre-backs are usually positioned in pairs, with one full-back on either s ...

for Italian club

Udinese Udinese Calcio, commonly referred to as Udinese, is a professional Italian football club based in Udine, Friuli-Venezia Giulia, that currently plays in Serie A. It was founded on 30 November 1896 as a sports club, and on 5 July 1911 as a fo ...

and the Morocco national team. Coming through

Bologna Bologna (, , ; egl, label= Emilian, Bulåggna ; lat, Bononia) is the capital and largest city of the Emilia-Romagna region in Northern Italy. It is the seventh most populous city in Italy with about 400,000 inhabitants and 150 different nat ...

youth academy In sporting terminology, a youth system (or youth academy) is a youth investment program within a particular team or league, which develops and nurtures young talent in farm teams, with the vision of using them in the first team in the future if t ...

, Masina made his senior appearance with the club in 2012, and transferred to Watford in 2018. He was also loaned to Giacomense twice. Masina was born in Morocco, and moved to Italy at a young age. He initially represented Italy internationally at under-21 level, before opting to play for the Morocco national team since 2021.

Club career

Masina was born in

Khouribga Khouribga ( ber, ⵅⵯⵔⵉⴱⴳⴰ, xʷribga; ar, خريبڭة, ḵurībga, ) is the capital of Khouribga Province in the Béni Mellal-Khénifra Regions of Morocco, region, Morocco. With a population of 196,196 (2014 census), Khouribga owes i ...

, Morocco, but lost his mother as just an infant. He successively moved to Italy together with his brother and father, settling down in

Emilia-Romagna egl, Emigliàn (man) egl, Emiglièna (woman) rgn, Rumagnòl (man) rgn, Rumagnòla (woman) it, Emiliano (man) it, Emiliana (woman) or it, Romagnolo (man) it, Romagnola (woman) , population_note = , population_blank1_title ...

, and was later assigned to a number of foster families due to his father's problems with alcoholism. He was eventually adopted by one of them, from which he took his last name. At the age of 11, he was scouted and signed by

. After a successful loan in Giacomense, he returned to Bologna in 2013 and made his senior debut for the ''Rossoblu'' in a 2–1 away win over

Latina Latina or Latinas most often refers to: * Latinas, a demographic group in the United States * Latino (demonym), a term used in the United States for people with cultural ties to Latin America. *Latin Americans Latina and Latinas may also refer ...

on 12 October 2014. He helped the club obtain

Serie A The Serie A (), also called Serie A TIM for national sponsorship with TIM, is a professional league competition for football clubs located at the top of the Italian football league system and the winner is awarded the Scudetto and the Coppa ...

promotion, later making his debut in the top division, and scoring his first goal in Serie A in an injury time victory at

Carpi Carpi may refer to: Places * Carpi, Emilia-Romagna, a large town in the province of Modena, central Italy * Carpi (Africa), a city and former diocese of Roman Africa, now a Latin Catholic titular bishopric People * Carpi (people), an ancie ...

. On 2 July 2018, Masina signed for English side

Watford Watford () is a town and borough in Hertfordshire, England, 15 miles northwest of Central London, on the River Colne. Initially a small market town, the Grand Junction Canal encouraged the construction of paper-making mills, print works, a ...

on a five-year contract for an undisclosed fee. On 18 July 2022, Masina signed a three-year contract with Italian club

International career

In November 2015

Luigi Di Biagio Luigi Di Biagio (; born 3 June 1971) is an Italian professional football manager and former player. A former defensive midfielder, Di Biagio last played for Ascoli Calcio 1898 in 2007, and previously also played for several other Italian clubs ...

called Masina to represent Italy U21 team after obtaining FIFA transfer. He made his debut with the Italy U21 side on 17 November 2015, in a Euro 2017 qualification match against

Lithuania Lithuania (; lt, Lietuva ), officially the Republic of Lithuania ( lt, Lietuvos Respublika, links=no ), is a country in the Baltic region of Europe. It is one of three Baltic states and lies on the eastern shore of the Baltic Sea. Lithuania ...

. In March 2021, Masina was called up to represent

Morocco Morocco (),, ) officially the Kingdom of Morocco, is the westernmost country in the Maghreb region of North Africa. It overlooks the Mediterranean Sea to the north and the Atlantic Ocean to the west, and has land borders with Algeria to ...

in African Cup of Nations qualifier matches against

Mauritania Mauritania (; ar, موريتانيا, ', french: Mauritanie; Berber: ''Agawej'' or ''Cengit''; Pulaar: ''Moritani''; Wolof: ''Gànnaar''; Soninke:), officially the Islamic Republic of Mauritania ( ar, الجمهورية الإسلامية ...

and

Burundi Burundi (, ), officially the Republic of Burundi ( rn, Repuburika y’Uburundi ; Swahili language, Swahili: ''Jamuhuri ya Burundi''; French language, French: ''République du Burundi'' ), is a landlocked country in the Great Rift Valley at the ...

. He made his debut on 26 March 2021 against Mauritania.

Style of play

Masina is known in particular for his technique, physicality and energy as a

Career statistics

Honours

Watford *

FA Cup The Football Association Challenge Cup, more commonly known as the FA Cup, is an annual knockout football competition in men's domestic English football. First played during the 1871–72 season, it is the oldest national football competi ...

runner-up: 2018–19 Individual *

Serie B Footballer of the Year The AIC Serie B Young Footballer of the Year ( it, Migliore giovane della Serie B ''AIC'') is a yearly award organized by the Italian Footballers' Association (AIC) given to the young footballer who has been considered to have performed the best ov ...

: 2015 *

PFA Team of the Year The Professional Footballers' Association Team of the Year (often called the PFA Team of the Year, or simply the Team of the Year) is an annual award given to a set of 55 footballers across the top four tiers of men's English football; the Premie ...

: 2021

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Masina, Adam Living people 1994 births People from Khouribga Moroccan footballers Italian footballers Association football fullbacks Italy under-21 international footballers Morocco international footballers Italian sportspeople of African descent Moroccan emigrants to Italy Serie A players Serie B players Premier League players English Football League players A.C. Giacomense players Bologna F.C. 1909 players Watford F.C. players Udinese Calcio players Moroccan expatriate footballers Italian expatriate footballers Expatriate footballers in England Moroccan expatriate sportspeople in England Italian expatriate sportspeople in England 2021 Africa Cup of Nations players Adoptees