Andrea Mazzantini (born 11 July 1968) is an Italian former professional

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kicking a ball to score a goal. Unqualified, the word ''football'' normally means the form of football that is the most popular where the word is used. Sports commonly c ...

player who played as a goalkeeper.

Career

Mazzantini started his career with amateur club Canaletto under Adriano Buffon, the father of Italian goalkeeper Gianluigi Buffon.ai dilettanti alla A, Mazzantini: "Ho giocato 'senza' una spalla e con lo sterno rotto"
gianlucadimarzio.com After playing six seasons between

Serie C2 Lega Pro Seconda Divisione was the fourth highest football league in Italy, the lowest with a professional status. Usually it consisted of 36 teams, but in the 2011–12 season, there were 41 teams divided geographically into two divisions of 2 ...

and

Serie C1 Lega Pro Prima Divisione was the third highest football (soccer), football league in Italy. It consisted of 33 teams, divided geographically into two divisions of 16 and 17 teams for group A and B respectively. Until 2008 it was known as Serie C1 ...

, Mazzantini was appointed as a first choice goalkeeper by Venezia chairman,

Maurizio Zamparini Maurizio Zamparini (9 June 1941 – 1 February 2022) was an Italian businessman. He was the owner and director of football club U.S. Città di Palermo between July 2002 – February 2017 and from July 2017 – December 2018. Biography Zampari ...

. After three seasons spent in Serie B, Mazzantini moved to Inter Milan where he used to be the backup choice of Italy international

Gianluca Pagliuca Gianluca Pagliuca (; born 18 December 1966) is an Italian football coach and former professional goalkeeper. He is regarded by pundits as one of the greatest goalkeepers of his generation, and one of Italy's best keepers ever. Throughout his c ...

. He played his first Serie A game in 1996-97, when replaced Pagliuca against Reggiana in the second half. Likewise, he played his second and last game with Inter in the final match of season 1997-98 against

Empoli Empoli () is a town and ''comune'' in the Metropolitan City of Florence, Tuscany, Italy, about southwest of Florence, to the south of the Arno in a plain formed by the river. The plain has been usable for agriculture since Roman times. The comm ...

. In January 1999 he moved to Perugia where he played three seasons and half under

Serse Cosmi Serse Cosmi (born 5 May 1958) is an Italian football coach, most recently in charge of Rijeka. Career Early career Cosmi was born in 1958 in Ponte San Giovanni, a Perugia ''frazione''. His father, a cycling fan, called him Serse after Faust ...

, prior to move to Siena at the beginning of season 2002-2003. However, he did not manage to make an appearance with them as he suffered a car accident and was forced to an early retirement.

Honours

Inter * UEFA Cup: 1997–98

References

1968 births Living people Italian men's footballers Men's association football goalkeepers Serie A players Serie B players Aurora Pro Patria 1919 players US Livorno 1915 players Spezia Calcio players Venezia FC players Inter Milan players AC Perugia Calcio players ACR Siena 1904 players UEFA Cup winning players Footballers from La Spezia {{Italy-footy-goalkeeper-stub