Angelo Palombo (; born 25 September 1981) is an Italian former 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 ...

who played as a

midfielder A midfielder is an outfield position in association football. Midfielders may play an exclusively defensive role, breaking up attacks, and are in that case known as defensive midfielders. As central midfielders often go across boundarie ...

. Throughout his club career, he played for

Fiorentina ACF Fiorentina, commonly referred to as Fiorentina (), is an Italian professional football club based in Florence, Tuscany, Italy. The original team was founded by a merger in August 1926, while the actual club was refounded in August 2002 fol ...

Sampdoria Unione Calcio Sampdoria, commonly referred to as Sampdoria (), is an Italian professional football club based in Genoa. The club was formed in 1946 from the merger of two existing sports clubs whose roots can be traced back to the 1890s, ...

, and

Inter Milan Football Club Internazionale Milano, commonly referred to as Internazionale () or simply Inter, and colloquially known as Inter Milan in English-speaking countries, is an Italian professional football club based in Milan, Lombardy. Inter is ...

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 Cop ...

. The vast majority of that time was spent at Sampdoria where he was

club captain The team captain of an association football team, sometimes known as the skipper, is a team member chosen to be the on-pitch leader of the team; they are often one of the older or more experienced members of the squad, or a player that can heavi ...

and played a total of nearly 15 years. Palombo won 22

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for

Italy Italy ( it, Italia ), officially the Italian Republic, ) or the Republic of Italy, is a country in Southern Europe. It is located in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea, and its territory largely coincides with the homonymous geographical ...

at full international level between 2006 and 2011, and represented his nation at the 2009 FIFA Confederations Cup and the

2010 FIFA World Cup , image = 2010 FIFA World Cup.svg , size = 200px , caption = ''Ke Nako. (Tswana and Sotho for "It's time") Celebrate Africa's Humanity'It's time. Celebrate Africa's Humanity'' (English)''Dis tyd. Vier Afrika se mensd ...

, also winning a bronze medal at the 2004 Summer Olympics.

Club career

Early career

Born in

Ferentino Ferentino is a town and ''comune'' in Italy, in the province of Frosinone, Lazio, southeast of Rome. It is situated on a hill above sea level, in the Monti Ernici area. History ''Ferentinum'' was a town of the Hernici; it was captured from the ...

, Angelo Palombo began playing football for local side AS Ferentino. He spent the 1997–98 season with

Serie D The Serie D () is the top level of semi-professional football in the country. The fourth tier of the Italian league system, the competition sits beneath the third professional league, Serie C. It is administered by the Lega Nazionale Dilettant ...

club Urbania Calcio. At age 17, he moved to

Serie C The Serie C () is the third-highest division in the Italian football league system after the Serie B and Serie A. The Lega Italiana Calcio Professionistico (Lega Pro) is the governing body that runs the Serie C. The unification of the Lega Pro ...

team

Fano Fano is a town and ''comune'' of the province of Pesaro and Urbino in the Marche region of Italy. It is a beach resort southeast of Pesaro, located where the '' Via Flaminia'' reaches the Adriatic Sea. It is the third city in the region by po ...

before being signed by

side

in 1999 where he spent two years playing for the Primavera team of the club. He made his professional debut in a

Coppa Italia The ("Italy Cup") is an annual knockout cup competition in Italian football organized by the FIGC until the 2009–10 season and the Lega Serie A ever since. History The beginning of the tournament was turbulent, due to the complexity of ...

match against

Como Como (, ; lmo, Còmm, label= Comasco , or ; lat, Novum Comum; rm, Com; french: Côme) is a city and ''comune'' in Lombardy, Italy. It is the administrative capital of the Province of Como. Its proximity to Lake Como and to the Alps h ...

and first featured in the Serie A on 10 February 2002 in a 2–0 away defeat against

Venezia Venice ( ; it, Venezia ; vec, Venesia or ) is a city in northeastern Italy and the capital of the Veneto region. It is built on a group of 118 small islands that are separated by canals and linked by over 400 bridges. The islan ...

Sampdoria and Inter loan

Palombo moved to

, then in Serie B, on a free transfer in the 2002 summer transfer window when Fiorentina declared bankruptcy and were forced to put their players on sale. After helping the Ligurian club gain promotion that season, he established himself as an integral part of the side. During the 2005–06 season, he scored his first Serie A goal for Sampdoria on 18 January 2006 against his boyhood club Fiorentina and made his European debut in the

UEFA Cup A cup is an open-top used to hold hot or cold liquids for pouring or drinking; while mainly used for drinking, it also can be used to store solids for pouring (e.g., sugar, flour, grains, salt). Cups may be made of glass, metal, china, clay ...

in September. Palombo had many very good seasons at the club, leading to him being a regular in the Italy national team. When Sampdoria were again relegated at the end of the 2010–11 season, his future at the club was put into doubt, with many Serie A sides interested but mainly his former club Fiorentina. Palombo, by then the club's captain, said, however, that he had no intention to move unless the club wished to sell him and remained at the club, commenting: "I'll end my career with Sampdoria. I'm proud to have received some important offers and I thank the clubs who have come forward. However, I haven't thought about leaving here, not even for a moment. I think I have already demonstrated how tied I am to this shirt." He spent the first half of the 2011–12 season in Serie B with Sampdoria, but on 31 January 2012, he was signed by

Inter Inter may refer to: Association football clubs * Inter Milan, an Italian club * SC Internacional, a Brazilian club * Inter Miami CF, an American club * FC Inter Sibiu, a Romanian club * FC Inter Turku, a Finnish club * FK Inter Bratislava, a form ...

on loan with an option to buy, as a replacement for

Thiago Motta Thiago Motta (; ; born 28 August 1982) is a professional football manager and former player. He is currently the head coach of club Bologna. A midfielder, Motta spent his early career at Barcelona, where he was injury-prone. He played two and ...

. He made his club debut the following day, coming on as a substitute for Andrea Poli in a 4–4 home draw against Palermo. However, he only made three appearances for Inter in total, and returned to Sampdoria at the end of the

2011–12 Serie A The 2011–12 Serie A (known as the Serie A TIM after its headline sponsors) was the 110th season of top-tier Italian football, the 80th in a round-robin tournament, and the second since its organization under a league committee separate from S ...

season, who had secured a spot back in Serie A for the 2012–13 season. However, it seemed that he was set to leave the club in the summer of 2012, and was even linked with several other Italian sides; after no other offers, he remained with Sampdoria the following season, started to play regularly and managing to get his contract renewed twice until his retirement. He announced his retirement from professional football in July 2017, after collecting 459 appearances for Sampdoria in his 15 years spent at the club.

International career

Palombo was in the Italy U-21 team that won the 2004

European Under-21 Football Championship The UEFA European Under-21 Championship, the UEFA Under-21 Championship or simply the Euro Under-21, is a biennial football competition contested by the European men's under-21 national teams of the UEFA member associations. Since 1992, the compe ...

and achieved bronze medal of the 2004 Summer Olympics football tournament. Palombo made his Italy national team debut in the 0–2 defeat to

Croatia , image_flag = Flag of Croatia.svg , image_coat = Coat of arms of Croatia.svg , anthem = "Lijepa naša domovino"("Our Beautiful Homeland") , image_map = , map_caption = , capit ...

on 16 August 2006, coming as a substitute for Fabio Liverani in the 58th minute. He was a member of Italy's 23-man squad that took part at the 2009 FIFA Confederations Cup. After a good 2009–10 season at club level, Marcello Lippi named him in the final 23-man squad for the

. In total, he won 22 caps for Italy at senior level between 2006 and 2011.

Post-playing career

After retiring from professional football, Palombo joined the coaching team of Marco Giampaolo for the 2017–18 season with his former club Sampdoria. He received his coaching licence on 15 December 2017.

Style of play

Palombo was usually deployed as a defensive or

box-to-box midfielder A midfielder is an outfield position in association football. Midfielders may play an exclusively defensive role, breaking up attacks, and are in that case known as defensive midfielders. As central midfielders often go across boundarie ...

in the

centre Center or centre may refer to: Mathematics * Center (geometry), the middle of an object * Center (algebra), used in various contexts ** Center (group theory) ** Center (ring theory) * Graph center, the set of all vertices of minimum eccentri ...

of the pitch, where he could effectively combine his defensive and athletic attributes, as well as his ability to break down opposition plays, with his ability to start attacking plays and create chances for teammates as a

deep-lying playmaker A midfielder is an Glossary of association football terms#O, outfield position in association football. Midfielders may play an exclusively defensive role, breaking up attacks, and are in that case known as defensive midfielders. As #Cent ...

; however, his energetic, hard-working style of play and his stamina allowed him to play anywhere in

midfield Midfield is the part of a sports field that lies approximately in the center. In American football, association football (soccer) and field hockey, it is the area in and around the center circle, as well as the players who occupy that region. In ...

, and he was also deployed as a winger on occasion. In addition to his ball-winning and passing abilities, he also possessed a powerful shot from distance. Palombo was a physically strong, tenacious, influential, and determined player, with good feet, who was also known for his passion and good quality of play on the pitch; however, he was also accused by certain pundits of inconsistency at times throughout his career. In his youth, Palombo cited

Demetrio Albertini Demetrio Albertini (; born 23 August 1971) is the sporting director of Parma and a former professional Italian football midfielder and vice-president of the Italian Football Federation (FIGC). He is widely considered one of the legends of the A ...

as one of his major influences.

Career statistics

Club

International

Honours

Italy U21 *

UEFA European Under-21 Championship The UEFA European Under-21 Championship, the UEFA Under-21 Championship or simply the Euro Under-21, is a biennial football competition contested by the European men's under-21 national teams of the UEFA member associations. Since 1992, the comp ...

: 2004 * Olympic Bronze Medal: 2004 Orders :* ITA OMRI 2001 Cav BAR

5th Class / Knight: '' Cavaliere Ordine al Merito della Repubblica Italiana'': 2004

References

External links

* * * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Palombo, Angelo 1981 births Living people Footballers from the Province of Frosinone Men's association football midfielders Italian men's footballers ACF Fiorentina players UC Sampdoria players Inter Milan players Italy men's youth international footballers Italy men's under-21 international footballers Italy men's international footballers Olympic footballers for Italy Olympic bronze medalists for Italy Footballers at the 2004 Summer Olympics 2009 FIFA Confederations Cup players 2010 FIFA World Cup players Serie A players Serie B players Olympic medalists in football Medalists at the 2004 Summer Olympics Mediterranean Games silver medalists for Italy Mediterranean Games medalists in football Competitors at the 2001 Mediterranean Games Knights of the Order of Merit of the Italian Republic