Armando Izzo (; born 2 March 1992) is an Italian 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

centre-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 club

Monza Monza (, ; lmo, label=Lombard language, Lombard, Monça, locally ; lat, Modoetia) is a city and ''comune'' on the River Lambro, a tributary of the Po River, Po in the Lombardy region of Italy, about north-northeast of Milan. It is the capit ...

. He previously played for the Italy national team.

Club career

Early career

Izzo started playing football at the age of 13 with ARCI Scampia, before moving

Napoli Naples (; it, Napoli ; nap, Napule ), from grc, Νεάπολις, Neápolis, lit=new city. is the regional capital of Campania and the third-largest city of Italy, after Rome and Milan, with a population of 909,048 within the city's adminis ...

, where he also won a

Campionato Nazionale Dante Berretti Campionato Primavera 3, formerly Campionato Nazionale Dante Berretti (or simply ''Campionato Berretti''), is an Italian football competition played by youth teams (under 19) organized by the Lega Pro, and mainly composed by Serie C clubs but also ...

. In the 2011–12 season he went on loan to

Triestina Unione Sportiva Triestina Calcio 1918, commonly referred to as Triestina, is an Italian football club based in Trieste, Friuli-Venezia Giulia. Originally founded in 1918, the club has been re-established several times in its history. As of the ...

Lega Pro Prima Divisione Lega Pro Prima Divisione was the third highest 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. Before the 1978� ...

, with whom he played 13 games and scored his first professional career goal. On 31 January 2012, Izzo joined

Avellino Avellino () is a town and ''comune'', capital of the province of Avellino in the Campania region of southern Italy. It is situated in a plain surrounded by mountains east of Naples and is an important hub on the road from Salerno to Benevento. ...

in a co-ownership deal, with whom he played 6 games. The following season, Izzo made 22 appearances and scored a goal, as Avellino won the league and were promoted to

Serie B The Serie B (), currently named Serie Balkrishna Industries, BKT for sponsorship reasons, is the second-highest division in the Italian football league system after the Serie A. It has been operating for over ninety years since the 1929–30 ...

. Izzo debuted in Serie B in the 2013–14 season, ending the season with a goal in 30 appearances.

Genoa

During the summer he was sold to

Genoa Genoa ( ; it, Genova ; lij, Zêna ). is the capital of the Italian region of Liguria and the List of cities in Italy, sixth-largest city in Italy. In 2015, 594,733 people lived within the city's administrative limits. As of the 2011 Italian ce ...

, with whom he debuted in

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 ...

on 5 October 2014, in a 2–1 win away against

Parma Parma (; egl, Pärma, ) is a city in the northern Italian region of Emilia-Romagna known for its architecture, Giuseppe Verdi, music, art, prosciutto (ham), Parmigiano-Reggiano, cheese and surrounding countryside. With a population of 198,292 ...

. He scored his first goal in the top flight on 11 January 2015, at

San Siro Stadio Giuseppe Meazza, commonly known as San Siro, is a football stadium in the San Siro district of Milan, Italy, which is the home of A.C. Milan and Inter Milan. It has a seating capacity of 80,018, making it one of the largest stadiums in ...

against

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 Football in Italy, Italian professional Association football, football ...

. On 1 April 2015, he renewed his contract with Genoa until 2019. Izzo ended the season with 20 appearances and one goal. The following season makes his first league appearance of the season in a 2–0 win against Verona. He made 33 appearances for Genoa during the season. In the 2016–17 he was a starter in defence for the Ligurian team, while the following season, he made only 16 appearances due to injuries and disqualifications. He scored his only goal of the season on 25 October 2017, opening the scoring in 2–3 home defeat against Napoli. On 12 May 2018, in an away game against Benevento, he made his hundredth appearance for Genoa.

Torino

On 4 July 2018, Izzo signed a four-year contract with

Torino Turin ( , Piedmontese: ; it, Torino ) is a city and an important business and cultural centre in Northern Italy. It is the capital city of Piedmont and of the Metropolitan City of Turin, and was the first Italian capital from 1861 to 1865. T ...

. He made his debut with Torino on 12 August during a 4–0 win over against

Cosenza Cosenza (; local dialect: ''Cusenza'', ) is a city in Calabria, Italy. The city centre has a population of approximately 70,000; the urban area counts more than 200,000 inhabitants. It is the capital of the Province of Cosenza, which has a populati ...

in the

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 ...

. On 4 November he scored his first goal in Serie A with Torino, in 1–4 away victory against

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, ...

Monza

On 1 September 2022, Izzo joined newly-promoted Serie A side

on a one-year loan. He made his debut on 5 September, as a second-half substitute in a 2–0 league defeat to

Atalanta Atalanta (; grc-gre, Ἀταλάντη, Atalantē) meaning "equal in weight", is a heroine in Greek mythology. There are two versions of the huntress Atalanta: one from Arcadia, whose parents were Iasus and Clymene and who is primarily known ...

. Following the end of the loan spell, on 5 July 2023, Monza signed Izzo permanently on a three-year deal.

International career

On 5 November 2016, Izzo was called up to the senior squad for the first time by

Gian Piero Ventura Gian Piero Ventura (; born 14 January 1948) is an Italian football manager. His playing career as a midfielder was spent in the lower leagues, having not made the grade at Sampdoria, where he began his coaching career with the youth team in 1 ...

for Italy's

2018 FIFA World Cup Qualification The 2018 FIFA World Cup qualification process was a series of tournaments organised by the six FIFA confederations to decide 31 of the 32 teams which would play in the 2018 FIFA World Cup, with Russia qualifying automatically as hosts. All 210 ...

match against

Liechtenstein Liechtenstein (), officially the Principality of Liechtenstein (german: link=no, Fürstentum Liechtenstein), is a German-speaking microstate located in the Alps between Austria and Switzerland. Liechtenstein is a semi-constitutional monarchy ...

and a friendly match against

Germany Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated betwe ...

. On 15 March 2019, Izzo received a call up from

Roberto Mancini Roberto Mancini (; born 27 November 1964) is an Italian football manager and former player. He is currently the manager of the Italy national team. As a player, Mancini operated as a deep-lying forward, and was best known for his time at Samp ...

for Italy's

UEFA Euro 2020 qualifying The UEFA Euro 2020 qualifying tournament was a football competition that was played from March 2019 to November 2020 to determine the 24 UEFA member men's national teams that advanced to the UEFA Euro 2020 final tournament, played across Europe ...

matches against

Finland Finland ( fi, Suomi ; sv, Finland ), officially the Republic of Finland (; ), is a Nordic country in Northern Europe. It shares land borders with Sweden to the northwest, Norway to the north, and Russia to the east, with the Gulf of B ...

and Liechtenstein later that month. On 26 March, he made his senior international debut in a 6–0 home win over Liechtenstein.

Match-fixing

On 23 May 2016, Izzo, along with midfielders Luca Pini and Francesco Millesi, was put under investigation by the anti-mafia police department in

Naples Naples (; it, Napoli ; nap, Napule ), from grc, Νεάπολις, Neápolis, lit=new city. is the regional capital of Campania and the third-largest city of Italy, after Rome and Milan, with a population of 909,048 within the city's adminis ...

(DDA) after being accused of being directly involved with a

Camorra The Camorra (; ) is an Italian Mafia-typeMafia and Mafia-type orga ...

clan based in

Secondigliano Secondigliano () is an old Italian municipality which became a modern suburb in the north of Naples. Geography Secondigliano lies between San Pietro a Patierno and Scampìa. History The name may derive from a contraction of "secondo" (second) an ...

in altering the results of the Serie B matches

Modena Modena (, , ; egl, label=Emilian language#Dialects, Modenese, Mòdna ; ett, Mutna; la, Mutina) is a city and ''comune'' (municipality) on the south side of the Po Valley, in the Province of Modena in the Emilia-Romagna region of northern I ...

–Avellino (1–0) from 17 March 2014, and Avellino–

Reggina Reggina 1914 S.r.l., commonly referred to as Reggina, is an Italian football club based in Reggio Calabria. Founded in 1914, they currently play in Serie B, and play their home matches at the 27,763 seater Stadio Oreste Granillo. They are nic ...

(3–0) from 25 May 2014. On 3 March 2017, the Italian Football Federation's prosecutor asked for Izzo to be suspended for six years, also requesting that

collateral estoppel Collateral estoppel (CE), known in modern terminology as issue preclusion, is a common law estoppel doctrine that prevents a person from relitigating an issue. One summary is that, "once a court has decided an issue of fact or law necessary to its ...

be applied, and demanded that he should receive a €20,000 fine. On 12 April, he received an 18-month ban from football and was also fined €50,000. On 19 May, his ban was reduced to six months. On 4 May 2023, Izzo was found guilty of associating with the Camorra and sporting fraud, and sentenced to five years in prison.

Style of play

Izzo is a right-footed defender who mainly plays as a centre-back. He has often played in a three-man back-line throughout his career, a position which best utilises his dynamism, and which also allows him to contribute offensively as well as defensively. He has also been deployed as a right-sided full-back on occasion. A strong, hard-working, and tenacious defender, he is known for his tackling ability and anticipation.

Career statistics

Club

International

Honours

Avellino *

2012–13 1 (one, unit, unity) is a number representing a single or the only entity. 1 is also a numerical digit and represents a single unit of counting or measurement. For example, a line segment of ''unit length'' is a line segment of length 1. I ...

* Supercoppa di Lega Pro Prima Divisione: 2013

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Izzo, Armando 1992 births Living people Footballers from Naples Men's association football central defenders Italian men's footballers SSC Napoli players US Triestina Calcio 1918 players US Avellino 1912 players Genoa CFC players Torino FC players AC Monza players Serie C players Serie B players Serie A players Italy men's international footballers