Alberto Fontana (born 23 January 1967) 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 le ...

who played as a

goalkeeper In many team sports which involve scoring goals, the goalkeeper (sometimes termed goaltender, netminder, GK, goalie or keeper) is a designated player charged with directly preventing the opposing team from scoring by blocking or intercepting o ...

. During his career, in which he represented nine different clubs, he played until the age of 42. He played in 241

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 ...

games during 15 seasons, representing in the competition

Cesena Cesena (; rgn, Cisêna) is a city and ''comune'' in the Emilia-Romagna region of Italy, served by Autostrada A14, and located near the Apennine Mountains, about from the Adriatic Sea. The total population is 97,137. History Cesena was o ...

Bari Bari ( , ; nap, label= Barese, Bare ; lat, Barium) is the capital city of the Metropolitan City of Bari and of the Apulia region, on the Adriatic Sea, southern Italy. It is the second most important economic centre of mainland Southern Italy a ...

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 ...

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 ...

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 ...

Chievo Chievo (4,500 inhabitants) is a frazione of Verona located to the west of the city, around from the historic city centre, on the shores of the river Adige. It is best known for its football team, A.C. ChievoVerona, which competes in the second ...

and

Palermo Palermo ( , ; scn, Palermu , locally also or ) is a city in southern Italy, the capital (political), capital of both the autonomous area, autonomous region of Sicily and the Metropolitan City of Palermo, the city's surrounding metropolitan ...

Football career

Born in

, Fontana started his career with his hometown club,

A.C. Cesena A.C. Cesena, commonly referred to as Cesena (), was an Football in Italy, Italian football club based in Cesena, Emilia-Romagna. The club spent most of its history in professional leagues such as Serie A and Serie B, but went bankrupt and folde ...

, but made his professional debut with

Vis Pesaro Vis Pesaro dal 1898 S.r.l., commonly referred to as simply Vis Pesaro, is an Italian association football club located in Pesaro, Marche. The club currently plays in Serie C. History Vis Pesaro was founded in 1898 and refounded in 2008. Th ...

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 ...

, where he was loaned during the 1986–87 season. Before the decade was over, he played on loan for

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 ...

club

S.P.A.L. Società Polisportiva Ars et Labor, commonly known as S.P.A.L. (), is a professional football club based in Ferrara, Emilia-Romagna, Italy. The team plays in Serie B, the second tier of the Italian football league system. Founded in 1907, since ...

In 1989 Fontana returned to Cesena, and made his

debut with the

Romagna Romagna ( rgn, Rumâgna) is an Italian historical region that approximately corresponds to the south-eastern portion of present-day Emilia-Romagna, North Italy. Traditionally, it is limited by the Apennines to the south-west, the Adriatic to t ...

side on 9 September 1990. After they suffered relegation at the end of the campaign he stayed for two further years, signing in the 1993 summer with

A.S. Bari Società Sportiva Calcio Bari, commonly referred to as Bari, is an Football in Italy, Italian football club based in Bari, Apulia. Bari currently plays in the . The team finished the 2021–22 season in first place in Serie C and earned promot ...

where he was first choice during his spell (two seasons apiece in each major division). Aged 30, Fontana moved in 1997 to

Atalanta BC Atalanta Bergamasca Calcio, commonly referred to as Atalanta, is a professional football club based in Bergamo, Lombardy, Italy. The club plays in Serie A, having gained promotion from Serie B in 2010–11. Atalanta was founded in 1907 by Lice ...

, winning top-flight promotion in

2000 File:2000 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: Protests against Bush v. Gore after the 2000 United States presidential election; Heads of state meet for the Millennium Summit; The International Space Station in its infant form as seen from ...

. In January of the following year he was signed by

S.S.C. Napoli Società Sportiva Calcio Napoli, commonly referred to as Napoli (), is an Italian professional football club based in the city of Naples ( it, Napoli, nap, Napule), Campania that plays in Serie A, the top flight of Italian football. Napoli ha ...

, playing for the club for the following six months. During the summer he accepted an offer from

F.C. Internazionale Milano 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 t ...

, which were looking for a backup for

Francesco Toldo Francesco Toldo (; born 2 December 1971) is an Italian retired footballer who played as a goalkeeper. He is regarded by pundits as one of the greatest goalkeepers of his generation. In a professional career which spanned two full decades, he m ...

; he eventually stayed four seasons and played in 24 official matches – ten in the league, two in the

UEFA Champions League The UEFA Champions League (abbreviated as UCL, or sometimes, UEFA CL) is an annual club football competition organised by the Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) and contested by top-division European clubs, deciding the competit ...

, four 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 Solid, solids for pouring (e.g., sugar, flour, grains, salt). Cups may be made of glass, metal, porcela ...

and eight 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 ...

. In 2005 Fontana signed a one-year deal with

A.C. Chievo Verona Associazione Calcio ChievoVerona, commonly referred to as ChievoVerona or simply Chievo , is a former professional Italian football club named after and based in Chievo, a suburb of 4,500 inhabitants in Verona, Veneto, and owned by Paluani, a ...

, playing regularly and being instrumental in the team's successful league campaign, which ended with qualification for the

2006–07 UEFA Cup The 2006–07 UEFA Cup was the 36th UEFA Cup, Europe's second-tier club football tournament. On 16 May 2007, at Hampden Park, Glasgow, Scotland, Sevilla won their second consecutive UEFA Cup, defeating Espanyol 3–1 on penalties after the match ...

. The club was ultimately admitted to the Champions League qualifying rounds following the

2006 Italian football scandal ''Calciopoli'' () was a sports scandal in Italy's top professional association football league Serie A and to a lesser extent Serie B. Involving various clubs and numerous executives, both from the same clubs and from the main Italian football b ...

. Subsequently, Fontana moved to

U.S. Città di Palermo Palermo Football Club, more simply known as Palermo F.C. or Palermo (; scn, Paliemmu, link=no, ), is an Italian football club based in the Sicilian city of Palermo, conventionally founded for the first time on 1 November 1900. Among the club� ...

, with the initial aim being of serving as an experienced backup alongside young promise

Federico Agliardi Federico Agliardi (born 11 February 1983) is an Italian footballer who currently plays as goalkeeper for Eccellenza Lombardy side Lumezzane. Career Brescia Agliardi grew up in his native city's team, Brescia Calcio, and made his professional ...

. However, an injury occurred to Agliardi, who additionally did not play impressively during the early matches of 2006–07, so Fontana was promoted to the starting lineup by

Francesco Guidolin Francesco Guidolin (; born 3 October 1955) is an Italian football manager and former player, most recently the manager of Premier League team Swansea City. He has coached various Italian club sides in Serie A, winning the 1996–97 Coppa Italia ...

. At the age of 40, Fontana was confirmed by Palermo for their 2007–08 season, starting for the ''Rosanero'' with impressively good results despite being the second-oldest player in the whole Serie A, only behind 44-year-old

Marco Ballotta Marco Ballotta (born 3 April 1964) is an Italian former professional footballer who played as a goalkeeper. His professional career spanned a quarter of a century, but he was never capped for the Italy national team. He also held the distincti ...

S.S. Lazio Società Sportiva Lazio (; ; ''Lazio Sport Club''), commonly referred to as Lazio, is an Italian professional sports club based in Rome, most known for its football activity. The society, founded in 1900, plays in the Serie A and have spent ...

, also a goalkeeper. In 2008–09, he returned to the bench following the signing of

Italian Italian(s) may refer to: * Anything of, from, or related to the people of Italy over the centuries ** Italians, an ethnic group or simply a citizen of the Italian Republic or Italian Kingdom ** Italian language, a Romance language *** Regional Ita ...

international

Marco Amelia Marco may refer to: People * Marco (given name), people with the given name Marco * Marco (actor) (born 1977), South Korean model and actor * Georg Marco (1863–1923), Romanian chess player of German origin * Tomás Marco (born 1942), Spanish co ...

, only making his debut on 26 October 2008 as a half-time replacement to injured Amelia in a 1–3 home loss to

ACF 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 fo ...

, a game that saw him being welcomed with a standing ovation from the whole stadium, a moment he later defined "the biggest emotion in my football career". He also played in the following match, against

U.S. Lecce Unione Sportiva Lecce, commonly referred to as Lecce (), is an Italian football club based in Lecce, Apulia. The club play in Serie A in the 2022–23 season, the top level of the Italian football pyramid, having been promoted from Serie B ...

. In December 2008 Fontana was put out of the first-team squad, after disagreements with the club regarding his position in the squad – he was demoted to as low as third choice, behind Albanian youngster

Samir Ujkani Samir Ujkani (born 5 July 1988) is a Kosovar Albanian professional association football, footballer who plays as a Goalkeeper (association football), goalkeeper for Italian club Empoli F.C., Empoli and the Kosovo national football team, Kosovo nat ...

. Palermo 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 ...

then confirmed to have formally authorized him to start searching a new club where he could play regularly, but the player eventually stayed until the end of the campaign, retiring shortly after.

Personal life

Fontana is not related to another football goalkeeper, also named Alberto Fontana, who also had an extensive professional career, also appearing for a host of clubs. As his footballing namesake, he was nicknamed ''Jimmy'' after singer

Jimmy Fontana Jimmy Fontana (13 November 1934 – 11 September 2013) was an Italian actor, composer and singer-songwriter. Two of his most famous songs are " Che sarà", performed also by José Feliciano with Ricchi e Poveri, and " Il Mondo". Biography Born ...

Honours

;Inter *

: 2004–05

References

External links

*
Gazzetta dello Sport profile (2006–07)
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Fontana, Alberto 1967 births Living people People from Cesena Footballers from Emilia-Romagna Italian footballers Association football goalkeepers Serie A players Serie B players Serie C players A.C. Cesena players Vis Pesaro dal 1898 players S.P.A.L. players S.S.C. Bari players Atalanta B.C. players S.S.C. Napoli players Inter Milan players A.C. ChievoVerona players Palermo F.C. players Sportspeople from the Province of Forlì-Cesena