Cristian Molinaro (; born 30 July 1983) is an Italian 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 ...

official and a former full-back. He works as a technical director for club

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 ...

. He represented the Italy national team.

Club career

Early career

Molinaro started playing at age 5 for

Gelbison Gelbison were an Australian pop rock band formed in 2000 by Pete Farley on bass guitar, Dave Galafassi on drums, Edo Kahn on vocals and guitar, and his brother Nadav Kahn on vocals and keyboards. The Kahn brothers were also members of Nations ...

, in

Vallo della Lucania Vallo della Lucania (commonly known simply as ''Vallo'') is a town and ''comune'' in the province of Salerno in the Campania region of south-western Italy. It lies in the middle of Cilento and its population is 8,680.

, before growing up in the various

Salernitana Unione Sportiva Salernitana 1919, commonly referred to as Salernitana, is an Italian football club based in Salerno, Campania. The original club was founded in 1919 and has been reconstituted three times in the course of its history, most recentl ...

youth teams. In 2002–03 he made his league debut in

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 ...

. This marked the beginning of the two competitive seasons he played as a starter in Salerno, that included his first professional goal in 2004–05 in a match against

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 ...

. In 2005, he moved to

Siena Siena ( , ; lat, Sena Iulia) is a city in Tuscany, Italy. It is the capital of the province of Siena. The city is historically linked to commercial and banking activities, having been a major banking center until the 13th and 14th centuri ...

, a club that he played for two seasons.

Siena and Juventus

In 2005, he was noticed by the dense network of observers of

Juventus Juventus Football Club (from la, iuventūs, 'youth'; ), colloquially known as Juve (), is a professional Association football, football club based in Turin, Piedmont, Italy, that competes in the Serie A, the top tier of the Italian football leagu ...

and signed, who decided to sell him in co-ownership to

, in which Juventus already had several players on loan. He made his debut 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 18 September 2005 in Siena -

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 ...

1–2 and his first season in the top flight was characterised by ups and downs; losing the role of starting left-back to the more experienced Gianluca Falsini. For 2006–07, Juventus, relegated to

by the 2006 Italian football scandal, allowed Molinaro to remain at Siena (who sold Falsini), relying on him to cover the role of left-back. He collected 36 appearances out of 38 league games and two appearances in 2 rounds of

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 20 June 2007, shortly before the transfer window deadline, Juventus redeemed him for a sum of €2.5 million. During 2007–08, at age 24, he carved out a starting spot on the left wing of the defence of Juventus, thanks to the movement of companion

Giorgio Chiellini Giorgio Chiellini (; born 14 August 1984) is an Italian professional footballer who plays as a centre-back for Major League Soccer club Los Angeles FC. Considered one of the best defenders of his generation, Chiellini is known for his strengt ...

to central defence. In his second season at Juventus he debuted 13 August 2008 in the first leg of the third qualifying round of the Champions League, won 4–0 against

Petržalka Petržalka (; german: Engerau / Audorf; hu, Pozsonyligetfalu) is the largest borough of Bratislava, the capital of Slovakia. Situated on the right bank of the river Danube, the area shares a land border with Austria, and is home to around 100,000 ...

, which also represented his debut in European competition. On 28 November 2008 he extended his contract with Juventus until 2013. He finished the 2008–09 season prematurely because of a perirenal hematoma.

Stuttgart

With the arrival of Italy international Fabio Grosso and Uruguayan

Martín Cáceres José Martín Cáceres Silva (; born 7 April 1987) is a Uruguayan professional footballer who plays for Major League Soccer club LA Galaxy and the Uruguay national team. Mainly a centre-back, he can also play on either flank, mostly as a rig ...

in the summer, Molinaro signed a loan deal with

VfB Stuttgart Verein für Bewegungsspiele Stuttgart 1893 e. V., commonly known as VfB Stuttgart (), is a German sports club based in Stuttgart, Baden-Württemberg. The club's football team is currently part of Germany's first division, the Bundesliga. VfB Stu ...

on 5 January 2010 which initially saw him stay at the club until the end of the 2009–10 season. On 1 June 2010, VfB Stuttgart took advantage of a contract option and signed Molinaro permanently until June 2014. Juventus announced that on 14 June they received €3.9 million transfer fees and the deal was completed. During the first round of the 2013–14 Bundesliga season, Molinaro only played once.

Kicker Kicker or The Kicker may refer to: Sports * Placekicker, a position in American and Canadian football * ''Kicker'' (sports magazine), in Germany * Kicker, the German colloquial term for an association football player * Kicker, the word used i ...

and other media reported that VfB Stuttgart sought to offload him.

Parma

On 30 January, Parma announced that they had signed Cristian Molinaro. On 16 February 2014, he scored his first goal with the shirt of Parma, as well as first in Serie A, against

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 ...

for the momentary 0–1. Shortly afterwards, in his first game against his former team, Juventus, he scored his second goal in Serie A.

Torino

On 16 June 2014, Molinaro was signed by

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 ...

on an annual contract. He made his debut with the ''Granata'' in the

third round Third or 3rd may refer to: Numbers * 3rd, the ordinal form of the cardinal number 3 * , a fraction of one third * 1⁄60 of a ''second'', or 1⁄3600 of a ''minute'' Places * 3rd Street (disambiguation) * Third Avenue (disambiguation) * Hig ...

of the 2014–15 Europa League against Brommapojkarna. On 25 June 2015, Torino exercised the option to extend his contract. He played a total of 38 games and scored one goal, in a 2–1 victory 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 18 September 2016, he ruptured his

anterior cruciate ligament The anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) is one of a pair of cruciate ligaments (the other being the posterior cruciate ligament) in the human knee. The two ligaments are also called "cruciform" ligaments, as they are arranged in a crossed formation ...

in a home game 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 ...

. He returned on 13 March 2017, during a match against

Lazio it, Laziale , population_note = , population_blank1_title = , population_blank1 = , demographics_type1 = , demographics1_footnotes = , demographics1_title1 = , demographics1_info1 = , demographics1_title2 ...

. After renewing his contract with Torino until June 2018, he continued to play for Torino until he fractured the head of his fibula in February. After the injury, he played his hundredth game for Torino on 29 April away against Lazio. At the end of the season he was released on a free transfer.

Frosinone

On 12 July 2018, Christian Molinaro joined

club

Frosinone Frosinone (, local dialect: ) is a town and ''comune'' in Lazio, central Italy, the administrative seat of the province of Frosinone. It is located about south-east of Rome close to the Rome-Naples A1 Motorway. The city is the main city of the Va ...

on a free transfer.

Venezia

After not playing in the first half of the 2019–20 season, he signed with

club

on 15 January 2020 for the remainder of the season.

International career

Molinaro received his first international call-up on 6 August 2010 under new head coach Cesare Prandelli. He made his debut on 10 August 2010, starting in the match against

Ivory Coast Ivory Coast, also known as Côte d'Ivoire, officially the Republic of Côte d'Ivoire, is a country on the southern coast of West Africa. Its capital is Yamoussoukro, in the centre of the country, while its largest city and economic centre is ...

. He was also called up for the games against

Estonia Estonia, formally the Republic of Estonia, is a country by the Baltic Sea in Northern Europe. It is bordered to the north by the Gulf of Finland across from Finland, to the west by the sea across from Sweden, to the south by Latvia, a ...

and

Faroe Islands The Faroe Islands ( ), or simply the Faroes ( fo, Føroyar ; da, Færøerne ), are a North Atlantic island group and an autonomous territory of the Kingdom of Denmark. They are located north-northwest of Scotland, and about halfway bet ...

in the

Euro 2012 qualifiers The qualifying competition for UEFA Euro 2012 was a series of parallel association football competitions held over 2010 and 2011 to decide the qualifiers for UEFA Euro 2012, held in Poland and Ukraine. The draw for the qualifying rounds was held ...

Post-playing career

On 13 June 2022,

announced Molinaro's retirement from playing and his appointment to the position of the team's technical director.

Career statistics

Club

International

References

External links

Gazzetta dello Sports player profile

Lega Serie A profile

at kicker.de
Profile
at FIGC.it {{DEFAULTSORT:Molinaro, Cristian 1983 births Living people Sportspeople from the Province of Salerno Italian footballers Italy international footballers Italian expatriate footballers Association football defenders U.S. Salernitana 1919 players A.C.N. Siena 1904 players Juventus F.C. players VfB Stuttgart players Parma Calcio 1913 players Torino F.C. players Frosinone Calcio players Venezia F.C. players Serie A players Serie B players Bundesliga players Expatriate footballers in Germany Footballers from Campania