Damiano Zenoni (; born 23 April 1977) is an Italian

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 ...

manager Management (or managing) is the administration of an organization, whether it is a business, a nonprofit organization, or a government body. It is the art and science of managing resources of the business. Management includes the activities o ...

and former player, 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 ...

or defender. He was capable of playing anywhere in midfield or defence, although he usually played on the right flank as a winger, wing-back, or

right-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 ...

; he also occasionally played on the left. He is the twin brother of former footballer

Cristian Zenoni Cristian Zenoni (; born 23 April 1977) is an Italian former professional footballer who played as a full-back. He is the twin brother of former footballer Damiano Zenoni. Club career Zenoni started his career at his native club Atalanta B.C., j ...

Club career

Early career

Damiano Zenoni began his career with the

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 ...

youth side, and was later promoted to the club's senior side. He was initially sent on loan to

Pistoiese Unione Sportiva Pistoiese 1921 is an Italian association football club, based in Pistoia, Tuscany. Currently, Pistoiese plays in Serie D. Originally founded on 21 April 1921 and later restored after bankruptcy, the team plays their home games ...

and

Alzano Virescit Virtus CiseranoBergamo 1909 is an football in Italy, Italian association football club from Ciserano, Lombardy. It was born in 2019 as a merger of ''Ciserano Calcio'' and ''Virtus Bergamo'', itself a direct heir of ''Alzano Virescit'', a club th ...

for the 1996–97 and 1997–98 seasons in order to gain experience and playing time. After helping Atalanta back to the top Italian division, Zenoni made his

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 ...

debut with Atalanta on 1 October 2000, against

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 ...

, and along with his brother, Cristian, established himself as one of the most promising young full-backs in the league throughout the 2000–01 season. In 2005, he joined

Udinese Udinese Calcio, commonly referred to as Udinese, is a professional Italian football club based in Udine, Friuli-Venezia Giulia, that currently plays in Serie A. It was founded on 30 November 1896 as a sports club, and on 5 July 1911 as a fo ...

under the

Bosman ruling ''Union Royale Belge des Sociétés de Football Association ASBL v Jean-Marc Bosman'' (1995) C-415/93 (known as the Bosman ruling) is a 1995 European Court of Justice decision concerning freedom of movement for workers, freedom of association ...

, leaving Atalanta five months before his contract had ended. He signed a four-year deal which would keep him at his new club until 2009. Atalanta promoted

Marco Motta Marco Motta (; born 14 May 1986) is an Italian professional footballer who plays as a right back. Motta is a former Italy international and made his senior international appearance in 2010; at youth level, he participated in the 2008 Summer ...

from the youth team to the first team to play Zenoni's position.

Parma

In the summer of 2007, Parma signed Zenoni for €3 million in a three-year deal, while Damiano Ferronetti moved to Udinese for €2 million.

Piacenza

In January 2011, Zenoni joined

Piacenza Calcio Piacenza Calcio 1919, commonly referred to as Piacenza, is an Italian football club based in Piacenza, Emilia-Romagna. The club currently plays in Serie C. Re-founded in 2012, Piacenza Calcio 1919 acquired the rights to use the brand of the ori ...

for the remainder of the 2010–11 season.

International career

Zenoni made his only appearance for the Italian senior team in a 1–0 friendly home win against

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

on 15 November 2000, under manager

Giovanni Trapattoni Giovanni Trapattoni (; born 17 March 1939), sometimes popularly known as "Trap" or "Il Trap", is an Italian football manager and former player, considered the most successful club coach of Italian football. A former defensive midfielder, as a p ...

Coaching career

On 7 May 2019, Zenoni was appointed the head coach of

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 ...

club Feralpisalò, where he already worked with the youth team. On 25 September 2019, he was fired by the club following a 3–1 loss to

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 popula ...

Personal life

Zenoni is the twin brother of former footballer

References

External links

uefa.com

Profile at La Gazzetta dello Sport (2007–08)
1977 births Living people People from Trescore Balneario Italian men's footballers Men's association football fullbacks Footballers from the Province of Bergamo Italy men's international footballers Italy men's under-21 international footballers Atalanta BC players US Pistoiese 1921 players Udinese Calcio players Parma Calcio 1913 players Piacenza Calcio 1919 players SSD Virtus CiseranoBergamo 1909 players Serie A players Serie B players Serie C players Italian twins Italian football managers Serie C managers Feralpisalò managers {{Italy-footy-defender-1970s-stub