Daniele Balli (born 16 September 1967 in

Florence Florence ( ; it, Firenze ) is a city in Central Italy and the capital city of the Tuscany region. It is the most populated city in Tuscany, with 383,083 inhabitants in 2016, and over 1,520,000 in its metropolitan area.Bilancio demografico an ...

) is a former Italian footballer 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 ...

Career

Grown up in the

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 ...

youth system, Balli spent his early professional years with several

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 ...

and

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 ...

teams (

Trento Trento ( or ; Ladin and lmo, Trent; german: Trient ; cim, Tria; , ), also anglicized as Trent, is a city on the Adige River in Trentino-Alto Adige/Südtirol in Italy. It is the capital of the autonomous province of Trento. In the 16th centu ...

, Mobilieri Ponsacco,

Tempio Tempio Pausania (; sdn, Tèmpiu) is a town of about 14,000 inhabitants in the Gallura region of northern Sardinia, Italy, in the province of Sassari. History Cultural and delegated administrative centre of the Gallura sub-region, Tempio has an ...

) before to return to Empoli as a reserve keeper in 1992. In 1994, he finally managed to become the first choice for the Tuscan team, being instrumental in two consecutive promotions from

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 ...

. In 1997, he joined

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 ...

, obtaining a personal third consecutive promotion with the Campanian side, and playing with them also in the following season, the first in the Italian top flight for Balli. In 1999, following Salernitana's relegation back to Serie B, he joined ambitious Umbrian Serie B club

Ternana Ternana Calcio, commonly referred to as Ternana, is an Italian football club based in Terni, Umbria. The club was founded in 1925 and refounded in 1993. In its history, Ternana has twice played in Serie A (in the 1972–73 and 1974–75 seas ...

, playing more than sixty games in two seasons for the ''rossoverdi''. In 2001, he returned to Tuscany, joining

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 ...

, who then were relegated to Serie C1 that season. Now without a team, 35-year-old Balli returned into active football only in January 2003, joining

club Nocerina. In September 2003 he then made a comeback to

, in search for an experienced goalkeeper, thus returning to play into Serie A as second choice behind former

Italian international The Italian International in badminton is an international open held in 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 Mediterrane ...

Luca Bucci Luca Bucci (; born 13 March 1969) is an Italian former professional footballer who played as a football goalkeeper. Bucci played for several Italian clubs throughout his career; he is mostly remembered for his successful spell with Parma, where ...

. In the following 2004–05 season, now 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 ...

, Balli then returned to play football regularly and helped his side to win a prompt return to the Italian Serie A. In 2005–06 he played less regularly, also because of the presence of other keepers such as Gianluca Berti and Sebastián Cejas. The following two seasons saw Balli being sided by youngster Davide Bassi for the first choice goalie role. He was released in June 2008, after Empoli went relegated to Serie B. On 13 February 2009 41-year-old Balli accepted to join

club

Pisa Pisa ( , or ) is a city and ''comune'' in Tuscany, central Italy, straddling the Arno just before it empties into the Ligurian Sea. It is the capital city of the Province of Pisa. Although Pisa is known worldwide for its leaning tower, the cit ...

until the end of the 2008–09 season, going on the bench for the 14 February local derby against

Livorno Livorno () is a port city on the Ligurian Sea on the western coast of Tuscany, Italy. It is the capital of the Province of Livorno, having a population of 158,493 residents in December 2017. It is traditionally known in English as Leghorn (pronou ...

. However, on 21 February, eight days after his signing, Pisa announced to have parted company with Balli under player's request, citing the veteran goalie's doubts regarding his fitness conditions as being the main reason for this choice.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Balli, Daniele 1967 births Serie A players Footballers from Florence Italian men's footballers A.C. Trento 1921 players Empoli FC players US Salernitana 1919 players Ternana Calcio players US Pistoiese 1921 players Pisa SC players Men's association football goalkeepers Living people