Daniele Cacia (born 23 August 1983) 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 ...

who plays as a striker. He is a former Italy Under 19 international.

Club career

Piacenza

Born in

Catanzaro Catanzaro (, or ; scn, label= Catanzarese, Catanzaru ; , or , ''Katastaríoi Lokrói''; ; la, Catacium), also known as the "City of the two Seas", is an Italian city of 86,183 inhabitants (2020), the capital of the Calabria region and of its p ...

, and coming through the youth ranks at

Piacenza Piacenza (; egl, label= Piacentino, Piaṡëinsa ; ) is a city and in the Emilia-Romagna region of northern Italy, and the capital of the eponymous province. As of 2022, Piacenza is the ninth largest city in the region by population, with over ...

. He made his debut for

during the

2000–01 Serie B The Serie B 2000–01 was the sixty-ninth tournament of this competition played in Italy since its creation. Teams Siena, Crotone, Cittadella and Ancona had been promoted from Serie C, while Torino, Venezia FC, Cagliari and Piacenza had been ...

season, against Crotone, on 9 March 2001, at less than 18 years of age. He was loaned to

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 ...

for the 2002–03 season, where he never played after fracturing his fibula. After a loan spell at

SPAL 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, sinc ...

, he returned to Piacenza for the 2003–04, with which he made 13 appearances, scoring his first goal in a 3–2 home loss to

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 ...

. He joined Serie C1 side

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 ...

on loan and scored 8 goals in 12 games. Cacia returned to Piacenza for the 2005–06, and was the team's leading goalscorer, with 18 goals in 37 games. He repeated the feat during the 2006–07 season, scoring 14 goals in 28 games; however his season was cut short when he suffered a broken ankle against Crotone.

Fiorentina co-ownership

In summer 2007 half of his contractual rights was sold to

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 fol ...

for €4.5 million,ACF Fiorentina Report and Accounts on 31 December 2008 due to injury, he played for Piacenza until winter transfer period, when he moved to

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

in January 2008. Caica made his Fiorentina debut on 16 January in the second leg of the Italian Cup against Ascoli. Cacia who faced competition for places from Luca Toni,

Christian Vieri Christian "Bobo" Vieri (; born 12 July 1973) is an Italian former professional footballer who played as a centre forward. Having been born in Italy, Vieri moved with his family to Australia as a child, before returning to Italy to pursue his p ...

Giampaolo Pazzini Giampaolo Pazzini (; born 2 August 1984), nicknamed ''Il Pazzo'' ("The Madman") after his surname, is a former Italian professional footballer who played as a striker. He spent most of his career in Serie A with Atalanta, Fiorentina, Sampdoria ...

and

Adrian Mutu Adrian Mutu (; born 8 January 1979) is a Romanian professional football manager and former player, who is in charge of Liga I club Rapid București. During his playing career, he was deployed as a forward or an attacking midfielder. Mutu star ...

, only played 6 games for

in all competitions during the 2007/08 season, with his only goal for the club coming 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 solids for pouring (e.g., sugar, flour, grains, salt). Cups may be made of glass, metal, china, clay ...

against Rosenborg BK in 2008. In June 2008 he was bought back by Piacenza for €2.8 million

Lecce and loan moves

Cacia signed for

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. ...

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 Cop ...

in July 2008 after acquiring half of his registration rights from Piacenza for €3 million. He was given the number 9 shirt at the club. On 22 February 2009, he was injured in the match against

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

after fracturing his fibula. On 28 February, he underwent surgery in Pavia. He scored 2 goals in 22 games during his debut season at the club. After returning from injury, he was loaned to

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 n ...

on 28 August 2009, where he played 27 times scoring just 4 goals. A loan move in 2010 back to his old club

saw Cacia recapture his goal scoring form, on 14 August 2010 Cacia scored a hat trick in a 5–3 victory in the Italian Cup second qualifying round against

Virtus Lanciano S.S. Virtus Lanciano 1924 is an Italian association football club, based in Lanciano, Abruzzo. It last played in Serie B in 2015–16 as Virtus Lanciano. Virtus Lanciano now competes in youth football only. History The club was founded in ...

. Cacia ended the season scoring 21 goals in all competitions and finish 3rd in the scoring charts in

Serie B The Serie B (), currently named Serie 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 season. It had been ...

for the 2010–11 season. In June 2011 Lecce acquired Cacia outright. After impressing back at Piacenza, Cacia joined

Padova Padua ( ; it, Padova ; vec, Pàdova) is a city and ''comune'' in Veneto, northern Italy. Padua is on the river Bacchiglione, west of Venice. It is the capital of the province of Padua. It is also the economic and communications hub of the ...

on loan in 2011, scoring 11 league goals.

Hellas Verona

In 2012, Cacia joined

Hellas Verona Hellas Verona Football Club, commonly referred to as Hellas Verona or simply Verona, is a professional Italian football club based in Verona, Italy, that currently plays in Serie A. The team won the Serie A Championship in 1984–85. His ...

on a permanent deal. During the 2012–13 season Cacia scored 24 goals in

making him the top goal scorer in the division and helping earn Hellas Verona promotion to

as runners up behind

U.S. Sassuolo Calcio Unione Sportiva Sassuolo Calcio, commonly referred to as Sassuolo (), is an Football in Italy, Italian football club based in Sassuolo, Emilia-Romagna. Their colours are black and green, hence the nickname ''Neroverdi'' (literally "black and gre ...

. However, after the arrival of former Italian International Luca Toni during the summer of the 2013–14 season, Cacia found his first team place more limited in

making only 13 appearances, with 10 of those coming off the bench as a substitute. On 13 June 2014, Cacia announced he would be leaving Hellas Verona in search of more regular football, On 27 June it was revealed that Cacia was still a target for

Leeds United Leeds United Football Club is a professional football club based in Leeds, West Yorkshire in England. The club competes in the Premier League, the highest level of England's football league system, and plays its home matches at Elland Road ...

owner Massimo Cellino.

Bologna

On 5 August 2014, Cacia signed for Serie B club

Bologna Bologna (, , ; egl, label=Emilian language, Emilian, Bulåggna ; lat, Bononia) is the capital and largest city of the Emilia-Romagna region in Northern Italy. It is the seventh most populous city in Italy with about 400,000 inhabitants and 1 ...

on a free transfer. He wore no.9 shirt from departing

Rolando Bianchi Rolando Bianchi (; born 15 February 1983) is an Italian former professional footballer who played as a striker. With 77 total goals, he is Torino's 11th-highest all-time goal scorer. Bianchi was primarily known for his ability in the air. Cl ...

. In his first season, he scored 11 goals in 38 games helping

gain promotion to

via the play-offs by beating Pescara, qualifying as the highest place team after a 1–1 aggregate draw in the two legged final.

Ascoli

On 11 September 2015, Cacia was signed by Serie B newcomer

Ascoli Ascoli may refer to: Places in Italy *Ascoli Satriano, a town and ''comune'' in the province of Foggia in the Apulia region *Province of Ascoli Piceno, a province of the Marche region ** Ascoli Piceno, a city which is the seat of the province above ...

on a two-year contract.

Return to Piacenza

On 18 July 2019, he returned to

on a one-year contract. On 12 December 2019, the contract was terminated by mutual consent.

International career

Cacia was capped by Italy Under 19's in 2001, making his debut against the

England national under-19 football team England national under-19 football team, also known as England under-19s or England U19(s), represents England in association football at under-19 age level and is controlled by the Football Association, the governing body for football in Englan ...

on 14 June in a 4–1 win. The last of his six Italy Under 19 caps came on 24 November 2001, in the team's 4–0 victory against the Moldova Under 19 side.

Career statistics

Club

Honours

Club

Piacenza *

promotion: 2000–01 Hellas Verona *

promotion:

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 ...

Individual

*Serie B Capocannoniere (Golden Boot Award):

(24 Goals)

References

External links

Profile at Gazzetta.it

Profile at Serie A official site
{{DEFAULTSORT:Cacia, Daniele 1983 births Living people Men's association football forwards Italian men's footballers Italy men's youth international footballers People from Catanzaro Footballers from Calabria Serie A players Serie B players Serie C players US Lecce players Piacenza Calcio 1919 players SPAL players US Pistoiese 1921 players Ternana Calcio players ACF Fiorentina players LFA Reggio Calabria players Calcio Padova players Hellas Verona FC players Bologna FC 1909 players Ascoli Calcio 1898 FC players AC Cesena players Novara FC players Sportspeople from the Province of Catanzaro