Dario Dainelli (; born 9 June 1979) is an Italian former professional footballer who played as a defender.

Club career

Early career

Province of Pisa The province of Pisa ( it, provincia di Pisa) is a Provinces of Italy, province in the Tuscany region of central Italy. Its capital is the city of Pisa. With an area of and a total population of 421,642 (), it is the second most populous and fif ...

, Dainelli started his professional career at

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 spent his early years on loan at

Modena Modena (, , ; egl, label=Emilian language#Dialects, Modenese, Mòdna ; ett, Mutna; la, Mutina) is a city and ''comune'' (municipality) on the south side of the Po Valley, in the Province of Modena in the Emilia-Romagna region of northern I ...

(

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 ...

Cavese Cavese 1919 S.r.l., commonly known as just Cavese, is an Italian football club based in Cava de' Tirreni, Campania, that currently plays in . The first city club was founded in 1919 as Unione Sportiva Cavese. It was refounded as Pro Cavese in 1 ...

(

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 ...

) and

Fidelis Andria Fidelis Andria 2018 or simply Fidelis Andria is an Italian association football, football club based in Andria, Apulia. The club was founded in 1971 and re-founded in 2005, 2013 and 2018. The team competes in . Fidelis Andria play their home ma ...

(

). He was signed by

Lecce Lecce ( ); el, label=Griko, Luppìu, script=Latn; la, Lupiae; grc, Λουπίαι, translit=Loupíai), group=pron is a historic city of 95,766 inhabitants (2015) in southern Italy. It is the capital of the province of Lecce, the province ...

in 2000 in a co-ownership deal and made his Serie A debut against

Roma Roma or ROMA may refer to: Places Australia * Roma, Queensland, a town ** Roma Airport ** Roma Courthouse ** Electoral district of Roma, defunct ** Town of Roma, defunct town, now part of the Maranoa Regional Council *Roma Street, Brisbane, a ...

on 18 February 2001.

Brescia

After just one season at Lecce, he re-signed for Empoli before moving to Brescia. Except for the first season which he just made five appearances and left on loan to Serie A rival Verona, he made 56 appearances more for Brescia.

Fiorentina

In July 2004, Dainelli signed for newly promoted team Fiorentina, in a co-ownership deal with Brescia. In January 2005, Fiorentina immediately bought all of the remain registration rights. Dainelli was the team captain after Christian Riganò left the club in summer 2005, a position which he hold until his transfer to Genoa. At the end of 2006–07 season, due to his contract expiring on summer, some rumor linked him with

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 other Italian clubs, but on 9 June 2007, he finally signed a new four-year contract extension with Fiorentina. In summer 2009,

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 ...

prepared to sell the captain by signing

Cesare Natali Cesare Natali (born 5 April 1979) is an Italian former professional footballer who played as a centre-back. Club career Atalanta Natali started his career at Atalanta. He scored the opening goal in the relegation playoffs second legs in June 20 ...

in order to increase the depth of the bench. Alessandro Gamberini, Per Krøldrup and Dainelli rotated at the starting pair of the central defender.

Genoa

After the signing of Felipe, on 12 January 2010 Dainelli was transferred to Genoa with whom he signed a contract which lasted until June 2013.

Chievo

On 31 January 2012, the last day of 2011–12 winter transfer window, Dainelli moved to the fellow league club Chievo Verona on a loan deal. He returned to Genoa after the loan deal expired at 30 June 2012 and then terminated his contract with Genoa. On 7 August 2012, he agreed a permanent deal with Chievo.

Livorno

On 16 July 2018, Dainelli signed with

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 ...

. On 13 May 2019, he announced his retirement.

International career

Dainelli played once for Italy U21 team, on 16 April 2002. a friendly 2–3 loss to France U21. He was also called up to

2002 UEFA European Under-21 Football Championship UEFA European Under-21 Championship 2002 was the 13th staging of UEFA's European Under-21 Championship. The final tournament was hosted by Switzerland between 16 and 28 May 2002. Czech Republic U-21s won the competition for the first time. Qua ...

, but did not play. Dainelli made his debut for the Italy national team against Ecuador on 11 June 2005 a friendly match which ended in a 1–1 draw. He was recalled by new Italian head coach Roberto Donadoni to play in Euro 2008 qualifying against

Lithuania Lithuania (; lt, Lietuva ), officially the Republic of Lithuania ( lt, Lietuvos Respublika, links=no ), is a country in the Baltic region of Europe. It is one of three Baltic states and lies on the eastern shore of the Baltic Sea. Lithuania ...

and France on 2 September 2006 and 6 September 2006, but did make an appearance.

Career statistics

Club

International

References

External links

Dario Dainelli Profile
at FootballDatabase
FIGC
{{DEFAULTSORT:Dainelli, Dario 1979 births Living people Sportspeople from the Province of Pisa Association football central defenders Italian footballers Empoli F.C. players Modena F.C. players Cavese 1919 players S.S. Fidelis Andria 1928 players U.S. Lecce players Brescia Calcio players ACF Fiorentina players Hellas Verona F.C. players Genoa C.F.C. players Serie A players Serie B players Serie C players A.C. ChievoVerona players U.S. Livorno 1915 players Italy international footballers Italy under-21 international footballers Footballers from Tuscany