Davide Calabria (born 6 December 1996) 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 le ...

who plays as a

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 ...

for club

AC Milan Associazione Calcio Milan (), commonly referred to as AC Milan or simply Milan, is a professional football club in Milan, Italy, founded in 1899. The club has spent its entire history, with the exception of the 1980–81 and 1982–83 seasons ...

, whom he

captains Captain is a title, an appellative for the commanding officer of a military unit; the supreme leader of a navy ship, merchant ship, aeroplane, spacecraft, or other vessel; or the commander of a port, fire or police department, election precinct, e ...

, and the Italy national team.

Club career

AC Milan

Calabria has been with

since 2006, playing for the club's youth teams of different age groups up until ''Primavera'' (U-19). He received his first ever call-up to the senior team ahead of the away game 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 ...

played on 25 January 2015; he, however, remained an unused substitute. He 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 on 30 May 2015 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 ...

, replacing

Mattia De Sciglio Mattia De Sciglio (; born 20 October 1992) is an Italian professional footballer who plays as a right-back for club Juventus and the Italy national team. He made his professional debut for Milan in 2011, after several seasons in the club's yo ...

at the 84th minute in a 1–3 away win. On 15 July 2015 Calabria was officially promoted to the first team. He made his first start in a 3–2 win over

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 ...

on 22 September, playing 49 minutes, and was highly praised for his performance. Ahead of the 2017–18 season, Milan acquired Atalanta's Andrea Conti for nearly €25 million, viewing the player as the most likely starter on the right side of the team's defensive line; Calabria had been persuaded yet refused to join one of the lower-ranking Serie A teams on loan to increase his playing time. In September 2017, Conti injured 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 ...

for the first time, and in March 2018 suffered a recurrence of the injury, effectively ending his season. The club ruled out the possibility of any further emergency signings, thus trusting Calabria as a long-term replacement for Conti in the right full-back position. He completed the season with 30 appearances in all competitions and scored his debut goal in senior professional football on 25 February 2018 in the Serie A 2–0 away win 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 ...

2020–21 season

Already a regular in Pioli's side, Calabria played 32 league games in this season, a personal record. He scored his first goal this season on 16 December 2020 at

Luigi Ferraris Stadium The Stadio comunale Luigi Ferraris, also known as the Marassi from the name of the neighbourhood where it is located, is a multi-use stadium in Genoa, Italy. The home of Genoa C.F.C. and U.C. Sampdoria football clubs, it opened in 1911 and is ...

against Genoa, a powerful shot from outside the box. His next goal came against Juventus on 6 January 2021, in eventual 1–3 loss. On 28 February in

Stadio Olimpico The Stadio Olimpico (English: ''Olympic Stadium'') is the largest sports facility in Rome, Italy, seating over 70,000 spectators. It is located within the Foro Italico sports complex, north of the city. The structure is owned by the Italian Na ...

Calabria won a penalty kick against Roma, which Kessié converted into Milan first goal in 2–1 victory. By the end of the season he held the record for most tackles by any player in Serie A. In July 2021, Calabria renewed his contract with Milan until June 2025.

2021–22 season

On 23 August 2021, at the first match of the season against

Sampdoria Unione Calcio Sampdoria, commonly referred to as Sampdoria (), is an Italian professional football club based in Genoa. The club was formed in 1946 from the merger of two existing sports clubs whose roots can be traced back to the 1890s, ...

, Calabria made his first

assist Assist or ASSIST may refer to: Sports Several sports have a statistic known as an "assist", generally relating to action by a player leading to a score by another player on their team: *Assist (basketball), a pass by a player that facilitates a ba ...

in the season, a deep run into Sampdoria defense to set up Diaz's only goal of the match. Calabria wore the captain's arm band for the first time for Milan on 15 September, an away defeat to

Liverpool Liverpool is a city and metropolitan borough in Merseyside, England. With a population of in 2019, it is the 10th largest English district by population and its metropolitan area is the fifth largest in the United Kingdom, with a popul ...

, he described the moment as 'childhood dream'. On the 3rd of October, Calabria scored his first goal of the season at Gewiss Stadium against Atalanta in eventual 3–2 win, the goal came after merely 28 seconds from the kick off, making it the third fastest AC Milan goal since the 2004–2005 season. On 23 October he scored against

Bologna Bologna (, , ; egl, label= 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 150 different nat ...

in eventual 4–2 win, with two goals in seven games, Calabria has already equalled his total goal tally on the entire 2020/21 Serie A season. In a post match interview during the season, Calabria credited his own professional growth to his team coach, Pioli. On 5 February 2022 against Inter in

Derby della Madonnina The Derby della Madonnina, also known as the Derby di Milano (Milan Derby, in English), is a derby football match between the two prominent Milanese clubs, Internazionale and A.C. Milan. It is called ''Derby della Madonnina'' in honour of one of ...

, he assisted Giroud second goal in 2–1 win. On 6 March he again set up Giroud only goal against

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 ...

, helping Milan to win and climb to the top of Serie A table.

International career

Calabria made his debut for the Italy U21 on 13 October 2015, in a qualifying match against

Republic of Ireland Ireland ( ga, Éire ), also known as the Republic of Ireland (), is a country in north-western Europe consisting of 26 of the 32 counties of the island of Ireland. The capital and largest city is Dublin, on the eastern side of the island. A ...

. In June 2017, he was included in the Italy under-21 squad for the

2017 UEFA European Under-21 Championship The 2017 UEFA European Under-21 Championship (also known as UEFA Under-21 Euro 2017) was the 21st edition of the UEFA European Under-21 Championship, a biennial international youth football championship organised by UEFA for the men's under-21 na ...

by manager

Luigi Di Biagio Luigi Di Biagio (; born 3 June 1971) is an Italian professional football manager and former player. A former defensive midfielder, Di Biagio last played for Ascoli Calcio 1898 in 2007, and previously also played for several other Italian clubs ...

. Italy were eliminated by

Spain , image_flag = Bandera de España.svg , image_coat = Escudo de España (mazonado).svg , national_motto = ''Plus ultra'' (Latin)(English: "Further Beyond") , national_anthem = (English: "Royal March") , i ...

in the semi-finals following a 3–1 defeat on 27 June. He made his debut for Italy's senior squad, managed by

Roberto Mancini Roberto Mancini (; born 27 November 1964) is an Italian football manager and former player. He is currently the manager of the Italy national team. As a player, Mancini operated as a deep-lying forward, and was best known for his time at Samp ...

, in a 11 November 2020 friendly 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 ...

in Florence, coming on as a substitute in the 80th minute of a 4–0 victory. He would see his first action in a competitive match on 18 November 2020, replacing

Lorenzo Insigne Lorenzo Insigne (; born 4 June 1991) is an Italian professional footballer who plays as a winger for Major League Soccer club Toronto FC and the Italy national team. Insigne began his professional career with čelik Niksic in 2009, making his ...

in the 94th minute of Italy's 2-0

UEFA Nations League The UEFA Nations League is a biennial international football competition contested by the senior men's national teams of the member associations of UEFA, the sport's European governing body. The first tournament began in September 2018. The ...

win over

Bosnia and Herzegovina Bosnia and Herzegovina ( sh, / , ), abbreviated BiH () or B&H, sometimes called Bosnia–Herzegovina and often known informally as Bosnia, is a country at the crossroads of south and southeast Europe, located in the Balkans. Bosnia and H ...

in Sarajevo.

Career statistics

Club

International

Honours

AC Milan *

: 2021–22 Italy *

third place:

2020–21 The dash is a punctuation mark consisting of a long horizontal line. It is similar in appearance to the hyphen but is longer and sometimes higher from the baseline. The most common versions are the endash , generally longer than the hyphen b ...

References

External links

*
Davide Calabria
at AC Milan {{DEFAULTSORT:Calabria, Davide 1996 births Living people Footballers from Brescia Italian footballers Italy youth international footballers Italy under-21 international footballers Italy international footballers Association football defenders A.C. Milan players Serie A players