Davide Lanzafame (; born 9 February 1987) 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 ...

coach and former professional player, who played as a striker or

right winger 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 ...

. He is currently in charge of

Eccellenza The Eccellenza (, "excellence") is the fifth level (since 2014–15) of Italian football. It is a regional league, composed of 28 divisions divided geographically. All 20 regions are represented by at least one division except for Piedmont and Ao ...

amateurs Borgaro.

Club career

Juventus

Lanzafame, born in

Turin Turin ( , Piedmontese language, Piedmontese: ; it, Torino ) is a city and an important business and cultural centre in Northern Italy. It is the capital city of Piedmont and of the Metropolitan City of Turin, and was the first Italian capital ...

to a

Catanese Catanese is an Italian surname, meaning literally "Catanian", "from the city of Catania" or "from the province of Catania" (Catania is the capital of the Province of Catania, and is the second-largest city in Sicily and the tenth in Italy). Notabl ...

father and a

Piedmont it, Piemontese , population_note = , population_blank1_title = , population_blank1 = , demographics_type1 = , demographics1_footnotes = , demographics1_title1 = , demographics1_info1 = , demographics1_title2 ...

ese mother, grew up in the Juventus youth team and had been part of the Juventus youth side, competing in competitions such as

Campionato Nazionale Primavera The Campionato Nazionale Primavera – Trofeo Giacinto Facchetti, was an Italian football youth competition. It is organised by the Lega Serie A and the participating teams that take part in Serie A and Serie B: the first edition was held in th ...

until 2006, before making his senior team debut for Juve during their 2006–07 season 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 ...

campaign. Italy Under-21 boss Pierluigi Casiraghi called him up for the

2008 Toulon Tournament The 2008 Toulon Tournament was the 36th edition of the Toulon Tournament, and was held from 20 May to 29 May 2008. Tournament finished with the final between Italy and Chile at Stade Mayol in Toulon as Italy had the title after the final score of ...

and listed him as a reserve player for the Olympics that summer.

Bari

Ahead of the

2007–08 Serie A The 2007–08 Serie A (known as the Serie A TIM for sponsorship reasons) was the 106th season of top-tier Italian football, the 76th in a round-robin tournament. It started on 25 August 2007 and ended on 18 May 2008. Internazionale successfully ...

season,

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 ...

loaned Lanzafame to

side

Bari Bari ( , ; nap, label= Barese, Bare ; lat, Barium) is the capital city of the Metropolitan City of Bari and of the Apulia region, on the Adriatic Sea, southern Italy. It is the second most important economic centre of mainland Southern Italy a ...

. Lanzafame endured a highly successful loan spell in which he made 37 league appearances, scoring ten goals. In April 2008, coach

Antonio Conte Antonio Conte (; born 31 July 1969) is an Italian professional football manager and former player who is the head coach of Premier League club Tottenham Hotspur. Playing as a midfielder, Conte began his career at local club Lecce and later b ...

compared him to

Cristiano Ronaldo Cristiano Ronaldo dos Santos Aveiro (; born 5 February 1985) is a Portuguese professional footballer who plays as a forward and captains the Portugal national team. He is currently a free agent. Widely regarded as one of the greatest p ...

, stating that he has the possibility and potential to reach similar levels in his football and quoting "Lanzafame has improved tactically” to La Gazzetta dello Sport. “He is explosive; he sniffs the goal and imposes his speed outside the area. If he improves and learns he can become like Cristiano Ronaldo." Lanzafame returned to Turin on 30 June 2008.

Palermo

On 1 July 2008,

Palermo Palermo ( , ; scn, Palermu , locally also or ) is a city in southern Italy, the capital (political), capital of both the autonomous area, autonomous region of Sicily and the Metropolitan City of Palermo, the city's surrounding metropolitan ...

announced to have finalized the signing of Lanzafame from Juventus in a co-ownership deal, for €2.5 million, as part of the deal that saw Amauri move to Juventus, while

Antonio Nocerino Antonio Nocerino (; born 9 April 1985) is an Italian former professional footballer who played as a midfielder for clubs such as A.C. Milan, Juventus, Palermo, and Orlando City. At international level, he represented the Italian national team ...

also transferred outright to Palermo . After a disappointing time with Palermo during the first half of the

2008–09 Serie A The 2008–09 Serie A (known as the Serie A TIM for sponsorship reasons) was the 107th season of top-tier Italian football, the 77th in a round-robin tournament. It began on 30 August 2008 and ended on 31 May 2009, with the announcement of the ...

season, where Lanzafame saw little playing time and no first team action, co-owners, Juventus, ensured that a loan deal was executed, also wanting their youth product to remain in

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 ...

. On 26 December 2008, he moved from

on loan for the remainder of the season. Lanzafame underwent a second successful spell with

A.S. Bari Società Sportiva Calcio Bari, commonly referred to as Bari, is an Football in Italy, Italian football club based in Bari, Apulia. Bari currently plays in the . The team finished the 2021–22 season in first place in Serie C and earned promot ...

, making 18 league appearances and scoring two goals. Following his second return from

, Lanzafame returned to

, only to be loaned out to

side,

F.C. Parma Parma Calcio 1913 (), commonly known as Parma, is an Italian professional football club based in Parma, Emilia-Romagna, which competes in the Serie B, the second tier of Italian football. ''Parma Football Club'' was originally founded in Decembe ...

. In his first full season of Serie A football, Lanzafame impressed, scoring seven goals in 27 league matches. He also scored against his parent club in a 3–2 win for Parma over Juventus on 9 May 2010.

Return to Juventus

On 25 June 2010, Palermo and Juventus agreed to extend the co-ownership deal for another year, with the Sicilian club loaning the player to the ''Bianconeri'' for the 2010–11 season. Lanzafame was expected to be a part of the building project of the new Juventus management, however, after just three league appearances in 5 months for Juventus, he was loaned to

Brescia Calcio Brescia Calcio, commonly referred to as Brescia (), is an Italian football club based in Brescia, Lombardy, that currently plays in . The club holds the record for total number of seasons (64) and consecutive seasons (18, from 1947–48 to 1 ...

for the remainder of the

2010–11 Serie A The 2010–11 Serie A (known as the Serie A TIM for sponsorship reasons) was the 109th season of top-tier Italian football, the 79th in a round-robin tournament, and the 1st since its organization under a league committee separate from Serie B ...

season. Lanzafame made 13 appearances with Brescia, but failed to score. At the end of the season, he returned to Palermo. Following his second comeback to Palermo in June 2011, his co-ownership was resolved in favour of the ''Rosanero'' for free.

Catania

On 10 August 2011, Palermo confirmed to have sold Lanzafame to

Catania Catania (, , Sicilian and ) is the second largest municipality in Sicily, after Palermo. Despite its reputation as the second city of the island, Catania is the largest Sicilian conurbation, among the largest in Italy, as evidenced also by ...

on a co-ownership basis, for €1 million,Calcio Catania S.p.A. ''bilancio'' (financial report and accounts) on 30 June 2012
PDF purchased from Italian C.C.I.A.A.
/ref> as part of the deal that saw Matías Silvestre move in the opposite direction. Lanzafame was officially presented on 12 August 2011, alongside Mario Paglialunga and

David Suazo Óscar David Suazo Velázquez (born 5 November 1979) is a Honduran retired professional footballer turned coach who played as a striker. Suazo played more than 300 league games and scored over 980 league goals in Italy during a span of 7 years ...

. Upon joining his maternal descent-based club, Lanzafame made just 11 appearances and scored 1 goal during the 2011-12 Serie A season. In June 2012 Catania acquired him outright for free. Lanzafame was successively loaned to Serie B side

Grosseto Grosseto () is a city and ''comune'' in the central Italian region of Tuscany, the capital of the Province of Grosseto. The city lies from the Tyrrhenian Sea, in the Maremma, at the centre of an alluvial plain on the Ombrone river. It is the m ...

on 9 September 2012. He was a mainstay in the club's lineup, appearing in 16 matches and scoring 2 league goals during the first half of the

2012–13 Serie B The 2012–13 Serie B (known as the Serie bwin for sponsorship reasons) is the 81st season since its establishment in 1929. A total of 22 teams will contest the league: 16 of which returning from the 2011–12 season, 4 of which promoted from Le ...

season, before returning to Catania in January 2013. He was then immediately loaned out to Hungarian outfit,

Budapest Honvéd Budapest (, ; ) is the capital and most populous city of Hungary. It is the ninth-largest city in the European Union by population within city limits and the second-largest city on the Danube river; the city has an estimated population of ...

at the request of coach Marco Rossi. At the club, Lanzafame teamed up with former Juventus youth teammate

Raffaele Alcibiade Raffaele Alcibiade (born 23 May 1990) is an Italian professional footballer who plays as a defender for club Renate. Club career Juventus Alcibiade began his career with Italian and European powerhouse Juventus. He started out in youth rank ...

Match-fixing scandal

When Budapest Honvéd learned that Lanzafame had been accused of manipulating matches during his time with

by FIGC, they terminated his loan deal, which would have run until 30 June, a month in advance. Lanzafame had scored five league goals in ten matches for the club before returning to Sicily. Upon returning to Catania, Lanzafame's fate regarding the match-fixing was officially learned on 5 July 2013. Prosecutor Stefano Palazzi had requested a four-year ban; however, Lanzafame saw his plea bargain accepted and will be suspended for 16 months with a €40,000 fine.

Perugia

On 12 August 2014, Lanzafame signed with Serie B club

Perugia Perugia (, , ; lat, Perusia) is the capital city of Umbria in central Italy, crossed by the River Tiber, and of the province of Perugia. The city is located about north of Rome and southeast of Florence. It covers a high hilltop and part o ...

, joining Marco Rossi who also involved in the aforementioned scandal. The contract of Lanzafame was extended on 13 March 2015, which would last until 30 June 2017.

Budapest Honvéd

In 2016, Lanzafame returned to

Budapest Honvéd FC Budapest Honvéd Football Club (), commonly known as Budapest Honvéd or simply Honvéd, is a Hungarian sports club based in Kispest, Budapest, with the colours of red and black. The club is best known for its football team. ''Honvéd'' means th ...

and won the

2016–17 Nemzeti Bajnokság I The 2016–17 Nemzeti Bajnokság I, also known as NB I, is the 118th season of top-tier football in Hungary. The league is officially named ''OTP Bank Liga'' for sponsorship reasons. Ferencváros were the defending champions having won their twen ...

season with the club. He scored his first goal in the

UEFA Champions League The UEFA Champions League (abbreviated as UCL, or sometimes, UEFA CL) is an annual club football competition organised by the Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) and contested by top-division European clubs, deciding the competit ...

in the

2017–18 UEFA Champions League The 2017–18 UEFA Champions League was the 63rd season of Europe's premier club football tournament organised by UEFA, and the 26th season since it was renamed from the European Champion Clubs' Cup to the UEFA Champions League. The final was pla ...

season against Hapoel Be'er Sheva F.C. at the

Turner Stadium The Turner Stadium ( he, אצטדיון טרנר), officially the Yaakov Turner Toto Stadium Be'er Sheva, is a football stadium in Be'er Sheva, Israel. It is the home ground of Hapoel Be'er Sheva. It was named after former Be'er Sheva mayor Yaa ...

. He became the top scorer of the

2017–18 Nemzeti Bajnokság I The 2017–18 Nemzeti Bajnokság I (also known as 2017–18 OTP Bank Liga), also known as NB I, was the 119th season of top-tier football in Hungary. The league was officially named ''OTP Bank Liga'' for sponsorship reasons. Honvéd were the def ...

season by scoring 18 goals. Before the last round, there were three players with 17 goals ( Roland Varga of

Ferencváros Ferencváros () is the 9th district of Budapest ( hu, Budapest IX. kerülete), Hungary. Name The southern suburb of Pest was named after King Francis I on 4 December 1792 when he was crowned king of Hungary. History The development of Fe ...

, and Soma Novothny of

Újpest Újpest (; german: Neu-Pest, en, New Pest) is the 4th District in Budapest, Hungary. It is located on the left bank of the Danube River. The name Újpest means "New Pest" because the city was formed on the border of the city of Pest, Hungary i ...

). However, none of the three players scored goals in the 33rd round, except for Lanzafame who scored a free-kick goal against

Vasas SC Vasas may refer to: *Vasas SC, Hungarian sports club *Győri Vasas, former name of Hungarian sports club Győri ETO (1950-65) *Mihály Vasas (born 1933), Hungarian footballer and manager *Zoltán Vasas Zoltán Vasas (born 5 November 1977) is a ...

Ferencváros

On 1 July 2018, Lanzafame was signed by

Nemzeti Bajnokság I The Nemzeti Bajnokság (, "National Championship"), also known as NB I, is the top level of the Hungarian football league system. The league is officially named OTP Bank Liga after its title sponsor OTP Bank. UEFA currently ranks the league 28th ...

club

. In an interview with the

Nemzeti Sport ''Nemzeti Sport'' (the title means "National Sport") is a Hungarian sports daily. History and profile ''Nemzeti Sport'' was founded in 1903. The paper is owned by Ringier of Switzerland. It is frequently cited by quality English-language media The ...

, he said that he made his most difficult decision in his career so far after signing with Ferencváros.

Budapest Honvéd

On 12 August 2019, Lanzafame was returned for the third time to

club

Adana Demirspor

On 25 September 2020, Lanzafame was join to club

Adana Demirspor Adana Demirspor Kulübü is a sports club based in Adana, Turkey. Founded by railway workers in 1940, the club is competitive in football, watersports, racquet sports and martial arts. Football team's thriving success at the Adana League and t ...

Vicenza

On 1 February 2021, Lanzafame signed with Italian club

Vicenza Vicenza ( , ; ) is a city in northeastern Italy. It is in the Veneto region at the northern base of the ''Monte Berico'', where it straddles the Bacchiglione River. Vicenza is approximately west of Venice and east of Milan. Vicenza is a th ...

on a free transfer. On 22 January 2022, his contract with Vicenza was terminated by mutual consent after he missed most of the season up to that point due to injury.

Managerial career

In 2022, Lanzafame took on his first head coaching job, being named in charge of Hungary amateur club Pestszentimré, a position he left by the end of the year. In May 2023, Lanzafame returned to Italy, accepting a head coaching job at

Piedmont amateurs Borgaro.

Career statistics

Honours

Budapest Honvéd *

: 2016–17 *

Hungarian Cup The Hungarian Cup ( hu, Magyar Kupa) is the Hungarian cup competition for football clubs. It was started by the Hungarian Football Association, the ''Magyar Labdarúgó Szövetség,'' in 1909, eight years after the commencement of the Hungarian ...

: 2019–20 Ferencváros *

: 2018–19 Individual * Nemzeti Bajnokság I top scorer: 2017–18, 2018–19

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Lanzafame, Davide 1987 births Living people Footballers from Turin Italian men's footballers Italy men's under-21 international footballers Men's association football forwards Juventus FC players SSC Bari players Palermo FC players Parma Calcio 1913 players Brescia Calcio players Catania FC players US Grosseto 1912 players Budapest Honvéd FC players AC Perugia Calcio players Novara FC players Ferencvárosi TC footballers Adana Demirspor footballers LR Vicenza players Serie A players Serie B players Nemzeti Bajnokság I players TFF First League players Italian expatriate men's footballers Expatriate men's footballers in Hungary Italian expatriate sportspeople in Hungary Expatriate men's footballers in Turkey Italian expatriate sportspeople in Turkey People of Sicilian descent