Elia Benedettini (born 22 June 1995) is a

Sammarinese Sammarinese () are citizens and people of the Republic of San Marino. Language San Marino recognizes Italian as the official language. The indigenous language, known as Sammarinese, is a variety of Romagnol spoken by approximately 83 percent o ...

footballer who plays 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 ...

for Cailungo and the San Marino national team. He is the cousin of San Marino goalkeeper Simone.

Club career

Benedettini began his career at

San Marino Calcio Associazione Sportiva Dilettantistica Victor San Marino, better known as Victor San Marino, is a San Marino, Sammarinese professional association football club based in the city of Acquaviva, San Marino, Acquaviva, that competes in the Eccellenz ...

Lega Pro The Serie C () is the third-highest division in the Italian football league system after the Serie B and Serie A. The Lega Italiana Calcio Professionistico (Lega Pro) is the governing body that runs the Serie C. The unification of the Lega Pro ...

, the third tier of the

Italian football system The Italian football league system, also known as the Italian football pyramid, refers to the hierarchically interconnected league system for association football in Italy. It consists of nine national and regional tournaments, the first three b ...

. He was first called up to a matchday squad on 24 September 2012, remaining an unused substitute in a 0–1 home loss against

Pavia Pavia (, , , ; la, Ticinum; Medieval Latin: ) is a town and comune of south-western Lombardy in northern Italy, south of Milan on the lower Ticino river near its confluence with the Po. It has a population of c. 73,086. The city was the capit ...

at the Stadio Olimpico in Serravalle. On 10 February 2013 he was called up again and remained unused in a 2–0 home win over PortoSummaga. His third call-up on 5 May resulted in his only appearance of the season, in a home match against

Cremonese Cremona (, also ; ; lmo, label= Cremunés, Cremùna; egl, Carmona) is a city and ''comune'' in northern Italy, situated in Lombardy, on the left bank of the Po river in the middle of the ''Pianura Padana'' (Po Valley). It is the capital of the ...

. Starting goalkeeper Mattia Migani was sent off in the second minute, so forward Francesco Cassola was substituted for Benedettini, who immediately conceded a

penalty kick A penalty shot or penalty kick is a play used in several sports whereby a goal is attempted during untimed play. Depending on the sport, when a player commits certain types of penalties, the opposition is awarded a penalty shot or kick attempt. ...

Giuseppe Le Noci Giuseppe is the Italian form of the given name Joseph, from Latin Iōsēphus from Ancient Greek Ἰωσήφ (Iōsḗph), from Hebrew יוסף. It is the most common name in Italy and is unique (97%) to it. The feminine form of the name is Giusep ...

in an eventual 1–6 defeat. On 21 July 2013, he joined

Cesena Cesena (; rgn, Cisêna) is a city and ''comune'' in the Emilia-Romagna region of Italy, served by Autostrada A14, and located near the Apennine Mountains, about from the Adriatic Sea. The total population is 97,137. History Cesena was o ...

for an undisclosed fee. In July 2014, Benedettini moved to

Serie D The Serie D () is the top level of semi-professional football in the country. The fourth tier of the Italian league system, the competition sits beneath the third professional league, Serie C. It is administered by the Lega Nazionale Dilettant ...

club Pianese. In July 2016, he moved to

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 ...

club

Novara Novara (, Novarese: ) is the capital city of the province of Novara in the Piedmont region in northwest Italy, to the west of Milan. With 101,916 inhabitants (on 1 January 2021), it is the second most populous city in Piedmont after Turin. It is ...

on a free transfer. He made his competitive debut for the club on 24 December 2016 in a 4–1 away defeat to Virtus Entella. He was released by Novara by mutual consent on 9 October 2020. On 14 January 2021, he returned to

. On 11 July 2022, Benedettini agreed to join Cailungo in Campionato Sammarinese di Calcio.

International career

He made his senior international debut for

San Marino San Marino (, ), officially the Republic of San Marino ( it, Repubblica di San Marino; ), also known as the Most Serene Republic of San Marino ( it, Serenissima Repubblica di San Marino, links=no), is the fifth-smallest country in the world an ...

on 27 June 2015, in a UEFA Euro 2016 qualifying match against

Slovenia Slovenia ( ; sl, Slovenija ), officially the Republic of Slovenia (Slovene: , abbr.: ''RS''), is a country in Central Europe. It is bordered by Italy to the west, Austria to the north, Hungary to the northeast, Croatia to the southeast, an ...

Ljubljana Ljubljana (also known by other historical names) is the capital and largest city of Slovenia. It is the country's cultural, educational, economic, political and administrative center. During antiquity, a Roman city called Emona stood in the ar ...

, a 0–6 defeat. Prior to this, he had played for San Marino's youth teams.

Career statistics

International

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Benedettini, Elia Living people 1995 births People from Borgo Maggiore Sammarinese footballers Association football goalkeepers San Marino international footballers A.S.D. Victor San Marino players A.C. Cesena players U.S. Pianese players Novara F.C. players Cesena F.C. players S.P. Cailungo players Serie B players Serie C players Sammarinese expatriate footballers Sammarinese expatriate sportspeople in Italy Expatriate footballers in Italy