Francesco Antonucci (born 20 June 1999) is a Belgian 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

midfielder 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 ...

for

Feyenoord Feyenoord Rotterdam () is a Dutch professional football club in Rotterdam, which plays in the Eredivisie, the top tier in Dutch football. Founded as Wilhelmina in 1908, the club changed to various names before settling on being called after its ...

. A Belgium youth international, Antonucci played in the academies of

Anderlecht Anderlecht (, ) is one of the 19 municipalities of the Brussels-Capital Region, Belgium. Located in the south-western part of the region, it is bordered by the City of Brussels, Forest, Molenbeek-Saint-Jean, and Saint-Gilles, as well as the ...

and

Ajax Ajax may refer to: Greek mythology and tragedy * Ajax the Great, a Greek mythological hero, son of King Telamon and Periboea * Ajax the Lesser, a Greek mythological hero, son of Oileus, the king of Locris * ''Ajax'' (play), by the ancient Greek ...

, before being signed by

Monaco Monaco (; ), officially the Principality of Monaco (french: Principauté de Monaco; Ligurian: ; oc, Principat de Mónegue), is a sovereign city-state and microstate on the French Riviera a few kilometres west of the Italian region of Lig ...

in 2017. He made his breakthrough on loan at

FC Volendam Football Club Volendam () is a professional Association football, football club based in Volendam, Netherlands. They play in the Eredivisie, the top tier of Dutch football league system, Dutch football from the 2022–23 season following promotion ...

, earning a transfer to

in August 2020.

Club career

Monaco

Antonucci played in the youth of La Louvière Centre,

Charleroi Charleroi ( , , ; wa, Tchålerwè ) is a city and a municipality of Wallonia, located in the province of Hainaut, Belgium. By 1 January 2008, the total population of Charleroi was 201,593.

and

. In the winter break of the 2016–17 season he moved to

. At Monaco, he played for the second team, competing in the

Championnat National 2 The Championnat National 2, commonly known as National 2 and formerly known as Championnat de France Amateur (CFA), is a football league competition. The league serves as the fourth tier of the French football league system behind Ligue 1, Ligue ...

, the fourth tier of the

French football league system The French football league system is a series of interconnected leagues for club football in France and Monaco, and includes one Spanish side. At the top two levels of the system is the Ligue de Football Professionnel, which consists of two pro ...

Loan to Volendam

Ahead of the 2019–20 season, Antonucci was sent on a one-season loan to Dutch second-tier

Eerste Divisie The Eerste Divisie (, en, First Division) is the second-highest tier of football in the Netherlands. It is linked with the top-level Eredivisie and with the third-level Tweede Divisie via promotion/relegation systems. It is also known as the ...

club

, where he made his professional debut on 13 September 2019, a 1–1 home draw against

FC Dordrecht Football Club Dordrecht, or simply FC Dordrecht () is a professional Dutch association football club based in Dordrecht, a city in the Western Netherlands, located in the province of South Holland. They currently compete in the Eerste Divisie, ...

. He came on for Alex Plat in the 74th minute. A week later, he made his debut in the starting lineup in the ''Vissersderby'' against SC Telstar and immediately scored his first senior goal, the first of the match off an assist from Kevin Visser, in a match that Volendam eventually won 2–1. In the second ''period'' of the Eerste Divisie season, Antonucci really started to find his feet in manager

Wim Jonk Wilhelmus Maria "Wim" Jonk (born 12 October 1966) is a Dutch professional football manager and former player, who is the current head coach of Eerste Divisie club FC Volendam. In his career as a midfielder, he won a variety of national honours ...

's team, as Volendam won eight matches in a row and thus took a period title, qualifying them for promotion play-offs. In the deciding match, against

MVV Maastricht Maatschappelijke Voetbal Vereniging Maastricht (), commonly known as MVV Maastricht (, ) or simply as MVV, is a Dutch professional football club from the city of Maastricht. Founded on 2 April 1902, MVV Maastricht currently compete in the Eerst ...

(4–1 win), Antonucci scored. Throughout the season, Antonucci would become one of the defining players of the Volendam team, as he scored six goals and made three assists in the months of December and January alone. In March 2020, he was named "Best Talent" of the third period. Shortly afterwards, all football activity was suspended in the Netherlands due to the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identif ...

. At that time, Antonucci was joint club top goalscorer alongside Martijn Kaars.

Feyenoord

Second loan to Volendam

Antonucci returned to AS Monaco in early June 2020, as the 2019–20 season had been officially cancelled in Dutch football. In August 2020, Antonucci signed a four-year contract with an option of another year with

Eredivisie The Eredivisie (; ''"Honour Division"'' or ''"Premier Division"'') is the highest level of professional football in the Netherlands. The league was founded in 1956, two years after the start of professional football in the Netherlands. It is c ...

club

, with part of the deal being Antonucci playing another year on loan at Volendam. He continued his strong play and finished the 2020–21 season as the Volendam player with the most assists (11). Antonucci and Volendam qualified for the play-offs for promotion, but

NAC Breda NAC Breda (), often simply known as NAC, is a Dutch professional football club, based in Breda, Netherlands. NAC Breda play in the Rat Verlegh Stadium, named after their most important player, Antoon 'Rat' Verlegh. They play in the Eerste Divi ...

proved too strong.

Return to Feyenoord

At the end of the 2020–21 season, Antonucci returned to Feyenoord. On 22 July 2021, he made his debut for the club as a substitute in a qualifying match for the

UEFA Europa Conference League The UEFA Europa Conference League (abbreviated as UECL) is an annual football club competition organised by the Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) for eligible European football clubs. Clubs qualify for the competition based on their ...

against Drita. In stoppage time, Antonucci struck the post and could thus not prevent the match from ending in a 0–0 draw.

Third loan to Volendam

On 6 January 2022, Antonucci was sent on his third loan to Volendam, signing a six-month loan deal. If the club were to win promotion to the Eredivisie, the loan would be automatically extended one season. Volendam was promoted and the loan was extended for 2022–23.

Career statistics

Club

Honours

Individual *

Team of the Month: May 2023

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Antonucci, Francesco 1999 births Living people Belgian people of Italian descent Belgian men's footballers Belgian expatriate footballers Belgium men's under-21 international footballers Belgium men's youth international footballers Men's association football midfielders Championnat National 2 players Belgian Pro League players Eredivisie players Eerste Divisie players UR La Louvière Centre players R. Charleroi S.C. players R.S.C. Anderlecht players AFC Ajax players AS Monaco FC players FC Volendam players Belgian expatriate sportspeople in the Netherlands Expatriate footballers in the Netherlands Belgian expatriate sportspeople in France Expatriate footballers in France