Francesco Ruopolo (born 10 March 1983) is an

Italian Italian(s) may refer to: * Anything of, from, or related to the people of Italy over the centuries ** Italians, an ethnic group or simply a citizen of the Italian Republic or Italian Kingdom ** Italian language, a Romance language *** Regional Ita ...

former

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 ...

who played as a

forward Forward is a relative direction, the opposite of backward. Forward may also refer to: People * Forward (surname) Sports * Forward (association football) * Forward (basketball), including: ** Point forward ** Power forward (basketball) ** Sm ...

. He spent most of his career in the 2nd highest division of Italian football,

Serie B The Serie B (), currently named Serie 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 season. It had been ...

Club career

Parma

Born in Aversa, Campania region, Ruopolo started his career at

Emilia–Romagna egl, Emigliàn (man) egl, Emiglièna (woman) rgn, Rumagnòl (man) rgn, Rumagnòla (woman) it, Emiliano (man) it, Emiliana (woman) or it, Romagnolo (man) it, Romagnola (woman) , population_note = , population_blank1_title ...

side

Parma Parma (; egl, Pärma, ) is a city in the northern Italian region of Emilia-Romagna known for its architecture, music, art, prosciutto (ham), cheese and surrounding countryside. With a population of 198,292 inhabitants, Parma is the second mos ...

. He was the member of Primavera under-20 team and in 2002 made his professional debut with Pro Patria of Serie C1, where he was sent on loan for a season. He was then loaned to

Cittadella Cittadella ( vec, Sitadeła) is a medieval walled city in the province of Padua, northern Italy, founded in the 13th century as a military outpost of Padua. The surrounding wall has been restored and is in circumference with a diameter of around ...

, again in Serie C1, where he scored six goals. On 1 July 2004, he returned to Parma, playing 21 games (9 in the

UEFA Cup A cup is an open-top used to hold hot or cold liquids for pouring or drinking; while mainly used for drinking, it also can be used to store solids for pouring (e.g., sugar, flour, grains, salt). Cups may be made of glass, metal, china, clay ...

, 1 in the

Coppa Italia The ("Italy Cup") is an annual knockout cup competition in Italian football organized by the FIGC until the 2009–10 season and the Lega Serie A ever since. History The beginning of the tournament was turbulent, due to the complexity of ...

, and 1 in the relegation playoffs) without scoring any goals; however noted by

FC Lokomotiv Moscow FC Lokomotiv Moscow (''FC Lokomotiv Moskva'', russian: link=no, Футбольный клуб "Локомотив" Москва, ) is a Russian professional football club based in Moscow. Lokomotiv have won the Russian Premier League on three o ...

, that signs him on loan for the 2005 Russian season. He played seven Russian league matches for Lokomotiv, made two substitution appearances in

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 competi ...

third qualifying round, and started 4 games and made 2 substitution appearances in UEFA Cup, scored two goals against

S.K. Brann Sportsklubben Brann (commonly known as Brann, and less often as SK Brann) is a Norwegian professional football club, founded 26 September 1908, from Bergen. Brann had been in the Eliteserien, Norway's Premier Division of Football, since 1987, ba ...

and Maccabi Petah Tikva FC. He returned to Parma in January 2006, and made six more Serie A appearances and 1 more at

Cup A cup is an open-top used to hold hot or cold liquids for pouring or drinking; while mainly used for drinking, it also can be used to store solids for pouring (e.g., sugar, flour, grains, salt). Cups may be made of glass, metal, china, clay, ...

for the ''Gialloblu''.

Triestina & AlbinoLeffe

In July 2006, Ruopolo was signed by

club

Triestina Unione Sportiva Triestina Calcio 1918, commonly referred to as Triestina, is an Italian football club based in Trieste, Friuli-Venezia Giulia. Originally founded in 1918, the club has been re-established several times in its history. As of the ...

in co-ownership deal, but he failed to impress in

Trieste Trieste ( , ; sl, Trst ; german: Triest ) is a city and seaport in northeastern Italy. It is the capital city, and largest city, of the autonomous region of Friuli Venezia Giulia, one of two autonomous regions which are not subdivided into prov ...

and moved to AlbinoLeffe in January 2007 in another co-ownership deal. He scored 8 league goals for AlbinoLeffe in his first season, and the club decided to buy him outright. He then scored an average of 10 Serie B goals a season in the next 3 seasons for the Province of Bergamo based side.

Atalanta

On 5 July 2010, he moved to cross-town "rival"

Atalanta Bergamo Atalanta Bergamasca Calcio, commonly referred to as Atalanta, is a professional football club based in Bergamo, Lombardy, Italy. The club plays in Serie A, having gained promotion from Serie B in 2010–11. Atalanta was founded in 1907 by Lice ...

, which they shared the same stadium on free transfer. He signed a 3-year contract. Atalanta Bergamo was relegated from Serie A in May 2010 and had sold numbers of players to AlbinoLeffe in previous seasons. In the 2010–11 season, Ruopolo played 31 matches and scored 8 times for the ''Dea''. In May 2012, Atalanta received two penalty points and a €25,000 fine as several players, including Ruopolo, had been accused of match fixing.

Padova & football scandal

In July 2011, Ruopolo was moved to Calcio Padova on free transfer. He was banned for 16 months after plea bargain for involvement in 2011–12 Italian football scandal. He was released by Padova in July 2012.

International career

During the "Festival International Espoirs de Toulon et du Var" in 2003, Ruopolo scored one goal against

Portugal Portugal, officially the Portuguese Republic ( pt, República Portuguesa, links=yes ), is a country whose mainland is located on the Iberian Peninsula of Southwestern Europe, and whose territory also includes the Atlantic archipelagos of ...

in the final of the tournament.

References

External links

Profile at La Gazzetta dello Sport (2007–08)

Profile at La Gazzetta dello Sport (2009–10)
* * *

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Ruopolo, Francesco Italian men's footballers Italy men's youth international footballers Italian expatriate men's footballers Serie A players Serie B players Serie C players Serie D players Eccellenza players Russian Premier League players Parma Calcio 1913 players Aurora Pro Patria 1919 players AS Cittadella players FC Lokomotiv Moscow players US Triestina Calcio 1918 players UC AlbinoLeffe players Atalanta BC players Calcio Padova players Men's association football forwards Expatriate men's footballers in Russia Italian expatriate sportspeople in Russia People from Aversa 1983 births Living people Footballers from the Province of Caserta