Ferdinando Coppola (born 10 June 1978) is a former 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 played 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 ...

Career

Early career

Coppola's career began at native club

S.S.C. Napoli Società Sportiva Calcio Napoli, commonly referred to as Napoli (), is an Italian professional football club based in the city of Naples ( it, Napoli, nap, Napule), Campania that plays in Serie A, the top flight of Italian football. Napoli ha ...

, he was used as a backup goalkeeper for

Giuseppe Taglialatela Giuseppe "Pino" Taglialatela (born 2 January 1969) is an Italian former professional football player who played as a goalkeeper. He is club chairman of Lega Pro club Ischia. Playing career After developing in the Ischia Isolaverde Youth Sector ...

, Luca Mondini and Alessio Bandieri. In June 2000, he joined

A.S. Roma ' (''Rome Sport Association''), commonly referred to as Roma (), is a professional football club based in Rome, Italy. Founded by a merger in 1927, Roma has participated in the top tier of Italian football for all of its existence, except for ...

, He was the backup of Francesco Antonioli.

Ascoli

He transferred 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 ...

team

Ascoli Calcio 1898 Ascoli Calcio 1898 F.C., commonly referred to as Ascoli, is an Italian football club based in Ascoli Piceno, Marche. The club was formed in 1898 and currently plays in Serie B. The team traditionally play in vertical black and white stripes. H ...

in the summer of 2003, making one appearance before being sent to Serie A team

Reggina Calcio Reggina 1914 S.r.l., commonly referred to as Reggina, is an Italian football club based in Reggio Calabria. Founded in 1914, they currently play in Serie B, and play their home matches at the 27,763 seater Stadio Oreste Granillo. They are ni ...

on loan, playing further two games. He returned to Ascoli in 2004, and made 28 appearances, plus 2 more in play-offs, helping Ascoli achieve promotion back to Serie A. During the 2005–06 season, Coppola played all of the 38 Serie A fixtures, and saw Ascoli finish twelfth place in the table.

Milan and Piacenza

Coppola was signed by

A.C. 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 ...

in June 2006, for €200,000, as a replacement for their third choice goalkeeper Valerio Fiori, who was set to retire from professional football. Coppola was to compete with

Željko Kalac Zeljko Kalac (born 16 December 1972) is an Australian former soccer goalkeeper, who is currently the manager of NK Urania Baška Voda, who play in the Croatian third division. Nicknamed "Spider" due to his tall, gangly figure, standing at 2.02& ...

for this position. He played a few friendly matches with A.C. Milan, but was sent back to Serie B, to play for

Piacenza Calcio Piacenza Calcio 1919, commonly referred to as Piacenza, is an Italian football club based in Piacenza, Emilia-Romagna. The club currently plays in Serie C. Re-founded in 2012, Piacenza Calcio 1919 acquired the rights to use the brand of the ori ...

, because Fiori delayed his retirement.

Atalanta

In the summer of 2007, he was loaned to

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 ...

in Serie A. In June 2008, Atalanta bought half of the rights from Milan for €750,000.

Siena

After Atalanta were relegated, Milan bought him back for €200,000 and loaned him to Siena. Two days later Siena sold

Gianluca Curci Gianluca Curci (; born 12 July 1985) is an Italian professional footballer who plays as a goalkeeper, most recently for Hammarby IF in the Swedish Allsvenskan. Curci has previously played for Roma, Siena, Sampdoria, Bologna, 1. FSV Mainz 05 ...

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, ...

Torino

On 30 June 2011,

Torino Turin ( , 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 from 1861 to 1865. T ...

announced the signing of Coppola on a temporary basis from Milan. Before the start of the 2012–13, Coppola was sentenced to a six-month ban, later reduced to four months on appeal, for his involvement in the 2011–12 Italian football scandal. After serving the ban, during the January transfer window he re-joined Torino, this time on a permanent deal.

Back in Milan

On 19 August 2013, he was re-signed by

Milan Milan ( , , Lombard: ; it, Milano ) is a city in northern Italy, capital of Lombardy, and the second-most populous city proper in Italy after Rome. The city proper has a population of about 1.4 million, while its metropolitan city h ...

Bologna

On 8 July 2014 Coppola moved to

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 ...

Career statistics

References

External links

Profile
at assocalciatori.it {{DEFAULTSORT:Coppola, Ferdinando 1978 births Living people Italian footballers S.S.C. Napoli players Bologna F.C. 1909 players Reggina 1914 players Ascoli Calcio 1898 F.C. players A.C. Milan players Piacenza Calcio 1919 players Atalanta B.C. players A.C.R. Siena 1904 players Torino F.C. players Hellas Verona F.C. players Serie A players Serie B players Association football goalkeepers Footballers from Naples