Giandomenico Mesto (; born 25 May 1982) is a former Italian

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 ...

. Known for his pace, work-rate, and versatility, Mesto usually played as a full-back or as a

wide 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 ...

on the right flank.

Club career

After making his professional debut during the

1998–99 Serie B The Serie B 1998–99 was the sixty-seventh tournament of this competition played in Italy since its creation. Teams Cesena, Cremonese, Cosenza and Ternana had been promoted from Serie C, while Brescia, Atalanta, Lecce and Napoli had been rel ...

season, Mesto has spent the majority of his career at

Reggina 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 nic ...

, aside from spells with

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 ...

and Fermana during the 2001–02

Serie C2 Lega Pro Seconda Divisione was the fourth highest football league in Italy, the lowest with a professional status. Usually it consisted of 36 teams, but in the 2011–12 season, there were 41 teams divided geographically into two divisions of 2 ...

and C1 seasons, makine 138 appearances and scoring 1 goal; he was loaned out to

Udinese Udinese Calcio, commonly referred to as Udinese, is a professional Italian football club based in Udine, Friuli-Venezia Giulia, that currently plays in Serie A. It was founded on 30 November 1896 as a sports club, and on 5 July 1911 as a fo ...

during the 2007–08 season. In 2008, he transferred to

Genoa Genoa ( ; it, Genova ; lij, Zêna ). is the capital of the Italian region of Liguria and the List of cities in Italy, sixth-largest city in Italy. In 2015, 594,733 people lived within the city's administrative limits. As of the 2011 Italian ce ...

, where he remained for four seasons. In 2012, he moved to

Napoli Naples (; it, Napoli ; nap, Napule ), from grc, Νεάπολις, Neápolis, lit=new city. is the regional capital of Campania and the third-largest city of Italy, after Rome and Milan, with a population of 909,048 within the city's adminis ...

where he remained until the

2014–15 Serie A The 2014–15 Serie A (known as the Serie A TIM for sponsorship reasons) was the 113th season of top-tier Italian football, the 83rd in a round-robin tournament, and the fifth since its organization under a league committee separate from Serie ...

season, winning a

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 the

Supercoppa Italiana The Supercoppa Italiana ( en, Italian Super Cup) is an annual football match contested by the winners of the Serie A and the Coppa Italia in the previous season. If the same team wins both the Serie A and Coppa Italia titles in the previous seaso ...

in 2014. At the end of the season, his contract was not renewed. On 31 December 2015 he signed with Greek side

Panathinaikos Panathinaikos Athlitikos Omilos ( el, Παναθηναϊκός Αθλητικός Όμιλος, literally in English: "Panathenaic Athletic Club" or Panathinaikos A.C.), also known simply as Panathinaikós , is a major Greek multi-sport club ba ...

for one and a half years. On 1 June 2016, Mesto extended his contract with the club for another year till the summer of 2018.

International career

At international level, Mesto appeared in the Italian under-21 national team which won the

2004 UEFA European Under-21 Championship The 2004 UEFA European Under-21 Championship was the 14th staging of UEFA's European Under-21 Championship. The final tournament was hosted by Germany between 27 May and 8 June 2004. Italy U-21s won the competition for the fifth time. Italy's Al ...

, and was a member of the under-23's

Olympic Olympic or Olympics may refer to Sports Competitions * Olympic Games, international multi-sport event held since 1896 ** Summer Olympic Games ** Winter Olympic Games * Ancient Olympic Games, ancient multi-sport event held in Olympia, Greece b ...

squad which won the bronze medal at the

2004 Summer Olympics The 2004 Summer Olympics ( el, Θερινοί Ολυμπιακοί Αγώνες 2004, ), officially the Games of the XXVIII Olympiad ( el, Αγώνες της 28ης Ολυμπιάδας, ) and also known as Athens 2004 ( el, Αθήνα 2004), ...

Athens Athens ( ; el, Αθήνα, Athína ; grc, Ἀθῆναι, Athênai (pl.) ) is both the capital and largest city of Greece. With a population close to four million, it is also the seventh largest city in the European Union. Athens dominates ...

. Afterwards, he made his senior international debut for

Italy Italy ( it, Italia ), officially the Italian Republic, ) or the Republic of Italy, is a country in Southern Europe. It is located in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea, and its territory largely coincides with the homonymous geographical re ...

a year later, in a 1–1 friendly draw against

Serbia and Montenegro Serbia and Montenegro ( sr, Cрбија и Црна Гора, translit=Srbija i Crna Gora) was a country in Southeast Europe located in the Balkans that existed from 1992 to 2006, following the breakup of the Socialist Federal Republic of Yu ...

, on 8 June 2005; in total, he has obtained three caps for Italy.

Honours

International

Italy U21 *

UEFA European Under-21 Championship The UEFA European Under-21 Championship, the UEFA Under-21 Championship or simply the Euro Under-21, is a biennial football competition contested by the European men's under-21 national teams of the UEFA member associations. Since 1992, the compe ...

2004 2004 was designated as an International Year of Rice by the United Nations, and the International Year to Commemorate the Struggle Against Slavery and its Abolition (by UNESCO). Events January * January 3 – Flash Airlines Flight 6 ...

Olympic Bronze Medal An Olympic medal is awarded to successful competitors at one of the Olympic Games. There are three classes of medal to be won: gold, silver, and bronze, awarded to first, second, and third place, respectively. The granting of awards is laid ou ...

Club

Napoli *

: 2013–14 *

2014 File:2014 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: Stocking up supplies and personal protective equipment (PPE) for the Western African Ebola virus epidemic; Citizens examining the ruins after the Chibok schoolgirls kidnapping; Bundles of wat ...

Orders

5th Class / Knight: ''

Cavaliere Ordine al Merito della Repubblica Italiana The Order of Merit of the Italian Republic ( it, Ordine al Merito della Repubblica Italiana) is the senior Italian order of merit. It was established in 1951 by the second President of the Italian Republic, Luigi Einaudi. The highest-ranking h ...

'': 2004

References

External links

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Mesto, Giandomenico 1982 births Living people People from Monopoli Footballers at the 2004 Summer Olympics Italian footballers Italy men's international footballers Italy men's under-21 international footballers Italy men's youth international footballers Olympic bronze medalists for Italy Olympic footballers of Italy Serie A players Serie B players Super League Greece players Reggina 1914 players Fermana F.C. players U.S. Cremonese players Udinese Calcio players Genoa C.F.C. players S.S.C. Napoli players Panathinaikos F.C. players Olympic medalists in football Medalists at the 2004 Summer Olympics Italian expatriate footballers Expatriate footballers in Greece Men's association football midfielders Men's association football defenders Knights of the Order of Merit of the Italian Republic Footballers from Apulia Sportspeople from the Metropolitan City of Bari