Gianmarco Zigoni (born 10 May 1991) is an 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 ...

who plays as a forward for club Juve Stabia.

Club career

Early career

Raised in

Oderzo Oderzo ( la, Opitergium; vec, Oderso) is a '' comune'' with a population of 20,003 in the province of Treviso, Veneto, northern Italy. It lies in the heart of the Venetian plain, about to the northeast of Venice. Oderzo is crossed by the Montic ...

, Zigoni started playing football with local team Opitergina, before joining

Treviso Treviso ( , ; vec, Trevixo) is a city and '' comune'' in the Veneto region of northern Italy. It is the capital of the province of Treviso and the municipality has 84,669 inhabitants (as of September 2017). Some 3,000 live within the Ven ...

's youth system, where he scored more than one hundred goals. He made his professional debut with the club in a

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 ...

game against

Ancona Ancona (, also , ) is a city and a seaport in the Marche region in central Italy, with a population of around 101,997 . Ancona is the capital of the province of Ancona and of the region. The city is located northeast of Rome, on the Adriatic ...

on 26 January 2009, aged 17. The match ended in a 2–1 loss for Treviso, with Zigoni scoring their lone goal. He scored his second goal only four days later, in a 3–2 win against

Brescia Brescia (, locally ; lmo, link=no, label= Lombard, Brèsa ; lat, Brixia; vec, Bressa) is a city and ''comune'' in the region of Lombardy, Northern Italy. It is situated at the foot of the Alps, a few kilometers from the lakes Garda and Iseo ...

. The young striker went on to make a total of 18 appearances for Treviso in the 2008–09 season, being included 8 times in the starting line-up.

Milan

Coming to the attention of several

Serie A The Serie A (), also called Serie A TIM for national sponsorship with TIM, is a professional league competition for football clubs located at the top of the Italian football league system and the winner is awarded the Scudetto and the Cop ...

clubs, such

Fiorentina ACF Fiorentina, commonly referred to as Fiorentina (), is an Italian professional football club based in Florence, Tuscany, Italy. The original team was founded by a merger in August 1926, while the actual club was refounded in August 2002 fol ...

Internazionale Football Club Internazionale Milano, commonly referred to as Internazionale () or simply Inter, and colloquially known as Inter Milan in English-speaking countries, is an Italian professional football club based in Milan, Lombardy. Inter is t ...

and Juventus, Zigoni was eventually 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 ...

at the beginning of the 2009–10 season, for €1.3 million. He became a regular of their

youth team In sporting terminology, a youth system (or youth academy) is a youth investment program within a particular team or league, which develops and nurtures young talent in farm teams, with the vision of using them in the first team in the future i ...

, scoring a total of 19 goals in league and cup games. In particular, he scored in both legs of the Coppa Italia Primavera final, as Milan defeated Palermo 3–1 on aggregate to lift the trophy 25 years after the club's last success in the competition. As for the first team, Zigoni made only one appearance during the season. He came off the bench in the final minutes of a league game against

Lazio it, Laziale , population_note = , population_blank1_title = , population_blank1 = , demographics_type1 = , demographics1_footnotes = , demographics1_title1 = , demographics1_info1 = , demographics1_title2 ...

, which ended in 1–1 draw, on 28 March 2010.

Genoa

In July 2010, Zigoni was transferred to

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

in co-ownership for €3.75 million, as part of the deal that saw defender

Sokratis Papastathopoulos Sokratis Papastathopoulos ( el, Σωκράτης Παπασταθόπουλος; born 7 June 1988), commonly known mononymously as Sokratis, is a Greek professional footballer who plays as a centre-back for Super League club Olympiacos. Club ca ...

join Milan. With the youth team of his new club Zigoni scored two goals in the Supercoppa Primavera, as Genoa defeated 5–0 his former Milan teammates to secure the trophy. However, he failed to get any first-team appearances in his first months at the club. Subsequently, on 29 January 2011, Zigoni was sent out on

loan In finance, a loan is the lending of money by one or more individuals, organizations, or other entities to other individuals, organizations, etc. The recipient (i.e., the borrower) incurs a debt and is usually liable to pay interest on that ...

club

Frosinone Frosinone (, local dialect: ) is a town and ''comune'' in Lazio, central Italy, the administrative seat of the province of Frosinone. It is located about south-east of Rome close to the Rome-Naples A1 Motorway. The city is the main city of the ...

. In his short stint with the club, he made a mere six appearances with a single goal, and Frosinone ended being relegated to the third tier at the end of the season.

Milan return and loans

On 24 May 2011, Milan re-acquired the second half of Zigoni from Genoa for the same fee, before being sent on loan to Avellino for the season. Next season he was sent on another loan spell to

club

Pro Vercelli Football Club Pro Vercelli 1892, commonly referred to as Pro Vercelli, is an Italian football club based in Vercelli, Piedmont. The club is mostly renowned as one of the most successful teams in the early football era of Italy, with seven natio ...

. However, during the January transfer window he was called back and sent on a second loan spell to Avellino. Avellino promoted to Serie B at the end of season. On 29 July 2013 he was signed by Italian third division club

U.S. Lecce Unione Sportiva Lecce, commonly referred to as Lecce (), is an Italian football club based in Lecce, Apulia. The club play in Serie A in the 2022–23 season, the top level of the Italian football pyramid, having been promoted from Serie B. ...

, re-joining teammate

Giacomo Beretta Giacomo Beretta (born 14 March 1992) is an Italian professional footballer who plays as a forward for club Foggia. Club career Early years Beretta joined AC Milan in the summer of 2009, in a co-ownership deal with his former club Albin ...

and Marcus Diniz. Next season, he moved to Monza, once again on loan. On 8 January 2015 Zigoni was released by Monza. He was signed by SPAL on loan. The loan was extended on 13 July 2015, and again on 15 July 2016.

Venezia

On 10 August 2017, Zigoni was signed by

side

Venezia Venice ( ; it, Venezia ; vec, Venesia or ) is a city in northeastern Italy and the capital of the Veneto region. It is built on a group of 118 small islands that are separated by canals and linked by over 400 bridges. The islan ...

, on a season-long loan deal with an obligation to buy.

Serie C

On 19 September 2020 he joined

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 i ...

on loan. On 30 January 2021 he was sub-loaned to Mantova. On 31 January 2022, Zigoni was sold to

Serie C 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 ...

club

Virtus Verona Virtus Verona, founded as Unione Sportiva Virtus Borgo Venezia in 1921, sometimes referred to as Virtus Vecomp Verona for sponsorship reasons, is an Italian association football club located in Borgo Venezia, a district of Verona, Veneto. It c ...

on a permanent transfer. On 9 September 2022, Zigoni moved to Juve Stabia on a one-season contract.

International career

Zigoni won his first international cap in February 2009, shortly after his debut in

with

, being called up by Italy U-20 for a game against

Austria Austria, , bar, Östareich officially the Republic of Austria, is a country in the southern part of Central Europe, lying in the Eastern Alps. It is a federation of nine states, one of which is the capital, Vienna, the most populous ...

. Italy lost 2–1, with Zigoni himself scoring their lone goal. Zigoni went on to be selected also at under-18 and under-19 level, being capped a total of 10 times and scoring 5 goals. Among the 5 goals, 3 of them was from 3 substitute appearances in

2010 UEFA European Under-19 Football Championship qualification 2010 UEFA U-19 Championship (qualifying round) was the first round of qualifications for the final tournament of 2010 UEFA European Under-19 Championship. The final tournament of the 2010 UEFA European Under-19 Championship is preceded by two qualif ...

. However Zigoni was dropped out from the squad for the elite round and the final tournament as the team already had

Mattia Destro Mattia Destro (; born 20 March 1991) is an Italian professional footballer who plays as a striker for Serie A club Empoli. He has also featured at international level, holding eight caps for Italy. Club career Youth career Destro began his ...

Fabio Borini Fabio Borini (; born 29 March 1991) is an Italian professional footballer who plays as a winger for Turkish club Fatih Karagümrük. He started his career at Bologna, before moving to Chelsea F.C., Chelsea in 2007. In 2011, Borini joined EFL C ...

and

Nicolao Dumitru Nicolao Manuel Dumitru Cardoso (born 12 October 1991) is an Italian professional footballer who plays for Israeli Premier League club Bnei Sakhnin. Mainly a left winger, he can also play as a forward. Club career Early career Dumitru started ...

as centre forwards.

Personal life

Zigoni was born in

Verona Verona ( , ; vec, Verona or ) is a city on the Adige River in Veneto, Italy, with 258,031 inhabitants. It is one of the seven provincial capitals of the region. It is the largest city municipality in the region and the second largest in nor ...

, the son of former Juventus,

Roma Roma or ROMA may refer to: Places Australia * Roma, Queensland, a town ** Roma Airport ** Roma Courthouse ** Electoral district of Roma, defunct ** Town of Roma, defunct town, now part of the Maranoa Regional Council *Roma Street, Brisbane, a ...

, and

Hellas Verona Hellas Verona Football Club, commonly referred to as Hellas Verona or simply Verona, is a professional Italian football club based in Verona, Italy, that currently plays in Serie A. The team won the Serie A Championship in 1984–85. His ...

striker Gianfranco Zigoni and grandnephew of former

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 ...

midfielder

Pierluigi Ronzon Pierluigi Ronzon (; born 7 March 1934) is a former Italian football player from Gemona del Friuli in the Province of Udine. He played club football as a midfielder or defender for some of the top clubs in his country, including Sampdoria, Napoli ...

Career statistics

''Updated 24 January 2013''. ¹European competitions include the

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 ...

.
²Other tournaments include none to date.

References

External links

Profile
at Assocalciatori.it
International caps
at FIGC.it * {{DEFAULTSORT:Zigoni, Gianfranco 1991 births Living people Footballers from Verona Italian footballers Italy youth international footballers Treviso F.B.C. 1993 players A.C. Milan players Genoa C.F.C. players Frosinone Calcio players U.S. Avellino 1912 players U.S. Lecce players F.C. Pro Vercelli 1892 players A.C. Monza players S.P.A.L. players Venezia F.C. players Novara F.C. players Mantova 1911 players Virtus Verona players S.S. Juve Stabia players Association football forwards Serie A players Serie B players Serie C players