Gionatha Spinesi (born 9 March 1978) is an Italian former 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

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 ...

Career

Born in

Pisa Pisa ( , or ) is a city and ''comune'' in Tuscany, central Italy, straddling the Arno just before it empties into the Ligurian Sea. It is the capital city of the Province of Pisa. Although Pisa is known worldwide for its leaning tower, the cit ...

, Spinesi started playing for

Pisa Calcio Pisa Sporting Club, commonly referred to as Pisa, is an Italian football club based in Pisa, Tuscany. The team currently plays in Serie B. The club was founded in 1909 as Pisa Sporting Club and refounded in 1994 as Pisa Calcio (and registered i ...

. In November 1995 he signed for

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

, however, he was not able to make appearance in the first team. Sold in January 1997 to

Castel di Sangro Castel di Sangro (locally ''Caštiéllë'') is a city and ''comune'' of 6,461 people (as of 2013) in the Province of L'Aquila, in Abruzzo, Central Italy. It is the main city of the Alto Sangro e Altopiano delle Cinque Miglia area. Geography Cast ...

, he played two unimpressive

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 ...

seasons for the small

team. In June 1997 he joined

A.S. Bari Società Sportiva Calcio Bari, commonly referred to as Bari, is an Football in Italy, Italian football club based in Bari, Apulia. Bari currently plays in the . The team finished the 2021–22 season in first place in Serie C and earned promot ...

, where he made his

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 Coppa ...

debut and played six seasons. In February 2004, he was released for free by Bari following clashes with the board about his contract renewal. In 2004–05, Spinesi played for newly promoted Serie B team

Arezzo Arezzo ( , , ) , also ; ett, 𐌀𐌓𐌉𐌕𐌉𐌌, Aritim. is a city and ''comune'' in Italy and the capital of the province of the same name located in Tuscany. Arezzo is about southeast of Florence at an elevation of above sea level. ...

, where he scored 22 goals and won the league top scorer title. In 2005–06, Spinesi followed Siena coach

Pasquale Marino Pasquale Marino (born 13 July 1962) is an Italian football manager and former midfielder. He most recently served as the manager of Crotone. Career Playing career In his playing career, started for his home team, Marsala, Marino never played in ...

in joining

Catania Catania (, , Sicilian and ) is the second largest municipality in Sicily, after Palermo. Despite its reputation as the second city of the island, Catania is the largest Sicilian conurbation, among the largest in Italy, as evidenced also by ...

, where he scored 23 goals and helped the team to promote to Serie A. In 2006–07 Spinesi kept his excellent top flight record up by notching 17 goals and ensuring Catania remained in Serie A. During the 2007–08 season, however, Spinesi scored only seven goals in the league, but was still an influential part of the first team, as Catania again managed to avoid relegation. However, from 2008 onwards he failed to get back into the first team due to recurrent injuries, and he was released in June 2009. Spinesi successively announced his retirement from football, thus turning down an agreement he had previously found with

Lega Pro Prima Divisione Lega Pro Prima Divisione was the third highest football league in Italy. It consisted of 33 teams, divided geographically into two divisions of 16 and 17 teams for group A and B respectively. Until 2008 it was known as Serie C1. Before the 1978� ...

club Valle del Giovenco.

References

1978 births Living people Sportspeople from the Province of Pisa Italian footballers Footballers from Tuscany Association football forwards Italy under-21 international footballers Serie A players Serie B players Serie D players Pisa S.C. players Inter Milan players A.S.D. Castel di Sangro Calcio players S.S.C. Bari players S.S. Arezzo players Catania S.S.D. players {{Italy-footy-forward-1970s-stub