Giovanni Bonfanti (born 17 January 2003) 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 centre-back for club

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 (region), Arcadia, whose parents were Iasus and Clymene (mythology ...

and its

reserve team In sports, a reserve team is a team composed of players under contract to a club but who do not normally play in matches for the first team. Reserve teams often include back-up players from the first team, young players who need playing time to i ...

, Atalanta Under-23.

Club career

Born in

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 ...

, Bonfanti joined the

academy An academy (Attic Greek: Ἀκαδήμεια; Koine Greek Ἀκαδημία) is an institution of secondary or tertiary higher learning (and generally also research or honorary membership). The name traces back to Plato's school of philosop ...

in 2015, aged 12, and subsequently came through the club's youth ranks; in the summer of 2021, he was sent on loan to

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, ...

, where he played for the under-19 squad, while receiving his first call-ups to the first team, under head coach Marco Giampaolo. On 14 July 2022, Bonfanti joined

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 ...

side

Pontedera Pontedera (; la, Pons Herae) is an italian comune with a population of 29.270 inhabitants, located in the province of Pisa, Tuscany, central Italy. The town is located 20 km (12 miles) from Pisa and 50 km (31 miles) from Florence. It house ...

on loan until the end of the campaign. The defender made a total amount of 23 appearances (split between the

league League or The League may refer to: Arts and entertainment * ''Leagues'' (band), an American rock band * ''The League'', an American sitcom broadcast on FX and FXX about fantasy football Sports * Sports league * Rugby league, full contact footba ...

and the

Coppa Italia Serie C Coppa Italia Serie C ( it, Serie C Italian Cup), formerly named Coppa Italia Lega Pro, is a straight knock-out based competition involving teams from Serie C in Italian football first held in 1972. Format There are a total of six rounds in the ...

) for the club throughout his first professional season. Having returned to Atalanta in the summer of 2023, Bonfanti started training with the first team during the pre-season, under manager Gian Piero Gasperini; at the start of the league campaign, he was initially assigned to the club's newly-formed

, Atalanta Under-23. On 3 September 2023, he started in the Under-23 team's first official match, a 3–2

loss to

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 ...

. After establishing himself as a regular starter for the reserve team, the defender 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 Cop ...

debut on 25 November, coming on as a substitute for

Sead Kolašinac Sead Kolašinac (; born 20 June 1993) is a Bosnian professional footballer who plays as a left-back for Ligue 1 club Marseille and the Bosnia and Herzegovina national team. Kolašinac started his professional career at Schalke 04, playing fir ...

in the 76th minute of a 2–1

defeat 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 ...

. On 14 December, he made his debut in a European competition, starting and scoring his first professional goal in a 4–0

UEFA Europa League The UEFA Europa League (abbreviated as UEL, or sometimes, UEFA EL), formerly the UEFA Cup, is an annual football club competition organised since 1971 by the Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) for eligible European football clubs. ...

win over

Raków Częstochowa Robotniczy Klub Sportowy Raków Częstochowa Spółka Akcyjna (commonly referred to as Raków Częstochowa, or simply Raków) is a Polish professional football club, based in Częstochowa, that competes in the Ekstraklasa, the top tier of na ...

in the

group stage A tournament is a competition involving at least three competitors, all participating in a sport or game. More specifically, the term may be used in either of two overlapping senses: # One or more competitions held at a single venue and concen ...

International career

Bonfanti is a youth international for Italy, having played for the under-16 and under-20 national teams.

Career statistics

Club

References

External links

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Bonfanti, Giovanni 2003 births Living people Sportspeople from Milan Sportspeople from Lombardy Footballers from Milan Italian men's footballers Men's association football defenders Italy men's youth international footballers Atalanta BC players UC Sampdoria players US Città di Pontedera players Atalanta BC Under-23 players Serie C players Serie A players