Giuseppe Sculli (born 23 March 1981) is a retired 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 ...

who played in several positions; primarily a

striker Striker or The Strikers may refer to: People *A participant in a strike action *A participant in a hunger strike *Blacksmith's striker, a type of blacksmith's assistant *Striker's Independent Society, the oldest mystic krewe in America People wi ...

, he could play anywhere along the front-line, and also played as a winger, as a second striker, and even as a right-sided midfielder or as a wingback on the right flank.

Club career

Juventus

Sculli joined Juventus F.C. in 1999, although he failed to make a single appearance for the club throughout the 1999–2000 season.

Crotone

F.C. Crotone Football Club Crotone S.r.l., commonly referred to as Crotone, is an Italian football club based in Crotone, Calabria. They play in the third division of Italian football, the Serie C. Founded in 20 settembre 1910, it holds its home games at Stadi ...

took Sculli on a two-year loan spell in the summer of 2000, paying Juventus €500k for the loan. In his first season at Crotone, Sculli played 23 matches and scored 3 goals, making his debut against A.C. ChievoVerona. The next season, he became even more prevalent in the first team, making 27 appearances and scoring 5 goals.

Modena

Giuseppe Sculli returned to Juventus after the end of the

2001–02 Serie B The 2001–02 Serie B is the 70th season since its establishment in 1929. It is the second highest football league in Italy. Teams Modena, Palermo, Como and Messina had been promoted from Serie C, while Reggina, Vicenza, Napoli and Bari had bee ...

season but was again sent on loan, this time to

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 ...

side

Modena F.C. Modena Football Club 2018, commonly referred to as Modena, is an Football in Italy, Italian football club based in Modena, Emilia-Romagna. The club was founded in 1912, and refounded in 2018, and had spent the majority of its existence playing i ...

Sculli made his Serie A debut on 14 September 2002 against A.C. Milan. He went on to score 8 goals that season in 31 appearances.

Chievo

Sculli was purchased by Chievo in mid-2003 in a co-ownership deal for a lump sum of €450K along with Paro and Gastaldello as part of the deal of

Nicola Legrottaglie Nicola Legrottaglie (; born 20 October 1976) is an Italian retired footballer who played as a central defender, and most recently the manager of Delfino Pescara 1936. In a senior career that lasted two full decades, he amassed Serie A totals o ...

transfer. Sculli endured a difficult campaign at Chievo in the 2003–04 season, struggling for playing time and form, scoring 3 goals in 20 appearances.

Brescia

He was sent on loan to Serie A side

Brescia Calcio Brescia Calcio, commonly referred to as Brescia (), is an Italian football club based in Brescia, Lombardy, that currently plays in . The club holds the record for total number of seasons (64) and consecutive seasons (18, from 1947–48 to 1 ...

in an attempt to aid the player in regaining his form. Sculli played much more this season, making 28 appearances, but for the first time in his senior professional career, failed to score a single goal that season.

Juventus

Juventus brought back Sculli, Paro and Gastaldello from Chievo in 2005 for a lump sum of €1.05M. Sculli signed a contract until the summer of 2008, and was immediately loaned out to

Messina Messina (, also , ) is a harbour city and the capital of the Italian Metropolitan City of Messina. It is the third largest city on the island of Sicily, and the 13th largest city in Italy, with a population of more than 219,000 inhabitants in ...

for the 2005–06 season. Sculli was a vital part of Messina's set-up, playing on either wing and managed 2 goals in 33 appearances.

Genoa

In 2006, Juventus were relegated to Serie B, at which point Sculli made a return to the first team. He made a few appearances in friendly matches, but was loaned to newly promoted Serie B team

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 ...

on 24 August. In November 2006, he was suspended 8 months for accused of match-fixing when he played for

against his current club F.C. Messina at the last match-day of the 2001–02 Serie B. He was sold by Juventus to Genoa for €300,000. In the 2007–08 season, Sculli finally made his return to football, his first match back was against Catania in Serie A's Round 2. He went on to make 35 appearances that season, scoring 4 goals. The next season, he managed a career high 9 goals in 35 Serie A appearances. The following season, Sculli made his European football debut in the Europa League, scoring goals Slavia Prague and LOSC Lille as Genoa went out in the group stages.

Lazio

Sculli was sold to

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

on 19 January 2011 in co-ownership deal for a peppercorn fee of €500.Genoa CFC SpA Report and Accounts on 31 December 2011 He was assigned the number 7 shirt for his new club, becoming Lazio's first signing of the 2011 calendar year. He finished his first and second goals for Lazio during a comfortable win against Palermo on 6 March 2011. In June 2011 Lazio bought him outright for €3 million. He scored three goals in the group stage of the Europa League against

FC Vaslui CS Sporting Juniorul Vaslui (), commonly known as Sporting Vaslui, Juniorul Vaslui or simply as Vaslui, is a Romanian professional football club based in Vaslui, Vaslui County, founded in 2002 and re-founded in 2014. The club is currently playin ...

FC Zürich Fussballclub Zürich, commonly abbreviated to FC Zürich or simply FCZ, is a Swiss football club based in Zürich. The club was founded in 1896 and has won the Swiss Super League 13 times and the Swiss Cup 10 times. The most recent titles a ...

and Sporting Lisbon. He returned on loan to Genoa for the second half of the 2011–12 season. After being frozen out from the Lazio side, Sculli went on loan to

Pescara Pescara (; nap, label= Abruzzese, Pescàrë; nap, label= Pescarese, Piscàrë) is the capital city of the Province of Pescara, in the Abruzzo region of Italy. It is the most populated city in Abruzzo, with 119,217 (2018) residents (and approxim ...

for the second half of the 2012–13 season. After again being frozen out for Lazio for the 2013–14 season, Sculli again returned to Genoa for the second half of the season. At the end of his loan spell, Sculli returned to Lazio and was still frozen out of the side.

International career

Sculli represented the

Italy national under-21 football team The Italy national under-21 football team is the national under-21 football team of Italy and is controlled by the Italian Football Federation. The team competes in the UEFA European Under-21 Championship, held every two years. Italy (along with ...

, winning the

2004 UEFA European Under-21 Football 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 earning a 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), ...

Personal life

Born in

Locri Locri is a town and ''comune'' (municipality) in the province of Reggio Calabria, Calabria, southern Italy. Its name derives from that of the ancient Greek region of Locris. Today it is an important administrative and cultural centre on the Ionia ...

, the

Province of Reggio Calabria The Province of Reggio Calabria ( it, Provincia di Reggio Calabria) was a province in the Calabria region of Italy. It was the southernmost province in mainland Italy and is separated from the island of Sicily by the Strait of Messina. The capital ...

, Sculli is the grandson of Giuseppe Morabito a notorious boss of the

'Ndrangheta The 'Ndrangheta (, , ) is a prominent Italian Mafia-type organized crime syndicate and secret society, criminal society based in the peninsular and mountainous region of Calabria and dating back to the late 18th century. It is considered one of ...

, the

Calabria , population_note = , population_blank1_title = , population_blank1 = , demographics_type1 = , demographics1_footnotes = , demographics1_title1 = , demographics1_info1 = , demographics1_title2 ...

n mafia organization.

Honours

International

;Italy under-21 *

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 ...

References

External links

Gazzetta.it
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Sculli, Giuseppe 1981 births Living people People from Locri Italian men's footballers Italy men's youth international footballers Italy men's under-21 international footballers Juventus FC players Modena FC 2018 players AC ChievoVerona players Brescia Calcio players ACR Messina players Genoa CFC players SS Lazio players Delfino Pescara 1936 players Serie A players Serie B players Olympic footballers for Italy Olympic bronze medalists for Italy Footballers at the 2004 Summer Olympics Men's association football forwards FC Crotone players Olympic medalists in football Medalists at the 2004 Summer Olympics Mediterranean Games silver medalists for Italy Mediterranean Games medalists in football Competitors at the 2001 Mediterranean Games Footballers from the Metropolitan City of Reggio Calabria