Liberato Gianpaolo Cacace ( ; born 27 September 2000) is a New Zealand 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 plays as a

left-back In the sport of association football, a defender is an outfield position whose primary role is to stop attacks during the game and prevent the opposition from scoring. Centre-backs are usually positioned in pairs, with one full-back on either s ...

for club

Empoli Empoli () is a town and ''comune'' in the Metropolitan City of Florence, Tuscany, Italy, about southwest of Florence, to the south of the Arno in a plain formed by the river. The plain has been usable for agriculture since Roman times. The comm ...

and the New Zealand national team.

Club career

Island Bay

As a youth, Cacace played for

Island Bay United Island Bay United is a football club in the southern suburb of Island Bay in Wellington, New Zealand. The club was founded in 1931 as Wellington Technical College Old Boys. In 1966 the name was changed to Island Bay United. Island Bay United ...

and was also a representative player of

Capital Football Capital Football is the trading name for the ACT Football Federation Incorporated, the state governing body for association football, soccer in the Australian Capital Territory, Australia, Australian Capital Territory (ACT), but also has affili ...

for two years in their 1999 squad. He was chosen by former

Wellington Phoenix Wellington Phoenix Football Club is a professional association football club based in Wellington, New Zealand. It competes in the Australian A-League, under licence from Football Federation Australia. Phoenix entered the competition in the ...

and

All Whites The New Zealand men's national football team ( mi, Tīma hoka a-motu o Aotearoa) represents New Zealand in men's international football competitions. The team is governed by the governing body for football in New Zealand, New Zealand Footbal ...

coach

Ricki Herbert Ricki Lloyd Herbert (born 10 April 1961) is a New Zealand former footballer and manager. He is the current technical director at Cambridge FC. Herbert was formerly head coach of the New Zealand national team, stepping down after the side faile ...

to be part of his junior elite academy. Cacace also played for his school team at St Patrick's College in

Wellington Wellington ( mi, Te Whanganui-a-Tara or ) is the capital city of New Zealand. It is located at the south-western tip of the North Island, between Cook Strait and the Remutaka Range. Wellington is the second-largest city in New Zealand by me ...

, alongside South Sudan international

Manyumow Achol Manyumow Achol (born 10 December 2000) is a South Sudanese professional footballer who plays as a winger or a midfielder for Vīrsliga club Auda and the South Sudan national team. Early life Achol was born in South Sudan, then part of Sudan ...

. Cacace helped his college team win the Wellington Premier Youth football league, scoring in the 2–1 final against

Hutt International Boys' School Hutt International Boys' School (usually known by its acronym, HIBS) is a state integrated boys' secondary school in Trentham, Upper Hutt, New Zealand founded in 1991. The school is multi-denominational and affiliated with the Anglican faith. ...

Wellington Phoenix Reserves

Cacace started playing for the Wellington Phoenix Reserves in the

New Zealand Football Championship The New Zealand Football Championship ( mi, Te Whakataetae Whutupaoro a Aotearoa) was a men's association football league at the top of the New Zealand league system. Founded in 2004, the New Zealand Football Championship was the successor to a m ...

in the 2016–17 season, making eight appearances, including four starts. During the winter season, Cacace played with Wellington Phoenix feeder club

Wellington United Wellington United AFC is an association football club based in Wellington, New Zealand, that competes in the Central League. History Wellington Diamond United Wellington Diamond United was the result of the merger of Diamond and Zealandia/Well ...

in the local

Central League The or is one of the two professional baseball leagues that constitute Nippon Professional Baseball in Japan. The winner of the league championship plays against the winner of the Pacific League in the annual Japan Series. It currently consist ...

Wellington Phoenix

On 2 February 2018, Cacace made his debut for the senior side, coming on as a substitute in a 4–0 defeat against

Sydney FC Sydney Football Club is an Australian professional soccer club based in Sydney, New South Wales. It competes in the country's premier men's competition, A-League Men, under licence from Australian Professional Leagues (APL). The club was fo ...

in the

A-League A-League Men (known as the Isuzu UTE A-League for sponsorship reasons) is the highest-level professional men's soccer league in Australia and New Zealand. At the top of the Australian league system, it is the country's premier men's competiti ...

. Following the end of the

2017–18 A-League The 2017–18 A-League was the 41st season of top-flight soccer in Australia, and the 13th since the establishment of the A-League in 2004. The season began on 6 October 2017 and ended with the Grand Final on 5 May 2018. Sydney FC won the A-Le ...

season, and having made seven appearances for the club, Cacace signed a three-year professional contract with Wellington Phoenix. In the 2018–19 season, following the departure of

Scott Galloway Scott Robert Galloway (born 25 April 1995) is an Australian professional football (soccer) player who plays as a fullback for Melbourne City in the A-League. Born in Perth, Galloway played youth football for the Australian Institute of Spor ...

and injury to

Tom Doyle Thomas Joseph Doyle (born 30 June 1992) is a New Zealand international footballer who currently plays as a left back for Bay Olympic in the Northern League. Doyle made his senior professional debut for Wellington Phoenix FC in the 2014 FFA Cu ...

, Cacace became the first-choice

under new manager Marko Rudan, one month after his 18th birthday. Cacace scored his maiden

goal against

Central Coast Mariners Central Coast Mariners Football Club is an Australian professional soccer club based in Gosford, on the Central Coast of New South Wales. It competes in the A-League Men, under licence from the Australian Professional Leagues (APL). The Ma ...

in an 8-2 victory on 9 March 2019, becoming the club's youngest ever goalscorer at 18 years and 163 days. After playing more minutes than any other Wellington Phoenix player that season, Cacace won the club's Young Player of the Year award ahead of fellow starter

Sarpreet Singh Sarpreet Singh (born 20 February 1999) is a New Zealand professional footballer who plays as an attacking midfielder for club Jahn Regensburg, on loan from Bayern Munich II. He also represents the New Zealand national team. Born in New Zealan ...

. The following season, Cacace established himself as one of Wellington's most important players, with captain Steven Taylor calling him "the best left-back in the league without a shadow of a doubt". On 8 March 2020, Cacace played his 50th game for Wellington Phoenix against Central Coast Mariners, the youngest player in the club's history to do so.

Sint-Truiden

After a stellar season with the

, Cacace signed a three year contract with

Sint-Truiden Sint-Truiden (; french: link=no, Saint-Trond ; li, Sintruin ) is a city and municipality located in the province of Limburg, Flemish Region, Belgium, and has over 41,500 inhabitants, which makes it one of the largest cities in Limburg. The muni ...

for a suspected transfer fee of around €1.2 million.

Empoli

On 31 January 2022, Cacace joined Italian

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 ...

club

on loan, with a conditional obligation to buy. The conditions were fulfilled and Empoli purchased the rights on 17 June 2022.

International career

Cacace was part of the New Zealand U-17 team that won the 2017 OFC U-17 Championship, where he scored one goal. This meant that the team qualified for the

2017 FIFA U-17 World Cup The 2017 FIFA U-17 World Cup was the 17th FIFA U-17 World Cup, a biennial international football tournament contested by men's under-17 national teams. Organised by FIFA, the tournament took place in India between 6 and 28 October 2017, after the ...

in India. Cacace then played at the FIFA U-17 World Cup, making his World Cup debut in the 1–1 draw with Turkey, before starting again in a 4–2 loss to Paraguay and a 3–1 loss to Mali. Cacace was selected to join the

squad in the 2018 Intercontinental Cup in June 2018. He made his All Whites debut in Mumbai on 5 June 2018, against

Chinese Taipei "Chinese Taipei" is the term used in various international organizations and tournaments for groups or delegations representing the Republic of China (ROC), a country commonly known as Taiwan. Due to the One-China principle stipulated by th ...

, in a 1–0 victory. Cacace scored the opening goal at the

2020 Summer Olympics The , officially the and also known as , was an international multi-sport event held from 23 July to 8 August 2021 in Tokyo, Japan, with some preliminary events that began on 21 July. Tokyo was selected as the host city during the ...

New Zealand New Zealand ( mi, Aotearoa ) is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and over 700 smaller islands. It is the sixth-largest island count ...

's 3–2 loss to

Honduras Honduras, officially the Republic of Honduras, is a country in Central America. The republic of Honduras is bordered to the west by Guatemala, to the southwest by El Salvador, to the southeast by Nicaragua, to the south by the Pacific Oce ...

. Cacace scored against

Tahiti Tahiti (; Tahitian ; ; previously also known as Otaheite) is the largest island of the Windward group of the Society Islands in French Polynesia. It is located in the central part of the Pacific Ocean and the nearest major landmass is Austr ...

in a 1–0 win in the semi-finals of the OFC FIFA World Cup qualifiers.

Personal life

Cacace was born in

to an Italian father and a New Zealand mother of Italian descent. His father Antonio arrived in the country in 1992 from

Massa Lubrense Massa Lubrense ( nap, Màssë) is a ''comune'' (municipality) in the Metropolitan City of Naples in the Italian region Campania, located about southeast of Naples. As of 31 December 2004, it had a population of 13,404 and an area of 19.7 km2. ...

, a small commune in

Naples 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 ...

, and operates ''La Bella Italia'', an Italian restaurant located in

Petone Petone (Māori: ''Pito-one''), a large suburb of Lower Hutt, Wellington, stands at the southern end of the Hutt Valley, on the northern shore of Wellington Harbour. The Māori name means "end of the sand beach". Europeans first settled in Pe ...

. He attended St Patrick's College. Cacace supports his father's hometown team,

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 ...

Career statistics

Club

International

:''Scores and results list New Zealand's goal tally first, score column indicates score after each Cacace goal.''

Honours

New Zealand U17 *

OFC U-17 Championship The OFC U-16 Championship is a biennial football tournament for players under the age of 16. The tournament decides the only two qualification spots for the Oceania Football Confederation (OFC) and its representatives at the FIFA U-17 World Cup, w ...

2017 File:2017 Events Collage V2.png, From top left, clockwise: The War Against ISIS at the Battle of Mosul (2016-2017); aftermath of the Manchester Arena bombing; The Solar eclipse of August 21, 2017 ("Great American Eclipse"); North Korea tests a ser ...

Individual *

U-23 Player of the Year: 2018–19 * PFA Team of the Season: 2019–20 * Harry Kewell Medal: 2019–20

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Cacace, Liberato 2000 births Living people New Zealand people of Italian descent Association footballers from Wellington City New Zealand men's association footballers Men's association football defenders People educated at St. Patrick's College, Wellington Wellington Phoenix FC players Sint-Truidense V.V. players Empoli FC players New Zealand Football Championship players A-League Men players Belgian Pro League players Serie A players New Zealand men's youth international footballers New Zealand men's under-20 international footballers New Zealand men's under-23 international footballers Olympic association footballers for New Zealand New Zealand men's international footballers Footballers at the 2020 Summer Olympics New Zealand expatriate men's association footballers New Zealand expatriate sportspeople in Belgium Expatriate men's footballers in Belgium New Zealand expatriate sportspeople in Italy Expatriate men's footballers in Italy