Luca Caldirola (born 1 February 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 le ...

who plays as a defender for club

Monza Monza (, ; lmo, label=Lombard language, Lombard, Monça, locally ; lat, Modoetia) is a city and ''comune'' on the River Lambro, a tributary of the Po River, Po in the Lombardy region of Italy, about north-northeast of Milan. It is the capit ...

. Mainly a

centre-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 ...

, he can also play as a left-back.

Club career

Inter Milan

2009–10 season

Caldirola started his career at

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 ...

, where he was the team captain at under-20 level (''Primavera'') and was occasionally called up to join the first team during the 2009–10 season, without making any appearances, however, on the pitch. Caldirola also played for various youth teams in

Lombardy Lombardy ( it, Lombardia, Lombard language, Lombard: ''Lombardia'' or ''Lumbardia' '') is an administrative regions of Italy, region of Italy that covers ; it is located in the northern-central part of the country and has a population of about 10 ...

as goalkeeper and midfielder before joined Inter at the age of eight. He played in a friendly match for the Inter first team in 2009.

2010–11 season

On 29 June 2010, Inter loaned out Caldirola to Dutch club

Vitesse Arnhem Vitesse may refer to: * Vitesse Models, a diecast model car company * Vitesse (band), Dutch rock band * Bugatti Veyron Grand Sport Vitesse, a car * Rover 216 Vitesse, a car * Rover 3500 Vitesse, a car * Rover 800 Vitesse, a car * Triumph Vites ...

of the

Eredivisie The Eredivisie (; ''"Honour Division"'' or ''"Premier Division"'') is the highest level of professional football in the Netherlands. The league was founded in 1956, two years after the start of professional football in the Netherlands. It is c ...

for the entire 2010–11 season; he is the second Italian player to be part of the Arnhem club, after

Marco De Marchi Marco Antonio De Marchi (born 8 September 1966) is an Italian association football agent and former defender, who played as a centre-back. Career Born in Milan, De Marchi started his career with the Como youth system, and was successively so ...

. Inter also reduced the age limit of its ''Primavera'' team to under-19 in 2010, keeping only three players born in 1991 in the 2010–11 season as back-ups for the first team. Half of the registration rights of Caldirola — and

Luca Garritano Luca Garritano (born 11 February 1994) is an Italian professional footballer who plays as a midfielder or left winger for Serie A club Frosinone. Club career Inter Born in Cosenza, Calabria, southern Italy, Garritano played for Inter Milan from t ...

— were sold to

Cesena Cesena (; rgn, Cisêna) is a city and ''comune'' in the Emilia-Romagna region of Italy, served by Autostrada A14, and located near the Apennine Mountains, about from the Adriatic Sea. The total population is 97,137. History Cesena was o ...

as part of the deal that brought defender

Yuto Nagatomo is a Japanese professional footballer who plays as a full back for Japanese club FC Tokyo and the Japan national team. A graduate from the Meiji University, Nagatomo started his professional career with FC Tokyo in 2007, quickly establish ...

to the

San Siro Stadio Giuseppe Meazza, commonly known as San Siro, is a football stadium in the San Siro district of Milan, Italy, which is the home of A.C. Milan and Inter Milan. It has a seating capacity of 80,018, making it one of the largest stadiums in ...

in June 2011, after a successful loan. Half of the registration rights of Caldirola was valued €2.5 million; Caldirola signed a four-year contract. Both Caldirola and Garritano returned to Inter in a temporary deal for the 2011–12 season.

2011–12 season

On 7 December 2011, Caldirola made his first team debut for Inter in a

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 competit ...

group stage match against CSKA Moscow which ended in a 2–1 loss at

. On 4 January 2012, Inter confirmed that Caldirola signed a loan deal until the end of the season with the

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 ...

outfit

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. ...

2012–13 season

In June 2012, the co-ownership deal was renewed and Caldirola reported to Cesena in pre-season on 10 July 2012, where he played the first half of the season for the

Romagna Romagna ( rgn, Rumâgna) is an Italian historical region that approximately corresponds to the south-eastern portion of present-day Emilia-Romagna, North Italy. Traditionally, it is limited by the Apennines to the south-west, the Adriatic to t ...

club before again being loaned to Brescia in January 2013, where he finished the campaign with 15 league appearances. In June 2013 Inter bought back Caldirola for €2.5 million, with Riccardo Melgrati and Thomas Pedrabissi moved to Cesena outright for €750,000 and €1 million respectively; Cesena also signed

Yago Del Piero Yago Del Piero (born 14 January 1994) is a Brazilian professional footballer who plays as a midfielder. Career Born in Brazil, Del Piero traveled to Italy at a young age. He was a member of Treviso youth team. Internazionale On 1 September 2008, ...

in co-ownership deal for €250,000, thus the deals only involves €500,000 cash to Cesena.

Werder Bremen

On 26 June 2013,

SV Werder Bremen Sportverein Werder Bremen von 1899 e. V. (), commonly known as Werder Bremen (), Werder or simply Bremen, is a German professional sports club based in Bremen, Bremen (state), Free Hanseatic City of Bremen. Founded on 4 February 1899, they are be ...

confirmed the signing of Luca Caldirola from Inter on a four-year contract, for a €2.5 million transfer fee. He missed most of the 2016–17 season due to injuries. With his contract running out at the end of the month, he agreed to a two-year contract extension on 15 June 2017. After an envisaged transfer away from the club did not materialise in summer 2018, Caldirola trained with Werder Bremen's reserves in the first half of the 2018–19 season.

Darmstadt 98 (loan)

On 15 July 2015, Caldirola was loaned out for a season to

SV Darmstadt 98 Sportverein Darmstadt 1898 e.V., commonly known as Darmstadt 98 (), is a German football club based in Darmstadt, Hesse. The club was founded on 22 May 1898 as FC Olympia Darmstadt. Early in 1919, the association was briefly known as ''Rasen-Spo ...

Benevento

On 30 January 2019, Caldirola joined Italian

side

Benevento Benevento (, , ; la, Beneventum) is a city and ''comune'' of Campania, Italy, capital of the province of Benevento, northeast of Naples. It is situated on a hill above sea level at the confluence of the Calore Irpino (or Beneventano) and the ...

on a free transfer, returning to Italy after five years.

Monza

On 17 July 2021, Caldirola moved to

in the Serie B on a two-year contract.

International career

Caldirola has represented his native country of Italy at all youth levels, from under-16 to under-20. On 17 November 2010, he made his debut with the Italy under-21 team in a friendly match against

Turkey Turkey ( tr, Türkiye ), officially the Republic of Türkiye ( tr, Türkiye Cumhuriyeti, links=no ), is a list of transcontinental countries, transcontinental country located mainly on the Anatolia, Anatolian Peninsula in Western Asia, with ...

in a 2–1 victory played in

Fermo Fermo (ancient: Firmum Picenum) is a town and ''comune'' of the Marche, Italy, in the Province of Fermo. Fermo is on a hill, the Sabulo, elevation , on a branch from Porto San Giorgio on the Adriatic coast railway. History The oldest hum ...

. In 2009, he participated at the UEFA Under-19 Championship with the Italians. In May 2011, he was called-on by Ciro Ferrara to play the games of the

2011 Toulon Tournament The 2011 Toulon Tournament was the 39th edition of the Toulon Tournament and took place from 1 June to 10 June. Ivory Coast were the defending champions, but they failed to win a single match and were eliminated in the group stage. Colombia won ...

. Under the management of

Devis Mangia Devis Mangia (; born 6 June 1974) is an Italian association football manager, most recently in charge of the Malta national football team. Managing career Early years Mangia started his coaching career at age 30, working alongside Sean Sogliano ...

, in 2012, Caldirola was named captain of the under-21 side, where he led the ''Azzurini'' in the

2013 UEFA European Under-21 Football Championship Thirteen or 13 may refer to: * 13 (number), the natural number following 12 and preceding 14 * One of the years 13 BC, AD 13, 1913, 2013 Music * 13AD (band), an Indian classic and hard rock band Albums * ''13'' (Black Sabbath album), 2013 * ...

Career statistics

Club

References

External links

*
Profile
at

A.C. Monza Associazione Calcio Monza () is a professional football club that is based in Monza, Lombardy, Italy. The team plays in the Serie A, the first tier of Italian football, following promotion in the 2021–22 Serie B season. The club was fou ...

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Caldirola, Luca 1991 births Living people People from Desio Italian footballers Association football defenders Serie A players Serie B players Eredivisie players Bundesliga players 3. Liga players Inter Milan players SBV Vitesse players Brescia Calcio players A.C. Cesena players SV Werder Bremen players SV Werder Bremen II players SV Darmstadt 98 players Benevento Calcio players A.C. Monza players Italy youth international footballers Italy under-21 international footballers Italian expatriate footballers Italian expatriate sportspeople in the Netherlands Italian expatriate sportspeople in Germany Expatriate footballers in the Netherlands Expatriate footballers in Germany Footballers from Lombardy Sportspeople from the Province of Monza e Brianza