Luigi Cennamo (born February 7, 1980) is a retired German-born Greek-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 as a

goalkeeper In many team sports which involve scoring goals, the goalkeeper (sometimes termed goaltender, netminder, GK, goalie or keeper) is a designated player charged with directly preventing the opposing team from scoring by blocking or intercepting o ...

Career

He started his career in Olympiakos as part of the first team in 1997. He was brought to Burnley by

Stan Ternent Francis Stanley Ternent (born 16 June 1946) is an English former footballer and manager. He managed Blackpool, Hull City, Bury, Burnley, Gillingham and Huddersfield Town. He was a scout for Hull City until January 2017. As a manager, he won thre ...

as one of three Greeks to sign for the Clarets along with goalkeeper

Nikolaos Michopoulos Nikolaos "Nikos" Michopoulos ( el, Νικόλαος "Νίκος" Μιχόπουλος; born 20 February 1970) is a former Greek professional football player. During his career he played for PAOK Thesaloniki and Burnley, and a short period to ...

and centre-forward Dimitrios Papadopoulos. Cennamo is half Greek/half Italian, but just to confuse matters even further he'd been born in 1980 in Munich in Southern Germany. He signed from Olympiakos on an initial six-month deal, the 21-year-old would be understudy to

but was expected to offer genuine competition for the first team role. On first team days he was always named on the bench as the substitute keeper, and in December was almost called upon at Preston when it looked as though Michopoulos would be sent off. At the beginning of 2001, there were big changes for Cennamo. Firstly the club announced they had signed him from Olympiakos. The fact that the Clarets were keen to make it permanent suggested he might have a long-term future with the club but just under two weeks later his world came crashing down, as did

Burnley Burnley () is a town and the administrative centre of the wider Borough of Burnley in Lancashire, England, with a 2001 population of 73,021. It is north of Manchester and east of Preston, at the confluence of the River Calder and River Bru ...

's hopes in the

FA Cup The Football Association Challenge Cup, more commonly known as the FA Cup, is an annual knockout football competition in men's domestic English football. First played during the 1871–72 season, it is the oldest national football competi ...

. His club was a favourite to beat

Cheltenham Cheltenham (), also known as Cheltenham Spa, is a spa town and borough on the edge of the Cotswolds in the county of Gloucestershire, England. Cheltenham became known as a health and holiday spa town resort, following the discovery of mineral s ...

at Whaddon Road but after twenty minutes in the game gone, Michopoulos suffered a serious injury and Cennamo got his big chance. Five minutes after coming on he was picking the ball out of the net, and he was repeating that after another five minutes as Burnley went on to lose 2-1. His manager

didn't trust him to replace Michopoulos and before the next game he brought in

Marlon Beresford Marlon Beresford (born 2 September 1969) is an English former footballer who played as a goalkeeper. He formerly also worked as an accountancy tutor and sports commentator after retiring from football. He is currently working for Woking FC as a ...

on loan from

Middlesbrough Middlesbrough ( ) is a town on the southern bank of the River Tees in North Yorkshire, England. It is near the North York Moors national park. It is the namesake and main town of its local borough council area. Until the early 1800s, the a ...

. Cennamo didn't even make the bench, in fact was never on the bench again and was released at the end of the season. He returned to Greece and after playing for a number of clubs. He succeeded to play with top division club

Egaleo Aigaleo or Egaleo ( el, Αιγάλεω ) is a suburban municipality in the western part of Athens, belonging to the West Athens regional administrative unit. It takes its name from Mount Aigaleo. Its population was 69,946 at the 2011 census. Ge ...

for almost 5 years. He was in their squad against

in the UEFA Cup during the 2004/05 season. In the season 2009/10, he moved to the Cypriot club APEP Pitsilia, having the first team role. After a year in Cyprus he returned to Greece, joining

Panetolikos Panetolikos Football Club ( el, ΠΑΕ Παναιτωλικός), or with its full name Panetolikós Yimnastikós Filekpedeftikós Síllogos ( el, Παναιτωλικός Γυμναστικός Φιλεκπαιδευτικός Σύλλογος'' ...

Football League The English Football League (EFL) is a league of professional football clubs from England and Wales. Founded in 1888 as the Football League, the league is the oldest such competition in the world. It was the top-level football league in Engla ...

, helping the club to win the Championship. On August 2, 2012 Cennamo transferred to

Maccabi Netanya Maccabi Netanya F.C. ( he, מועדון כדורגל מכבי נתניה, ''Football Club Maccabi Netanya'') is an Israeli football club based in Netanya. Established in 1934, the club was a founding member of the Israeli League in 1949. Afte ...

on a free transfer from

. It was a great year for him as he played for 38 games in all competitions. German-born Italian goalkeeper Cennamo has signed a one-year contract for an undisclosed fee with

Atromitos Atromitos (Greek: Ατρόμητος, "fearless") may refer to: * Atromitos F.C., a football team based in Peristeri, Athens, Greece * Atromitos Piraeus, a football team based in Piraeus, Athens, Greece * Atromitos Yeroskipou, a football team curr ...

, the Greek Super League team announced. On March 12, 2014

announced that after Tasos Karamanos, Nikolaos Lazaridis and

Efstathios Tavlaridis Stathis Tavlaridis ( el, Στάθης Ταυλαρίδης; born 25 January 1980) is a Greek former professional footballer who played as a centre-back. Tavlaridis has earned the nickname ''"Taureau"'' in France which means ''"The Bull"'' due to ...

, another player decided to continue with the club! The club recognized the effort, the stability, the character and the professionalism and made a formal proposal for renewal. The keeper signed a new contract lasting until 2016 in the presence of the Technical Manager Yiannis Angelopoulos. ''"I want to start by thanking the president Mr. George Spanos and technical director Mr. Yiannis Angelopoulos for the confidence showed to me, but above all to my coach George Paraschos who actively shows me confidence on the court."'' said in atromitos.fc the keeper. On 15 July 2015, after two years with the club and 42 appearances in all competitions,

announces the end of the cooperation with the player. Therefore, along with

Elini Dimoutsos Elini Dimoutsos ( gr, Ελίνι Δημούτσος; born 18 June 1988) is a Greek professional footballer who plays as a midfielder for Super League 2 club Egaleo. Club career Early life and career After growing up in his native Albania, his ...

, has informed that are not included in the planning of the club for the next season. On 16 June 2015, Cennamo signed a one-year contract with

Xanthi Xanthi ( el, Ξάνθη, ''Xánthi'', ) is a city in the region of Western Thrace, northeastern Greece. It is the capital of the Xanthi (regional unit), Xanthi regional unit of the modern regions of Greece, region of East Macedonia and Thrace. A ...

. On 23 August 2015, he made his debut with the club in a 0-0 away draw against PAOK. He finished as the undisputed leader of the club's defence being the main goalie for the first half of the 2015-16 season. On 17 August 2016, Cennamo signed a year contract with

Lamia LaMia Corporation S.R.L., operating as LaMia (short for ''Línea Aérea Mérida Internacional de Aviación''), was a Bolivian charter airline headquartered in Santa Cruz de la Sierra, as an EcoJet subsidiary. It had its origins from the failed ...

. On 5 July 2017, he signed a year contract with

Super League The Super League (officially known as the Betfred Super League due to sponsorship from Betfred and legally known as Super League Europe), is the top-level of the British rugby league system. At present the league consists of twelve teams, of wh ...

club

Honours

Individual * Greek Best Goalkeeper of the Beta Division: 2011

References

External links

Official Website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Cennamo, Luigi 1980 births Living people Italian footballers Italian expatriate footballers Expatriate footballers in Greece Expatriate footballers in England Expatriate footballers in Israel Expatriate footballers in Cyprus Olympiacos F.C. players Egaleo F.C. players Burnley F.C. players Proodeftiki F.C. players APEP FC players Panetolikos F.C. players Maccabi Netanya F.C. players Atromitos F.C. players Super League Greece players Football League (Greece) players Cypriot First Division players Israeli Premier League players Panegialios F.C. players Association football goalkeepers