Marco Costantino (born 8 May 1991) is an Italian

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kicking a ball to score a goal. Unqualified, the word ''football'' normally means the form of football that is the most popular where the word is used. Sports commonly c ...

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 ...

who is currently a

free agent In professional sports, a free agent is a player who is eligible to sign with other clubs or franchises; i.e., not under contract to any specific team. The term is also used in reference to a player who is under contract at present but who is a ...

Club career

Youth career

Costantino began his youth career with

SPAL 1907 Società Polisportiva Ars et Labor, commonly known as S.P.A.L. (), is a professional football club based in Ferrara, Emilia-Romagna, Italy. The team plays in Serie B, the second tier of the Italian football league system. Founded in 1907, since ...

, and remained with the central Italian club's junior squad until July 2009, when he was transferred to Serie A side

U.C. 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, S ...

's youth side.

Juventus

Following the appointment of the new board and staff at Juventus at the conclusion of the 2009–10 season, Costantino was one of many new faces brought to Turin. He was signed for about €170,000 in five-year contract. Ex-Sampdoria head coach

Luigi Delneri Luigi Delneri (born 23 August 1950), often incorrectly written as Del Neri, is an Italian football manager and a former player. After a playing career as a midfielder including for several Serie A clubs, he began managing in the lower leagues, a ...

and sports director

Giuseppe Marotta Giuseppe "Beppe" Marotta (born 25 March 1957) is an Italian football executive who is currently the CEO for sport of Italian football club Internazionale. In 2014, he was inducted into the Italian Football Hall of Fame. Early career In 1978, at ...

were appointed as the same positions in Juve and played a role in bringing the youngster to Turin. He joined Juventus in order to strengthen the '' Primavera'' team but was immediately promoted to the senior squad as their no.1 Italian international

Gianluigi Buffon Gianluigi Buffon (; born 28 January 1978) is an Italian professional footballer who captains and plays as a goalkeeper for the club Parma. He is widely regarded as one of the greatest goalkeepers of all time. He is one of the few recorded pl ...

was injured for several months. He was registered in Juventus's 24-men

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. It ...

first team squad (list A) as the fourth keeper, behind

, former Sampdoria teammate,

Marco Storari Marco Storari (born 7 January 1977) is an Italian former footballer who played as a goalkeeper. After a lengthy spell in Italy's lower leagues, he arrived in Serie A aged 27. Steady performances for Messina prompted his signing by A.C. Milan i ...

and Austrian international,

Alex Manninger Alexander Manninger (born 4 June 1977) is an Austrian former professional footballer who played as a goalkeeper. He played internationally for the Austria national team on 33 occasions, including at UEFA Euro 2008, and has represented football ...

. Juventus also registered young ''Primavera'' player Marco Bonassi in B list in qualifying and playoffs phase, but soon left the club on loan. Costantino played most of the games for the "''Primavera Squadra''".

Loan Deals

In July 2011 Marco Costantino was loaned to

Latina Latina or Latinas most often refers to: * Latinas, a demographic group in the United States * Latino (demonym), a term used in the United States for people with cultural ties to Latin America. *Latin Americans Latina and Latinas may also refer ...

. He made his debut in

2011–12 Coppa Italia The 2011–12 Coppa Italia, also known as TIM Cup for sponsorship reasons, was the 65th edition of the competition. As in the previous year, 78 clubs took part in the tournament. Internazionale were the cup holders. Napoli were the winners, thus q ...

, however he spent most of the time as the backup of Fernando Martinuzzi. In January 2012, he returned to Juventus and was loaned to former club, SPAL 1907, where he served as a back-up for Luca Capecchi. He again returned to Juventus on 30 June 2012, before being loaned out once more to

Lega Pro Seconda Divisione Lega Pro Seconda Divisione was the fourth highest football league in Italy, the lowest with a professional status. Usually it consisted of 36 teams, but in the 2011–12 season, there were 41 teams divided geographically into two divisions of 2 ...

outfit, VdA Saint-Christophe on 30 August 2012. With the fourth division squad, Costantino made 8 league appearances, serving much of the season as a back-up to

Pierluigi Frattali Pierluigi Frattali (born 1 December 1985) is an Italian footballer who plays as a goalkeeper for club Bari. Career Frattali was signed by Parma as the starting goalkeeper in January 2017. He missed all of March due to injury, with Davide Bassi ...

Modena

On 20 June 2013, Costantino officially completed a permanent transfer to Serie B side for around €244,000 (residual contract value of €92,000 plus profit €152,000), Modena F.C. after a deal was reached with Juventus. The transfer was part of the negotiation the took

Nazzareno Belfasti Nazzareno Belfasti (born 15 July 1993) is an Italian footballer who plays as a defender for Polisportiva Castellarano Calcio. Club career Modena Born in Scandiano, and grown up in Castellarano, both in the Province of Reggio-Emilia, Italy, ...

back to Juventus on a permanent basis following his co-ownership deal.

International career

Costantino received some call-ups to Italian youth teams but never made a debut.

References

External links

Sampdoria 2009–10 Profile
*

{{DEFAULTSORT:Costantino, Marco Living people 1991 births Sportspeople from the Province of Ferrara Association football goalkeepers Italian footballers S.P.A.L. players U.C. Sampdoria players Juventus F.C. players Latina Calcio 1932 players Footballers from Emilia-Romagna