Marco Marchionni (; born 22 July 1980) is an Italian professional

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 ...

coach and former 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 played as a

midfielder A midfielder is an outfield position in association football. Midfielders may play an exclusively defensive role, breaking up attacks, and are in that case known as defensive midfielders. As central midfielders often go across boundarie ...

. He is the head coach of club

Potenza Potenza (, also , ; , Potentino dialect: ''Putenz'') is a ''comune'' in the Southern Italian region of Basilicata (former Lucania). Capital of the Province of Potenza and the Basilicata region, the city is the highest regional capital and one ...

. A versatile player, he was capable of playing in several midfield positions, and has been deployed as a right winger, as an

attacking midfielder A midfielder is an Glossary of association football terms#O, outfield position in association football. Midfielders may play an exclusively defensive role, breaking up attacks, and are in that case known as defensive midfielders. As #Cent ...

, and even as a

central midfielder A midfielder is an outfield position in association football. Midfielders may play an exclusively defensive role, breaking up attacks, and are in that case known as defensive midfielders. As central midfielders often go across boundarie ...

in his later career. A right-footed player, his main attributes are his pace, technique, and

dribbling In sports, dribbling is maneuvering a ball by one player while moving in a given direction, avoiding defenders' attempts to intercept the ball. A successful dribble will bring the ball past defenders legally and create opportunities to score. A ...

skills, as well as his crossing and playmaking ability, which make him an effective

assist Assist or ASSIST may refer to: Sports Several sports have a statistic known as an "assist", generally relating to action by a player leading to a score by another player on their team: *Assist (basketball), a pass by a player that facilitates a ba ...

provider.

Club career

Early career

Marchionni began his professional career with

Empoli F.C. Empoli Football Club, commonly referred to as Empoli, is an Italian football club based in Empoli, Metropolitan City of Florence. Founded in 1920, the side is part of a select group of Italian football clubs that do not belong to a provincial ...

in 1998, from

CND The Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament (CND) is an organisation that advocates unilateral nuclear disarmament by the United Kingdom, international nuclear disarmament and tighter international arms regulation through agreements such as the Nucle ...

team Monterotondo; he won the

Torneo di Viareggio The Torneo di Viareggio ( en, Viareggio Tournament), officially named the Viareggio Cup World Football Tournament Coppa Carnevale, is a youth association football tournament held annually in the commune of Viareggio, Italy and its surrounding area ...

in 2000 with the youth side. He spent three seasons at the club only to leave the team for Parma in 2001, where he won the

2001–02 Coppa Italia The 2001–02 Coppa Italia was the 55th edition of the tournament, which began on August 12, 2001 and ended on May 10, 2002. After losing in the finals the previous year, Parma won the 2001–02 Coppa Italia tournament for the 3rd time in club his ...

, though he only played in the first leg of the

final Final, Finals or The Final may refer to: *Final (competition), the last or championship round of a sporting competition, match, game, or other contest which decides a winner for an event ** Another term for playoffs, describing a sequence of cont ...

. He played little during his first two years at Parma, and was loaned to Italian club

Piacenza Piacenza (; egl, label= Piacentino, Piaṡëinsa ; ) is a city and in the Emilia-Romagna region of northern Italy, and the capital of the eponymous province. As of 2022, Piacenza is the ninth largest city in the region by population, with over ...

for the second half of the 2002–03 season, to get more playing time, experience, and increase his skills. His performances were convincing enough that he was recalled back to

Parma Parma (; egl, Pärma, ) is a city in the northern Italian region of Emilia-Romagna known for its architecture, Giuseppe Verdi, music, art, prosciutto (ham), Parmigiano-Reggiano, cheese and surrounding countryside. With a population of 198,292 ...

and included in the first team for the 2003–04 season. In 2003–04, under

Cesare Prandelli Claudio Cesare Prandelli (; born 19 August 1957) is an Italian football coach and former player. He was most recently head coach of Fiorentina. Career Player Prandelli was a midfielder who moved from Atalanta to Juventus in 1979. His first game ...

, who was renowned for his affinity for young players, Marchionni blossomed under his guidance. That season Marchionni became a revelation in the league and made his career breakthrough, with 35 games played and six goals scored in

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 ...

and

UEFA Cup A cup is an open-top used to hold hot or cold liquids for pouring or drinking; while mainly used for drinking, it also can be used to store Solid, solids for pouring (e.g., sugar, flour, grains, salt). Cups may be made of glass, metal, porcela ...

. His performances earned him his first call-up with the Italian senior side. The following season was also positive, with 32 games and six goals scored. The 2005–06 season was by far Marchionni's best with Parma: he gave great contributions to the team's gameplay, including many assists and many instances of "playmaking." He finished the season with 31 appearances and four goals, helping Parma avoid relegation. His talent and relatively young age attracted the keen eyes of the

Juventus Juventus Football Club (from la, iuventūs, 'youth'; ), colloquially known as Juve (), is a professional Association football, football club based in Turin, Piedmont, Italy, that competes in the Serie A, the top tier of the Italian football leagu ...

scouts, and the team did not delay signing him from Parma. Marchionni joined his new team on a free transfer in June 2006.

Juventus

In 2006–07, Marchionni agreed to play with

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 ...

, and under manager

Didier Deschamps Didier Claude Deschamps (; born 15 October 1968) is a French professional football manager and former player who has been manager of the France national team since 2012. He played as a defensive midfielder for several clubs, in France, Italy, E ...

, he immediately helped his team to win the title, and gain Serie A promotion that season; his performances enabled him to be recalled to the national side. During the 2007–08 season, his second with Juventus, which saw Juventus compete in

once again, Marchionni suffered an injury-filled season, keeping him off the pitch for most of the season. He only managed to start one game but played a total of eleven league matches, scoring one

goal A goal is an idea of the future or desired result that a person or a group of people envision, plan and commit to achieve. People endeavour to reach goals within a finite time by setting deadlines. A goal is roughly similar to a purpose or ai ...

. During the pre-season to the

2008–09 Serie A The 2008–09 Serie A (known as the Serie A TIM for sponsorship reasons) was the 107th season of top-tier Italian football, the 77th in a round-robin tournament. It began on 30 August 2008 and ended on 31 May 2009, with the announcement of the ...

campaign, Marchionni was in excellent form playing in all the friendly tournaments and matches. He stated that he hoped to continue his form and remain injury free for the season's Champions League,

, and

Coppa Italia The ("Italy Cup") is an annual knockout cup competition in Italian football organized by the FIGC until the 2009–10 season and the Lega Serie A ever since. History The beginning of the tournament was turbulent, due to the complexity of ...

with Juventus. In the 2008–09 Serie A campaign, he was quickly introduced into the Juventus squad as the club's first-choice winger

Mauro Camoranesi Mauro Germán Camoranesi Serra (, ; born 4 October 1976) is an Italian football manager and former player who played as a right midfielder or right winger. Camoranesi began his career in Argentina in 1995, where he played for Aldosivi and Ba ...

was ruled out to injury problems. He handled this brilliantly with a handful of great performances, including the match against

A.S. Roma ' (''Rome Sport Association''), commonly referred to as Roma (), is a professional football club based in Rome, Italy. Founded by a merger in 1927, Roma has participated in the top tier of Italian football for all of its existence, except for ...

, where he scored a goal.

Fiorentina

On 6 July 2009,

ACF Fiorentina ACF Fiorentina, commonly referred to as Fiorentina (), is an Italian professional football club based in Florence, Tuscany, Italy. The original team was founded by a merger in August 1926, while the actual club was refounded in August 2002 fo ...

agreed with Juventus to buy Marchionni, subject to personal terms. On 15 July 2009, Marchionni signed a contract with

after having spent three years with Juventus, making a total of 78 appearances and seven goals in all competitions. He was part of a 'swap plus cash' deal that saw midfielder

Felipe Melo Felipe Melo de Carvalho (born 26 June 1983), known as Felipe Melo, is a Brazilian professional footballer who plays as a defensive midfielder for Fluminense. He began his career with Campeonato Brasileiro Série A teams Flamengo, Cruzeiro a ...

go the other way to Turin. Marchionni joined

, his former coach at Parma, and former Parma teammates

Sébastien Frey Sébastien Jacques André Frey (born 18 March 1980) is a French former professional footballer who played as a goalkeeper. His club career began in France with Cannes in 1997, but later went on to spend most of his career in the Italian Serie A, ...

Marco Donadel Marco Donadel (born 21 April 1983) is an Italian football coach and a former midfielder. Club career Milan Donadel is a youth product of Milan, playing for the youth side between 1998 and 2002, winning the Torneo di Viareggio in 1999 and 2001 ...

Alberto Gilardino Alberto Gilardino (; born 5 July 1982) is an Italian professional football manager and a former player who played as a striker. He is currently in charge as caretaker of Genoa, a club he was contracted with on July 2022 as a youth coach. A p ...

and

Adrian Mutu Adrian Mutu (; born 8 January 1979) is a Romanian professional football manager and former player, who is in charge of Liga I club Rapid București. During his playing career, he was deployed as a forward or an attacking midfielder. Mutu starte ...

for the 2009–10 season. He scored his first goal for the Viola against

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 ...

in a 2–1 defeat on 28 October 2009, repeating this step the following week with a brace against

Catania Catania (, , Sicilian and ) is the second largest municipality in Sicily, after Palermo. Despite its reputation as the second city of the island, Catania is the largest Sicilian conurbation, among the largest in Italy, as evidenced also by ...

in a 3–1 win and another goal in the next

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 ...

encounter against Debreceni.

Parma

On 14 September 2012, Marchionni rejoined

on a free transfer after being released by Fiorentina earlier in the summer.

Sampdoria

On 27 August 2014, Marchionni joined

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 ...

, while

Andrea Costa Andrea is a given name which is common worldwide for both males and females, cognate to Andreas, Andrej and Andrew. Origin of the name The name derives from the Greek word ἀνήρ (''anēr''), genitive ἀνδρός (''andrós''), that ref ...

moved in the opposite direction.

Latina

On 31 August 2015, Sampdoria sold Marchionni to

U.S. Latina Calcio Latina Calcio 1932, commonly referred to as Latina, is an Italian football club based in Latina, Lazio. They currently play in the . History The club was founded in 1932 as ''Unione Sportiva Latina Calcio'' and subsequently re-established sever ...

for

free Free may refer to: Concept * Freedom, having the ability to do something, without having to obey anyone/anything * Freethought, a position that beliefs should be formed only on the basis of logic, reason, and empiricism * Emancipate, to procur ...

, as part of the deal that Antonio Di Nardo moved to Sampdoria for €1 million, net of VAT.

International career

Marchionni was a member of the Italy U21 team between 2000 and 2002 and made 18 appearances for the side in total, scoring two goals. He was called up for the

2002 UEFA European Under-21 Football Championship UEFA European Under-21 Championship 2002 was the 13th staging of UEFA's European Under-21 Championship. The final tournament was hosted by Switzerland between 16 and 28 May 2002. Czech Republic U-21s won the competition for the first time. Qua ...

under

Claudio Gentile Claudio Gentile (; born 27 September 1953) is an Italian football manager and former player who played as a defender in the 1970s and 1980s. Gentile appeared for Italy in two World Cup tournaments, and played for the winning Italian team in ...

, forming the Italian midfield with

Matteo Brighi Matteo Brighi (; born 14 February 1981) is an Italian former professional footballer who played as a central midfielder. Regarded as one of Italy's most talented prospects in his early career, Brighi was named Serie A Young Footballer of the Yea ...

Andrea Pirlo Andrea Pirlo (; born 19 May 1979) is an Italian professional football coach and former player who is head coach of Süper Lig club Fatih Karagümrük. Considered one of the best deep-lying playmakers ever, Pirlo was renowned for his visio ...

and

Manuele Blasi Manuele Blasi (; born 17 August 1980) is an Italian former professional footballer who played a midfielder and now works as a coach. Club career Primarily a central midfielder, Blasi made his Serie A debut for A.S. Roma in a match against Piace ...

, as they reached the semi-finals. Marchionni made his senior debut for the

national team A national sports team (commonly known as a national team or a national side) is a team that represents a nation, rather than a particular club or region, in an international sport. The term is most commonly associated with team sports, for exam ...

on 12 November 2003, under

Giovanni Trapattoni Giovanni Trapattoni (; born 17 March 1939), sometimes popularly known as "Trap" or "Il Trap", is an Italian football manager and former player, considered the most successful club coach of Italian football. A former defensive midfielder, as a p ...

, in a 3–1 friendly defeat to

Poland Poland, officially the Republic of Poland, is a country in Central Europe. It is divided into 16 administrative provinces called voivodeships, covering an area of . Poland has a population of over 38 million and is the fifth-most populous ...

in Warsaw. In the

2006 FIFA World Cup The 2006 FIFA World Cup, also branded as Germany 2006, was the 18th FIFA World Cup, the quadrennial international football world championship tournament. It was held from 9 June to 9 July 2006 in Germany, which had won the right to host the ...

he was one of the four backup players for the 23-men main squad to step in for any possible injuries. However, he did not take part in the final tournament under

Marcello Lippi Marcello Romeo Lippi (; born 12 April 1948) is an Italian former professional football player and manager, who led the Italian national team to victory in the 2006 FIFA World Cup. He was appointed as Italy head coach in the summer of 2004 and 2 ...

, and thus never received a winners medal. Despite playing in

with Juventus during the 2006–07 season, he received another call up to Italy national team in September 2006, where he won his third cap under

Roberto Donadoni Roberto Donadoni (; born 9 September 1963) is an Italian football manager and former midfielder. Donadoni was capable of playing on either flank, or in the centre. He began his career with Atalanta, and he later became a pillar of the powerhous ...

in a 1–1 home draw against

Lithuania Lithuania (; lt, Lietuva ), officially the Republic of Lithuania ( lt, Lietuvos Respublika, links=no ), is a country in the Baltic region of Europe. It is one of three Baltic states and lies on the eastern shore of the Baltic Sea. Lithuania ...

in a UEFA Euro 2008 qualifying match on 2 September. On 30 August 2009, he was called up again by Lippi after a three-year absence from the Italy national side, taking part in Italy's 2–0 away win against

Georgia Georgia most commonly refers to: * Georgia (country), a country in the Caucasus region of Eurasia * Georgia (U.S. state), a state in the Southeast United States Georgia may also refer to: Places Historical states and entities * Related to the ...

on 5 September, in a

2010 FIFA World Cup qualifying Qualifying for the 2010 FIFA World Cup was a series of tournaments organised by the six FIFA confederations. Each confederation — the AFC (Asia), CAF (Africa), CONCACAF (North, Central America and Caribbean), CONMEBOL (South America), OFC (Oce ...

match. In total, he obtained six caps for Italy between 2003 and 2009.

Coaching career

After retiring as a player, Marchionni agreed to stay at

Carrarese Carrarese Calcio 1908, commonly referred to as Carrarese, is an Italian football club based in Carrara, Tuscany. It currently plays in Serie C, having last been in Serie B in 1948. History The club was founded in 1908. In the season 2010–1 ...

, becoming the assistant to head coach

Silvio Baldini Silvio Baldini (born 11 September 1958 in Massa) is an Italian association football manager, last in charge of Serie B club Perugia. Career Early years Born in Massa but hailing from nearby Carrara, Baldini started his coaching career in 1984 ...

. In October 2020 he became the head coach of

Foggia Foggia (, , ; nap, label= Foggiano, Fògge ) is a city and former ''comune'' of Apulia, in Southern Italy, capital of the province of Foggia. In 2013, its population was 153,143. Foggia is the main city of a plain called Tavoliere, also known ...

. On 11 September 2021, he was hired by

Novara Novara (, Novarese: ) is the capital city of the province of Novara in the Piedmont region in northwest Italy, to the west of Milan. With 101,916 inhabitants (on 1 January 2021), it is the second most populous city in Piedmont after Turin. It is ...

Serie D The Serie D () is the top level of semi-professional football in the country. The fourth tier of the Italian league system, the competition sits beneath the third professional league, Serie C. It is administered by the Lega Nazionale Dilettant ...

. On his first season in charge, he won the Group A title, thus immediately leading Novara back to Serie C. After working with Novara during the pre-season, on 18 August 2022, Marchionni parted ways with the club. On 16 January 2023, he was re-hired as Novara manager. After guiding them to a mid-table finish, Novara announced on 14 June 2023 to have parted ways with Marchionni once again. On 28 December 2023, Marchionni was unveiled as the new head coach of Serie C club

Career statistics

Honours

Player

Parma *

: 2001–02 Juventus *

: 2006–07

Manager

Novara *

: 2021–22 (Group A)

References

External links

Career statistics on aic.football.it
{{DEFAULTSORT:Marchionni, Marco 1980 births Living people People from Monterotondo Italian men's footballers Italy men's under-21 international footballers Italy men's international footballers Men's association football wingers Empoli FC players Parma Calcio 1913 players Piacenza Calcio 1919 players Juventus FC players ACF Fiorentina players UC Sampdoria players Latina Calcio 1932 players Carrarese Calcio 1908 players Polisportiva Monterotondo Lupa players Serie A players Serie B players Serie C players Italian football managers Calcio Foggia 1920 managers Novara FC managers Potenza Calcio managers Serie C managers Footballers from the Metropolitan City of Rome Capital