Marco Zaninelli (born 25 April 1977) is an Italian former footballer. Zaninelli had spent most of his career in Italian lower divisions, especially in Lega Pro. Zaninelli also played in Serie B from 2004 until 2009.

Biography

Settaurense

Born in Tione di Trento, Trentino, Zaninelli started his career at Settaurense. He followed the team from

Promozione The Promozione (, "promotion") is the sixth level in the Italian football league system. Each individual league winner within the Promozione level progresses to their closest regional league in the Eccellenza level. Depending on each league's lo ...

(Italian 7th level) to Eccellenza Trentino – South Tyrol in 1993 and Serie D in 1995. The small team from Storo finished in the mid-table in 1995–96 Serie D.

Lumezzane

After the season Zaninelli was signed by

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 ...

team Lumezzane. He spent seasons with the Serie C team, winning 1996–97 Serie C2. After Lumezzane merely promoted to Serie B in 2004 (losing to Cesena in the playoffs), Zaninelli was signed by Serie B club Treviso along with Luis Centi on 31 August 2004.

Treviso

Zaninelli played 29 games for Treviso in

2004–05 Serie B The 2004–05 Serie B is the 73rd season since its establishment in 1929. It is the second highest football league in Italy. Teams Arezzo, Catanzaro, Cesena and Crotone had been promoted from Serie C, while Perugia, Modena, and Empoli had been ...

. The club missed the promotion after losing to Perugia in the playoffs semifinals. However Treviso later re-admitted to

2005–06 Serie A The 2005–06 Serie A (known as the Serie A TIM for sponsorship reasons) was the 104th season of top-tier Italian football, the 74th in a round-robin tournament. The league commenced on 28 August 2005 and finished on 14 May 2006. While Juventus w ...

, after

Caso Genoa Caso Genoa was an Italian football scandal in 2005. In the 2004–05 Serie B season, Genoa won the Serie B championship and were set to be promoted to the Serie A for the first time in 10 years. Genoa went into their final match of the season ag ...

and the bankrupt of

Torino Calcio Torino Football Club (), commonly referred to as Torino or simply Toro, is an Italian professional football club based in Turin, Piedmont. They currently play in Serie A. Founded as ''Foot-Ball Club Torino'' in 1906, Torino are among the mos ...

and Perugia. In August 2005, Zaninelli returned to Serie B as the club sold him to Cesena in co-ownership deal, for a peppercorn of €500. He spent 2 seasons with the

Emilia–Romagna egl, Emigliàn (man) egl, Emiglièna (woman) rgn, Rumagnòl (man) rgn, Rumagnòla (woman) it, Emiliano (man) it, Emiliana (woman) or it, Romagnolo (man) it, Romagnola (woman) , population_note = , population_blank1_title ...

club. In

2006–07 Serie B The 2006–07 Serie B season is the 75th season since its establishment in 1929. It started on 9 September 2006 and ended on 10 June 2007. The 22 clubs in Serie B each played 42 matches during the regular season. The 2006–07 season marked the ...

, Zaninelli made 22 starts. On 20 June 2007 Treviso bought back Zaninelli for a peppercorn again. In July 2007 Zaninelli left for Serie B struggler Spezia along with

Giovanni Fietta Giovanni Fietta (born 14 November 1984) is an Italian professional association football, footballer who plays as a midfielder for club Aurora Pro Patria 1919, Pro Patria. Club career Treviso Born in Asolo, in the Province of Treviso, Veneto, Fie ...

and

Davide Saverino Davide Saverino (born 20 January 1977) is an Italian former footballer who played as a midfielder. He played more than 100 games in Serie B, and also played in Serie C1, Serie C2 and Serie D. Career Saverino started his career at Varese of Se ...

. Treviso had purchased Leonardo Bonucci as centre-back from Internazionale. Zaninelli only able to play 15 starts with the Ligurian club. The club finished as the bottom. It was followed by the relegation and bankruptcy. Zaninelli returned to Veneto in 2008. Along with Bonucci (who left in January), Zaninelli was one of the defender of the Serie B struggler. Zaninelli made 9 starts and the club also relegated, and again folded.

Pergocrema

After 5 months without a club, Zaninelli was signed by

Pergocrema Unione Sportiva Pergolettese 1932 is an Italian association football club, based in Crema, province of Cremona, Lombardy. It currently plays in Serie C, the third level of Italian football. History From Pergolettese to Pergocrema The ori ...

That season Pergo was in Lega Pro Prima Divisione. However Zaninelli only added 11 games to his experienced third division career, 2 games less than in

2008–09 Serie B The 2008–09 Serie B season was the seventy-seventh since its establishment. A total of 22 teams will contest the league, 15 of which will be returning from the 2007–08 season, four of which will have been promoted from Serie C1 (now Lega P ...

Mantova

Zaninelli was able to find another club in

. He joined newly re-found Mantova F.C., which is the heir of bankrupted AC Mantova which relegated from

2009–10 Serie B The 2009–10 Serie B season is the seventy-eighth edition since its establishment in 1929. Serie B is the second-highest division in the Italian football league system after the Serie A. It is contested by 22 teams and organized by the Lega ...

. Originally Mantova relegated to

2010–11 Lega Pro Prima Divisione The 2010–11 Lega Pro Prima Divisione season was the thirty-third football league season of Italian Lega Pro Prima Divisione since its establishment in 1978, and the third since the renaming from Serie C to Lega Pro. It will be divided into two ...

, but after the bankruptcy, the heir was allowed to play in

2010–11 Serie D The 2010–11 Serie D was the sixty-third edition of the top level Italian non-professional football championship. It represented the fifth tier in the Italian football league system. It originally consisted of 166 teams, with two divisions allocat ...

. Zaninelli was the starting defender of the team, winning Group B. However Mantova finished as the bottom of Group 1 in the playoffs for ''Scudetto Dilettanti'' (the verallchampion of amateur eague After promoted back to professional league, Zaninelli remained as the starting centre-back of the team while

Emanuele Fonte Emanuele Fonte (born 6 August 1992) is an Italian professional footballer who plays as a defender for A.S.D. Calcio Del Duca Ribelle. Career Cesena Born in Forlì, Romagna, Fonte started his career at Romagnol club Cesena. Fonte made his Serie B ...

was his new partner.

References

Honours

Serie C2 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 ...

: 1997 (Lumezzane) * Serie D: 2011 (Mantova) * Eccellenza Trentino – South Tyrol: 1995 (Settaurense) *

Trentino – South Tyrol: 1993 (Settaurense)

External links

Football.it Profile
{{DEFAULTSORT:Zaninelli, Marco Italian men's footballers Serie B players FC Lumezzane players FC Pro Vercelli 1892 players Treviso FBC 1993 players AC Cesena players Spezia Calcio players US Pergolettese 1932 players Mantova 1911 players Men's association football defenders Footballers from Trentino 1977 births Living people