Mario Fontanella (born 28 June 1989) is an 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 ...

who plays as a forward for Al-Muharraq in the

Bahraini Premier League The Bahraini Premier League is the main football competition in the Kingdom of Bahrain. Currently known as the Nasser bin Hamad Premier League, the first season was held in 1957. The winners of the domestic championship qualify for the AFC Cup. ...

Club career

Italy

Born and raised in

Naples Naples (; it, Napoli ; nap, Napule ), from grc, Νεάπολις, Neápolis, lit=new city. is the regional capital of Campania and the third-largest city of Italy, after Rome and Milan, with a population of 909,048 within the city's adminis ...

, Mario began his professional footballing career in 2008 with

Barletta Barletta () is a city, '' comune'' of Apulia, in south eastern Italy. Barletta is the capoluogo, together with Andria and Trani, of the Province of Barletta-Andria-Trani. It has a population of around 94,700 citizens. The city's territory be ...

-based A.S.D. Barletta 1922 making five appearances in the

2008–09 Lega Pro Seconda Divisione The 2008–09 Lega Pro Seconda Divisione season was the thirty-first football (soccer) league season of Italian Lega Pro Seconda Divisione since its establishment in 1978, and the first since the renaming from Serie C2 to Lega Pro. It was divid ...

. He then moved to

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 ...

side Pol. Viribus Unitis where he scored four goals in 14 appearances for his side in the remaining of the

2008–09 Serie D Serie D, the fifth level of Italian Football, is usually composed of 162 teams divided into nine 18-team divisions. Special relegation of four teams from the professional leagues above Serie D after the team list had been set increased the total n ...

season. He then moved to

Mugnano di Napoli Mugnano di Napoli is a ''comune'' (municipality) in the Metropolitan City of Naples in the Italian region Campania, located about 10 km northwest of Naples. Mugnano di Napoli borders the following municipalities: Calvizzano, Giugliano in Cam ...

where he signed a two-year contract with Neapolis. He scored 16 goals in 32 appearances in the

2009–10 Serie D The 2009–10 Serie D was the sixty-second edition of the top level Italian non-professional football championship. It represented the fifth tier in the Italian football league system. It consisted of 167 divided into six 18-team divisions, one 1 ...

helping his side earn promotion to the Lega Pro Seconda Divisione. In the

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

season, the Italian striker failed to score any goal in 15 appearances. In 2011, he moved to

Noto Noto ( scn, Notu; la, Netum) is a city and in the Province of Syracuse, Sicily, Italy. It is southwest of the city of Syracuse at the foot of the Iblean Mountains. It lends its name to the surrounding area Val di Noto. In 2002 Noto and i ...

where he signed a two-year contract with Serie D side, Noto Calcio and scored 16 goals in 31 appearances in the

2011–12 Serie D The 2011–12 Serie D was the sixty-fourth edition of the top level Italian non-professional football championship. It represented the fifth tier in the Italian football league system. It consisted of 168 teams divided into six 18-team divisions ...

. Later in 2013, he moved to

Sarno Sarno is a town and ''comune'' and former Latin Catholic bishopric of Campania, Italy, in the province of Salerno, 20 km northeast from the Salerno, city of Salerno and 60 km east of Naples by the main railway. Overview It lies at ...

where he signed a short-term contract with another Serie D side, A.S.D. Pol. Sarnese Calcio. He then moved to

Bastia Umbra Bastia Umbra () is a '' comune'' (municipality) in the Province of Perugia in the Italian region Umbria, located about 15 km southeast of Perugia. As of 31 December 2004, it had a population of 20,523 and an area of 27.6 km2.All demogra ...

where he signed a one-year contract with A.C. Bastia 1924. He scored 13 goals in 30 appearances in the

2013–14 Serie D The 2013–14 Serie D was the sixty-sixth edition of the top level Italian non-professional football championship. It represented the fifth tier in the Italian football league system. It consisted of 161 teams, after the exclusion of Nardò and ...

. His most remarkable season in Italy was with

Budoni Budoni (Gallurese: ''Budùni'', sc, Budùne) is a ''comune'' (municipality) in the Province of Sassari in the Italian region Sardinia, located about northeast of Cagliari and about southeast of Olbia. As of 31 December 2014, it had a population ...

-based, A.S.D. Pol. Calcio Budoni where he scored 27 goals in 30 appearances in the

2014–15 Serie D The 2014–15 Serie D was the sixty-seventh edition of the top level Italian non-professional football championship. It represented the fourth tier in the Italian football league system. It consisted of 167 teams, including the admitted Arzachen ...

and was awarded the top scorer award for the season.

Malta

He first moved out of Italy in 2015 to the neighboring

Malta Malta ( , , ), officially the Republic of Malta ( mt, Repubblika ta' Malta ), is an island country in the Mediterranean Sea. It consists of an archipelago, between Italy and Libya, and is often considered a part of Southern Europe. It lies ...

where he signed a long term contract with

Maltese Premier League The Maltese Premier League, known as BOV Premier League for sponsorship reasons with Bank of Valletta ( colloquially known as ''Il-Kampjonat Premjer''), is the highest level of professional football in Malta. Managed by the Malta Football Associa ...

side,

Floriana Floriana ( mt, Il-Furjana or ''Il-Floriana''), also known by its title Borgo Vilhena, is a fortified town in the South Eastern Region area of Malta, just outside the capital city Valletta. It has a population of 2,205 as of March 2014. Floriana ...

. He made his official debut for the club on 22 August 2015 in a 2–1 defeat against

Mosta Mosta ( mt, Il-Mosta) is a small but densely populated city in the Northern Region of Malta. The most prominent building in Mosta is the Rotunda, a large basilica built by its parishioners' volunteer labour. It features the world's 3rd largest ...

and scored his first goal on 12 September 2015 in a 3–0 win over

Qormi Qormi ( mt, Ħal Qormi ; pronounced in the Qormi dialect), also known by its title Città Pinto, is a city in the Southern Region of Malta, southwest of Valletta in the centre of the island. It has a population of 16,324 (as of March 2018), mak ...

He made his

Maltese FA Trophy The FA Trophy, currently known as the IZIBET FA Trophy for sponsorship reasons, is an annual football cup competition that takes place in Malta. The cup was founded in 1933; following a match between England and Italy, played in Rome in May 1933, ...

debut on 20 January 2016 in a 2–1 win over Lija Athletic F.C. He finished the 2015–16 Maltese Premier League season with 20 goals in 31 appearances. He made his first appearance in the

2016–17 Maltese Premier League The 2016–17 Maltese Premier League was the 102nd season of the Maltese Premier League. The season began on 19 August 2016 and concluded on 6 May 2017; the relegation play-off took place on 12 May 2017. Valletta were the defending champions, hav ...

and scored his first goal in the competition on 20 August 2016 in a 2-1 win over Pembroke Athleta F.C. He made his first appearance and scored his first goal in the 2016–17 Maltese FA Trophy on 18 January 2017 in a 4-1 win over Għajnsielem F.C. He scored 14 goals in 29 appearances in the 2016–17 Maltese Premier League and scored 2 goals in 4 appearances in the Maltese FA Trophy helping his side win the prestigious competition for that season. His performances in the Maltese Premier League also saw him briefly linked to English

National League The National League of Professional Baseball Clubs, known simply as the National League (NL), is the older of two leagues constituting Major League Baseball (MLB) in the United States and Canada, and the world's oldest extant professional team ...

side

F.C. Halifax Town FC Halifax Town is a professional association football club based in Halifax, West Yorkshire, England. They currently compete in and play at the Shay. They replaced Halifax Town A.F.C., which went into administration in the 2007–08 seaso ...

during the summer of 2017, though stayed put with Floriana for another season. He also made his

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. ...

debut on 29 June 2017 in a 3-0 loss against

Serbia Serbia (, ; Serbian: , , ), officially the Republic of Serbia (Serbian: , , ), is a landlocked country in Southeastern and Central Europe, situated at the crossroads of the Pannonian Basin and the Balkans. It shares land borders with Hungar ...

n giants,

Red Star Belgrade Fudbalski klub Crvena zvezda ( sr-Cyrl, Фудбалски клуб Црвена звезда, lit=Red Star Football Club, ), commonly known as Red Star Belgrade in English-language media, is a Serbian professional football club based in Bel ...

. Following the end of his contract, on 13 May 2018, he joined cross-town rivals

Valletta Valletta (, mt, il-Belt Valletta, ) is an administrative unit and capital of Malta. Located on the main island, between Marsamxett Harbour to the west and the Grand Harbour to the east, its population within administrative limits in 2014 wa ...

, signing a three-year contract.

Honours

Floriana *

: 2016–17 *

Maltese Super Cup The Maltese Super Cup is an annual super cup tie held in Malta between the champions of the previous Maltese Premier League season and the holders of the Maltese FA Trophy. In the event that the Premier League champion also won the FA Trophy, the ...

2017 File:2017 Events Collage V2.png, From top left, clockwise: The War Against ISIS at the Battle of Mosul (2016-2017); aftermath of the Manchester Arena bombing; The Solar eclipse of August 21, 2017 ("Great American Eclipse"); North Korea tests a s ...

* Top Scorer Maltese Premier League: 2015–16 Valletta *

: 2018–19 *

2018 File:2018 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: The 2018 Winter Olympics opening ceremony in PyeongChang, South Korea; Protests erupt following the Assassination of Jamal Khashoggi; March for Our Lives protests take place across the Unit ...

2019 File:2019 collage v1.png, From top left, clockwise: Hong Kong protests turn to widespread riots and civil disobedience; House of Representatives votes to adopt articles of impeachment against Donald Trump; CRISPR gene editing first used to experim ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Fontanella, Mario 1989 births Living people Footballers from Naples Italian men's footballers Italian expatriate men's footballers Men's association football forwards Floriana F.C. players Valletta F.C. players Maltese Premier League players Expatriate men's footballers in Malta Italian expatriate sportspeople in Malta