Massimo Zenildo Zappino (born 12 June 1981) is a former Brazilian

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 ...

of Italian descent 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 ...

. He also holds an Italian passport.

Playing career

In summer 2007, he was exchanged with Vincenzo Sicignano but failed to make permanent move. In summer 2008 he was signed by Foggia in exchange with Nunzio Di Roberto to

Frosinone Frosinone (, local dialect: ) is a town and ''comune'' in Lazio, central Italy, the administrative seat of the province of Frosinone. It is located about south-east of Rome close to the Rome-Naples A1 Motorway. The city is the main city of the ...

In June Foggia acquired the remain 50% registration rights from Frosinone. In July 2009 he signed a 2-year contract with

Taranto Taranto (, also ; ; nap, label= Tarantino, Tarde; Latin: Tarentum; Old Italian: ''Tarento''; Ancient Greek: Τάρᾱς) is a coastal city in Apulia, Southern Italy. It is the capital of the Province of Taranto, serving as an important com ...

as the joint-ownership bid accepted. It changed to definitive deal in late July. He then left for

Como Como (, ; lmo, Còmm, label= Comasco , or ; lat, Novum Comum; rm, Com; french: Côme) is a city and ''comune'' in Lombardy, Italy. It is the administrative capital of the Province of Como. Its proximity to Lake Como and to the Alps h ...

on free transfer. On 2 September 2010 he joined

Serie B The Serie B (), currently named Serie 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 season. It had been ...

club

Varese Varese ( , , or ; lmo, label= Varesino, Varés ; la, Baretium; archaic german: Väris) is a city and ''comune'' in north-western Lombardy, northern Italy, north-west of Milan. The population of Varese in 2018 has reached 80,559. It is the c ...

He was the first choice keeper. The team finished fourth but failed to win the promotion playoffs. On 1 November 2015 he made his debut 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 Cop ...

with

, eventually conceding 4 goals to Fiorentina. After leaving Frosinone in 2018, he shortly joined Promozione amateur club Siracusa in 2019, being released just a few weeks after his signing due to physical and fitness problems, with no first team appearances.

Coaching career

After retiring as a player, Zappino stayed on in Syracuse and started a career as a goalkeeping coach and scout. In 2022, he was hired as the new goalkeeping coach of

Eccellenza Sicily Eccellenza Sicily ( it, Eccellenza Sicilia) is the regional Eccellenza football division for clubs in Sicily, Italy. It is competed amongst 32 teams, in two different groups (A and B). The winners of the Groups are promoted to Serie D. The clubs w ...

amateurs Real Siracusa.

Personal life

Zappino was born in Pesqueira,

Brazil Brazil ( pt, Brasil; ), officially the Federative Republic of Brazil (Portuguese: ), is the largest country in both South America and Latin America. At and with over 217 million people, Brazil is the world's fifth-largest country by area ...

to a poor family, and then successively adopted by an Italian family from Syracuse, Sicily.

Honours

;Frosinone * Serie C1 runner-up and promotion playoff winner: 2006

References

External links

*http://www#aclecco#it/scheda#php?id=66 *http://www#gazzetta#it/Speciali/serie_b_2007/giocatori/zappino_mas#shtml 1981 births Living people Brazilian men's footballers Italian men's footballers Serie A players Serie B players Catania FC players Frosinone Calcio players AC ChievoVerona players Calcio Foggia 1920 players Calcio Lecco 1912 players Pro Sesto 1913 players Como 1907 players Taranto FC 1927 players SSD Varese Calcio players Men's association football goalkeepers Brazilian people of Italian descent Footballers from Pernambuco People from Pesqueira, Pernambuco {{Italy-footy-goalkeeper-stub