Matteo Cancellieri (born 12 February 2002) is an Italian professional footballer who plays as a winger or second striker for club

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 ...

, on loan from

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, and the Italy national team.

Club career

Early career in Rome

Matteo Cancellieri arrived in the AS Roma academy at the age of nine from Polisportiva De Rossi in the

Appio-Latino Appio-Latino is the 9th ''quartiere'' of Rome (Italy), identified by the initials Q. IX. The name derives from the ancient roads Via Appia and Via Latina. It belongs to the Municipio VII and Municipio VIII. History The origins of the territo ...

, soon becoming a prolific goalscorer with the G''iallorossi'''s youth setup. Cancellieri first rose to fame on 13 March 2018, during the Champions League game against Shakhtar Donetsk, where he was a ball boy at the

Stadio Olimpico The Stadio Olimpico (English: ''Olympic Stadium'') is the largest sports facility in Rome, Italy, seating over 70,000 spectators. It is located within the Foro Italico sports complex, north of the city. The structure is owned by the Italian Na ...

. He was pushed by the Shakhtar player

Facundo Ferreyra Facundo Ferreyra (; born 14 March 1991), nicknamed "Chucky", is an Argentine professional footballer who plays as a forward for Liga MX club Tijuana. Club career Banfield Ferreyra came through the youth system at his home town club of Banfield, ...

, who made him fall beyond an advertising board. Roma eventually won the game, qualifying for the quarter-finals, where they would beat

FC Barcelona Futbol Club Barcelona (), commonly referred to as Barcelona and colloquially known as Barça (), is a professional football club based in Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain, that competes in La Liga, the top flight of Spanish football. Founded ...

in a famous ''remontada'', under the management of coach Di Francesco.

Verona

In 2020, he joined Hellas Verona on a two years loan, with an obligation of purchase, along with his teammates Mert Çetin and Aboudramane Diaby, as

Marash Kumbulla Marash Nikolin Kumbulla (born 8 February 2000) is a professional association football, footballer who plays as a centre-back for club US Sassuolo Calcio, Sassuolo, on loan from AS Roma, Roma. Born in Italy, he plays for the Albania national foot ...

made the move in the opposite direction to join Rome. He played his first season with the club in the

Campionato Primavera 2 Campionato Primavera 2 is an Italian football youth competition. The first edition of the Campionato Primavera was held in the 1962–63 season, and a separate playoff for Serie B club took place. This tradition was discontinued after 1969. In ...

, still impressing with his goal tally, as he scored 15 goals and delivered 7 assists in only 18 games. He made his professional debut for

Verona Verona ( , ; vec, Verona or ) is a city on the Adige River in Veneto, Northern Italy, Italy, with 258,031 inhabitants. It is one of the seven provincial capitals of the region. It is the largest city Comune, municipality in the region and the ...

under manager

Eusebio Di Francesco Eusebio Di Francesco (; born 8 September 1969) is an Italian manager, and former professional footballer who played as a midfielder. Club career Di Francesco started his career with Tuscan teams Empoli and Lucchese. In 1995, he joined Piacenza ...

on 14 August 2021, starting the Coppa Italia game against Catanzaro, proving to be instrumental in his team 3–0 home win. Cancellieri made his Serie A debut only one week later against

Sassuolo Sassuolo (; egl, label=Modenese dialect, Modenese, Sasól ) is an Italian town, ''comune'', and industrial centre of the Province of Modena in Emilia-Romagna. Standing on the right bank of the river Secchia some southwest of Modena, the town ...

, coming on as a substitute, before starting his first Serie A game six days later, against

Inter Milan Football Club Internazionale Milano, commonly referred to as Internazionale () or simply Inter, and colloquially known as Inter Milan in English-speaking countries, is an Football in Italy, Italian professional Association football, football ...

, the reigning champions.

Loan to Lazio

On 30 June 2022, Cancellieri moved on loan to

with an obligated to buy his rights if certain conditions are met.

Loan to Empoli

On 16 August 2023, Cancellieri joined

Empoli Empoli () is a town and ''comune'' in the Metropolitan City of Florence, Tuscany, Italy, about southwest of Florence, to the south of the Arno in a plain formed by the river. The plain has been usable for agriculture since Roman times. The comm ...

on a one-year loan. Later that year, on 2 December, he scored his first goal in a 1–1 away draw 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 ...

, one minute after entering the pitch. On the final matchday of the 2023–24 season, he scored a goal and provided an assist in a 2–1 victory over Roma, securing Empoli's survival in the top tier.

Loan to Parma

On 14 August 2024, Cancellieri was loaned to

on a one-year deal with an option to buy.

International career

Already an international with Italy's under-17 in 2018, Matteo Cancellieri was first called with the under-21 in August 2021. He made his debut on 3 September during the European Championship

qualifying Qualification is either the process of qualifying for an achievement, or a credential attesting to that achievement, and may refer to: * Professional qualification, attributes developed by obtaining academic degrees or through professional exper ...

, starting the home game against

Luxembourg Luxembourg ( ; lb, Lëtzebuerg ; french: link=no, Luxembourg; german: link=no, Luxemburg), officially the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg, ; french: link=no, Grand-Duché de Luxembourg ; german: link=no, Großherzogtum Luxemburg is a small lan ...

. He was selected in the senior Italy squad for the

2022 Finalissima The 2022 Finalissima ( es, Finalísima; ) will be the third edition of the CONMEBOL–UEFA Cup of Champions, a football match between the winners of the previous South American and European championships. The match will feature Italy, winners of U ...

against

Argentina Argentina (), officially the Argentine Republic ( es, link=no, República Argentina), is a country in the southern half of South America. Argentina covers an area of , making it the second-largest country in South America after Brazil, th ...

on 1 June 2022 and for

2022–23 UEFA Nations League The 2022–23 UEFA Nations League is the third season of the UEFA Nations League, an international association football competition involving the men's national teams of the 55 member associations of UEFA in Europe. The competition is being held ...

group stage matches against

Germany Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated betwe ...

Hungary Hungary ( hu, Magyarország ) is a landlocked country in Central Europe. Spanning of the Carpathian Basin, it is bordered by Slovakia to the north, Ukraine to the northeast, Romania to the east and southeast, Serbia to the south, Croatia a ...

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

and Germany between 4 and 14 June 2022.

Career statistics

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Cancellieri, Matteo 2002 births Living people Italian men's footballers Italy men's under-21 international footballers Italy men's youth international footballers Men's association football forwards Footballers from Rome Hellas Verona FC players SS Lazio players Empoli FC players Parma Calcio 1913 players Serie A players Italian people of Cuban descent