Mauro Esposito (; born 13 June 1979) is an Italian former 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 ...

who played mainly as a

right winger 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 ...

Club career

Born in

Torre del Greco Torre del Greco (; nap, Torre d' 'o Grieco; "Greek man's Tower") is a ''comune'' in the Metropolitan City of Naples in Italy, with a population of c. 85,000 . The locals are sometimes called ''Corallini'' because of the once plentiful cora ...

Campania Campania (, also , , , ) is an administrative Regions of Italy, region of Italy; most of it is in the south-western portion of the Italian peninsula (with the Tyrrhenian Sea to its west), but it also includes the small Phlegraean Islands and the i ...

, Esposito made his professional debut in 1997 with

Pescara Calcio Delfino Pescara 1936, commonly referred to as Pescara, is a professional Italian football club based in Pescara, Abruzzo. The club was formed in 1936 and currently plays in Serie C. Pescara has competed in seven seasons in Serie A, 1977–78, ...

after having a trial with English club Everton. He went on to play in two

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 ...

campaigns with the team. After an unsuccessful trial with Rangers, he joined

Udinese Calcio Udinese Calcio, commonly referred to as Udinese, is a professional Football in Italy, Italian association football, football club based in Udine, Friuli-Venezia Giulia, that currently plays in Serie A. It was founded on 30 November 1896 as a ...

with which he first appeared 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 ...

, playing just nine league games in two years and also being loaned to his previous club. In 2001–02, Esposito moved to

Cagliari Calcio Cagliari Calcio, commonly referred to as Cagliari (), is an Italian football club based in Cagliari, Sardinia. In the 2022-23 season, they compete in Serie B. As of 2021–22, the team is temporarily playing their home games at the 16,416-seat ...

in the second division, being an undisputed starter during his spell with the

Sardinia Sardinia ( ; it, Sardegna, label=Italian, Corsican and Tabarchino ; sc, Sardigna , sdc, Sardhigna; french: Sardaigne; sdn, Saldigna; ca, Sardenya, label=Algherese and Catalan) is the second-largest island in the Mediterranean Sea, after ...

ns and scoring in double digits in three of his six seasons – in 2003–04, he netted a career-best 17 goals in 40 matches, with his team finishing in second position and returning to the top flight after a five-year absence. After his scoring partner

David Suazo Óscar David Suazo Velázquez (born 5 November 1979) is a Honduran retired professional footballer turned coach who played as a striker. Suazo played more than 300 league games and scored over 980 league goals in Italy during a span of 7 years ...

's confirmed departure, on 4 July 2007,

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 ...

acquired 50% of Esposito's rights for €2 million, plus the free loan of Daniele Magliocchetti. He signed a three-year contract, with a gross annual salary of €1.4 million. In June 2008, Esposito was purchased definitely by Roma for €350,000, and Magliocchetti was sold in a co-ownership deal for a nominal fee of €484. During his two seasons with the side, he was very rarely used, with all of his league appearances coming in 2007–08; on 1 September 2008, he was sent on loan to

A.C. Chievo Verona Associazione Calcio ChievoVerona, commonly referred to as ChievoVerona or simply Chievo , is a former professional Italian football club named after and based in Chievo, a suburb of 4,500 inhabitants in Verona, Veneto, and owned by Paluani, a ...

of Serie B, with the

Veneto Veneto (, ; vec, Vèneto ) or Venetia is one of the 20 regions of Italy. Its population is about five million, ranking fourth in Italy. The region's capital is Venice while the biggest city is Verona. Veneto was part of the Roman Empire unt ...

club having the option to sign him permanently for €2.5M (plus

VAT A value-added tax (VAT), known in some countries as a goods and services tax (GST), is a type of tax that is assessed incrementally. It is levied on the price of a product or service at each stage of production, distribution, or sale to the en ...

) at the end of the season. On 1 February 2010, Esposito moved, in the same predicament, to U.S. Grosseto FC, also in the second level. His contract with Roma expired on 30 June and, in September, he signed with Atletico Roma F.C. of the

Lega Pro Prima Divisione Lega Pro Prima Divisione was the third highest football league in Italy. It consisted of 33 teams, divided geographically into two divisions of 16 and 17 teams for group A and B respectively. Until 2008 it was known as Serie C1. Before the 1978� ...

. In the 2011 summer, his club was dissolved and Esposito retired, aged 32.

International career

On 9 October 2004, Esposito made his debut for

Italy Italy ( it, Italia ), officially the Italian Republic, ) or the Republic of Italy, is a country in Southern Europe. It is located in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea, and its territory largely coincides with the homonymous geographical re ...

, in a

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 ...

qualifier In linguistics, a modifier is an optional element in phrase structure or clause structure which ''modifies'' the meaning of another element in the structure. For instance, the adjective "red" acts as a modifier in the noun phrase "red ball", provi ...

against

Slovenia Slovenia ( ; sl, Slovenija ), officially the Republic of Slovenia (Slovene: , abbr.: ''RS''), is a country in Central Europe. It is bordered by Italy to the west, Austria to the north, Hungary to the northeast, Croatia to the southeast, an ...

, starting in the 0–1 loss in

Celje ) , pushpin_map = Slovenia , pushpin_label_position = left , pushpin_map_caption = Location of the city of Celje in Slovenia , coordinates = , subdivision_type = Cou ...

. He would be later called by coach Marcello Lippi for the pre-World Cup stage held on 2/3 May, but did not make the final cut. On 16 August 2006, Esposito was picked by new manager

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 ...

for a friendly with

Croatia , image_flag = Flag of Croatia.svg , image_coat = Coat of arms of Croatia.svg , anthem = "Lijepa naša domovino"("Our Beautiful Homeland") , image_map = , map_caption = , capit ...

, starting in a 0–2 home defeat. It would be his last appearance for the national team.

Honours

Udinese *

UEFA Intertoto Cup The UEFA Intertoto Cup (from la, Inter, 'between' + german: toto, 'betting pool'),Most precisely, from (football pool); cf. often abbreviated and more known in the German-speaking world as UI Cup and originally called the International Foot ...

2000 File:2000 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: Protests against Bush v. Gore after the 2000 United States presidential election; Heads of state meet for the Millennium Summit; The International Space Station in its infant form as seen from ...

References

External links

*
National team data
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Esposito, Mauro 1979 births Living people People from Torre del Greco Italian footballers Association football wingers Serie A players Serie B players Serie C players Delfino Pescara 1936 players Udinese Calcio players Cagliari Calcio players A.S. Roma players A.C. ChievoVerona players F.C. Grosseto S.S.D. players Atletico Roma F.C. players Italy international footballers Sportspeople from the Province of Naples Footballers from Campania