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 1978â ...
.
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