Mauro Minelli (born 2 April 1981) is an Italian former

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 as a defender for Cremonese.

Football career

Minelli started his career in

Atalanta Atalanta (; grc-gre, Ἀταλάντη, Atalantē) meaning "equal in weight", is a heroine in Greek mythology. There are two versions of the huntress Atalanta: one from Arcadia (region), Arcadia, whose parents were Iasus and Clymene (mythology ...

, the most famous club near his birthplace. He spent 2001–02 season at

Lumezzane Lumezzane (Brescian: ; locally ) is a town and ''comune'' in the province of Brescia, in Lombardy. With a population of 22,255 () it is one of the largest towns in the province of Brescia. It is situated in the Gobbia Valley, which is a side val ...

along with Roberto Previtali. That season he also capped for

Italy national under-20 football team Italy national under-20 football team is the national under-20 football team of Italy and is controlled by the Italian Football Federation. The team competes for the FIFA U-20 World Cup, which is held every two years. History The Under-20 team ...

at the

Under-20 Four Nations Tournament (german: Internationalen U-20 Spielrunde) is an annual under-20 football tournament. From the 2003–04 edition until the 2009–10 edition, the participating nations were Austria, Germany, Italy and Switzerland (the four Alps, Alpine nations). In ...

. In January 2003, he was signed by

Verona Verona ( , ; vec, Verona or ) is a city on the Adige River in Veneto, Italy, with 258,031 inhabitants. It is one of the seven provincial capitals of the region. It is the largest city municipality in the region and the second largest in nor ...

in co-ownership deal, in exchange with

Natale Gonnella Natale Gonnella (born 19 January 1976) is an Italian retired footballer. Gonnella played more than 250 matches at Serie B. Club career Born in Colleferro, in the province of Rome, Gonnella started his career at northern giant Internazionale. I ...

. In June 2004, he was bought back by Atalanta but he was loaned to AlbinoLeffe in July, re-joining (former) Atalanta team-mate Mauro Belotti,

Joelson Joelson is both a given name and a surname. Notable people with the name include: People with the given name * Joelson Santos Silva or Joelson (born 1980), Brazilian footballer * Joelson José Inácio (born 1983), Brazilian footballer People with ...

, Gabriele Perico and Previtali. In July 2005, AlbinoLeffe bought half of the contractual rights, but bought back by Atalanta again in June 2006. This time

Calcio Catania Catania S.S.D., commonly known as Catania, is an Italian football club based in the city of Catania, Sicily, that plays in . Originally founded in 1908 as ''Associazione Sportiva pro Educazione Fisica'', the club boasts 17 appearances in the ...

bought half of its contractual rights in July 2006, where he played his first Serie A season since made his debut against ACF Fiorentina on 1 October 2006. After he failed to make any appearances in either

Coppa Italia The ("Italy Cup") is an annual knockout cup competition in Italian football organized by the FIGC until the 2009–10 season and the Lega Serie A ever since. History The beginning of the tournament was turbulent, due to the complexity of ...

2007–08 Serie A The 2007–08 Serie A (known as the Serie A Telecom Italia Mobile, TIM for sponsorship reasons) was the 106th season of top-tier Italian association football, football, the 76th in a round-robin tournament. It started on 25 August 2007 and ended ...

, he left on loan to

Triestina Unione Sportiva Triestina Calcio 1918, commonly referred to as Triestina, is an Italian football club based in Trieste, Friuli-Venezia Giulia. Originally founded in 1918, the club has been re-established several times in its history. As of the ...

in January 2008 for another Serie B season. The loan was extended in August. In June 2009 he returned to Calcio Catania after the club acquired the full rights from Atalanta, but was immediately sold back into the Serie B with

Sassuolo Sassuolo (; egl, label= 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 is best known f ...

on 9 July 2009. He announced he would leave the club in January 2011 in order to play more regularly; he joined fellow Serie B team

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 ...

on 31 January, rejoining team-mate Gaetano Masucci. Antonio Bocchetti also moved from Frosinone to Sassuolo as part of the deal. After Frosinone relegated to

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 ...

, he joined fellow ''Prima Divisione'' team Cremonese. Although he was on the 2012–13 squad, he did not play any games in

2012–13 Lega Pro Prima Divisione The 2012–13 Lega Pro Prima Divisione season was the thirty-fifth football league season of Italian Lega Pro Prima Divisione since its establishment in 1978, and the fifth since the renaming from Serie C to Lega Pro. It was divided into two pha ...

. His contract was renewed on 3 July 2013.

References

External links

La Gazzetta 2007–08 Profile

FIGC Archive
{{DEFAULTSORT:Minelli, Mauro Italian men's footballers Serie A players Serie B players Italy men's youth international footballers Atalanta BC players Hellas Verona FC players UC AlbinoLeffe players Catania FC players US Triestina Calcio 1918 players Men's association football defenders Footballers from the Province of Bergamo 1981 births Living people