Michele Polverino (born 26 September 1984) is a former professional footballer who played as a

midfielder 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 ...

. Born in Switzerland, he made 79 appearances for the Liechtenstein national team scoring six goals.

Club career

FC Schaan

Polverino played for the youth teams of

FC Schaan FC Schaan is a Liechtensteiner football team that plays in Schaan. The reserve team is called FC Azzurri Schaan. It is one of the seven official teams in the nation and it plays in the Swiss Football League in 4. Liga, which is the eighth tier. T ...

until he was 18, when he moved to

FC Vaduz FC may refer to: Businesses, organisations, and schools * Fergusson College, a science and arts college in Pune, India * Finncomm Airlines (IATA code) * FranklinCovey company, NYSE stock symbol FC * Frontier Corps, a paramilitary force in Paki ...

FC Vaduz

He joined FC Vaduz in the summer of 2002, making 11 league appearances in his first season in the Swiss Challenge League (then known as the Nationalliga B). He remained with Vaduz until the end of the 2004–05 season, making 60 league appearances and scoring 8 goals.

Olbia Calcio

For the 2005–06 season, Polverino played for

Olbia Calcio Olbia Calcio 1905 S.r.l., commonly referred to as Olbia, is a football club based in the city of Olbia, in the province of Sassari. It plays in Serie C, the third division of the Italian football league system. Founded in 1906 (although its bi ...

of Serie C2, making 26 league appearances and scoring 1 goal as the club narrowly avoided relegation by winning the relegation playoff.

Second spell with FC Vaduz

Polverino rejoined Vaduz at the end of the 2005–06 season. He was part of the FC Vaduz squad that won promotion to the Swiss Super League for the first time in the club's history in the 2007–08 season. He left at the end of the 2008–09 season, after the club was relegated back to the Swiss Challenge League.

FC Aarau

At the start of the 2009–10 season, Polverino joined

FC Aarau FC Aarau is a Swiss football club based in Aarau. They play in the Swiss Challenge League, the second tier of Swiss football after being relegated from Swiss Super League. History FC Aarau was formed on 26 May 1902 by workers from a local br ...

of the Swiss Super League. At the end of the season the club was relegated down to the second tier, with Polverino leaving at the end of the 2010–11 season. He played 51 league matches for Aarau

Steel Azin

Polverino spent one season at Steel Azin of the Iranian Azadegan League (2nd tier of Iranian football). He was part of the squad that initially finished 3rd in the league, but the team was docked 12 points by FIFA and relegated to the 3rd tier.

Wolfsberger AC

Polverino joined

Wolfsberger AC Wolfsberger AC, commonly referred to as Wolfsberg or simply WAC, is an Austrian association football club from Wolfsberg, Carinthia, who currently play in the Austrian Bundesliga. Between the 2007–08 and 2011–12 seasons, Wolfsberger AC enter ...

of the Austrian Bundesliga in 2012, making 53 league appearances and 6 appearances in the ÖFB-Cup in his 2 seasons with the club.

Third spell with FC Vaduz

For the 2014–15 season, Polverino returned again to FC Vaduz, however he made just 4 league appearances for the club and left at the end of the season

FC Rapperswil-Jona

Polverino joined Rapperswil-Jona for two months in 2016, making 3 league appearances

FC Balzers

Polverino joined

FC Balzers FC Balzers is a Liechtensteiner football team based in Balzers. They currently compete in the Swiss 2nd League inter-regional, the fifth tier of Swiss football. Balzers play at Sportplatz Rheinau which is situated right next to the Rhine nex ...

, a Liechtenstein club playing in the Swiss 1st League (4th tier), in 2016.

International career

Polverino made his international debut on 2 June 2007, in a 1–1 draw with

Iceland Iceland ( is, Ísland; ) is a Nordic island country in the North Atlantic Ocean and in the Arctic Ocean. Iceland is the most sparsely populated country in Europe. Iceland's capital and largest city is Reykjavík, which (along with its s ...

in EURO 2008 qualifying. On 17 November 2019, Polverino announced he was to retire from international football after the EURO 2020 qualifying match against

Bosnia and Herzegovina Bosnia and Herzegovina ( sh, / , ), abbreviated BiH () or B&H, sometimes called Bosnia–Herzegovina and often known informally as Bosnia, is a country at the crossroads of south and southeast Europe, located in the Balkans. Bosnia and H ...

. The game was his 79th and final cap for his country.

Career statistics

:''Scores and results list Liechtenstein's goal tally first.''

Honours

* U-15 Swiss Cup-winner * Promotion with

to the

Axpo Super League The Swiss Super League (known as the Credit Suisse Super League for sponsorship reasons) is a Swiss professional league in the top tier of the Swiss football league system and has been played in its current format since the 2003–04 season. ...

References

External links

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Michele Polverino Interview
{{DEFAULTSORT:Polverino, Michele 1984 births Living people Liechtenstein men's footballers Liechtenstein men's international footballers Swiss men's footballers Liechtenstein people of Italian descent Swiss people of Italian descent FC Vaduz players FC Aarau players Swiss Super League players Wolfsberger AC players Steel Azin F.C. players Men's association football midfielders SV Ried players FC Rapperswil-Jona players FC Balzers players