Marco Khaleel Zamboni (born 7 December 1977) is an Italian professional football defender, currently playing for AC Garda.

Club career

Zamboni was born in

Bussolengo Bussolengo is an Italian town of 19,574 inhabitants on the Adige River in province of Verona, Veneto. One of its oldest churches is the frescoed church of San Valentino. Geography Bussolengo borders with the municipalities of Castelnuovo del Ga ...

, Italy. After starting his career with

Chievo Chievo (4,500 inhabitants) is a frazione of Verona located to the west of the city, around from the historic city centre, on the shores of the river Adige. It is best known for its football team, A.C. ChievoVerona, which competes in the second ...

in 1995, he played for Juventus between 1997 and 1999, but immediately after he was signed by the Turin club in the summer of 1997, he was loaned to

Napoli Naples (; it, Napoli ; nap, Napule ), from grc, Νεάπολις, Neápolis, lit=new city. is the regional capital of Campania and the third-largest city of Italy, after Rome and Milan, with a population of 909,048 within the city's adminis ...

of Serie A in October and subsequently back to Chievo (Serie B) in January. After he was loaned to

U.S. Lecce Unione Sportiva Lecce, commonly referred to as Lecce (), is an Italian football club based in Lecce, Apulia. The club play in Serie A in the 2022–23 season, the top level of the Italian football pyramid, having been promoted from Serie B. ...

, he was spotted by Serie A team

Udinese Calcio Udinese Calcio, commonly referred to as Udinese, is a professional Italian football club based in Udine, Friuli-Venezia Giulia, that currently plays in Serie A. It was founded on 30 November 1896 as a sports club, and on 5 July 1911 as a foo ...

. He was signed in co-ownership deal for €1.29M (2.5 billion lire) .Udinese also signed Morgan De Sanctis in co-ownership deal also for €1.29M (2.5 billion lire). After not playing in 2001–02 season, he left on loan again to

Modena F.C. Modena Football Club 2018, commonly referred to as Modena, is an Football in Italy, Italian football club based in Modena, Emilia-Romagna. The club was founded in 1912, and refounded in 2018, and had spent the majority of its existence playing i ...

of Serie A, then

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 ...

(Serie B). In summer 2003, he was signed by Napoli again, then time played 37 games in Serie B. In summer 2004, he returned to Serie A football, for

Reggina Calcio Reggina 1914 S.r.l., commonly referred to as Reggina, is an Italian football club based in Reggio Calabria. Founded in 1914, they currently play in Serie B, and play their home matches at the 27,763 seater Stadio Oreste Granillo. They are nic ...

. He then spotted by

U.C. Sampdoria Unione Calcio Sampdoria, commonly referred to as Sampdoria (), is an Italian professional football club based in Genoa. The club was formed in 1946 from the merger of two existing sports clubs whose roots can be traced back to the 1890s, ...

, signed him on loan. Ahead of the 2019–20 season, 41-year old Zamboni joined AC Garda.

International career

Zamboni has been capped for Italy national under-21 football team. He was an unused member of the Italy squad that won the gold medal at the

1997 Mediterranean Games The XIII Mediterranean Games, commonly known as the 1997 Mediterranean Games, were the 13th Mediterranean Games. The Games were held in Bari, Italy, from 13 to 25 June 1997, where 2,956 athletes (2,166 men and 790 women) from 21 countries partici ...

Football Tournament, on home soil.

Style of play

Zamboni is a reliable defender who possesses great physical strength, although he is not particularly skilful from a technical standpoint; his characteristics led him to be compared to

Pietro Vierchowod Pietro Vierchowod (, born 6 April 1959) is an Italian former footballer who played as a defender, and a current manager. He also represented the Italian national side during his career, and was a member of the Italian squad that won the 198 ...

in his youth. He is capable of playing both as a centre-back and as a

right-back In the sport of association football, a defender is an outfield position whose primary role is to stop attacks during the game and prevent the opposition from scoring. Centre-backs are usually positioned in pairs, with one full-back on either s ...

Honours

Udinese * UEFA Intertoto Cup:

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 S ...

References

External links

*
National Team stats.
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Zamboni, Marco Living people 1977 births Sportspeople from the Province of Verona Association football defenders Italian footballers Italy under-21 international footballers A.C. ChievoVerona players Juventus F.C. players S.S.C. Napoli players U.S. Lecce players Udinese Calcio players Modena F.C. players Hellas Verona F.C. players Reggina 1914 players U.C. Sampdoria players Spezia Calcio players F.C. Crotone players S.P.A.L. players A.C. Trento 1921 players Serie A players Serie B players Serie C players Serie D players Mediterranean Games gold medalists for Italy Mediterranean Games medalists in football Competitors at the 1997 Mediterranean Games Footballers from Veneto