Matteo Guardalben (born 5 June 1974) is an Italian former professional

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kicking a ball to score a goal. Unqualified, the word ''football'' normally means the form of football that is the most popular where the word is used. Sports commonly c ...

goalkeeper In many team sports which involve scoring goals, the goalkeeper (sometimes termed goaltender, netminder, GK, goalie or keeper) is a designated player charged with directly preventing the opposing team from scoring by blocking or intercepting o ...

Club career

Guardalben was born in

Nogara Nogara is a ''comune'' (municipality) in the Province of Verona in the Italian region Veneto, located about southwest of Venice and about south of Verona. Nogara borders the following municipalities: Erbè, Gazzo Veronese, Isola della Scala, S ...

Province of Verona The Province of Verona ( it, Provincia di Verona) is a province in the Veneto administrative region of Italy. On its northwestern border, Lake GardaItaly's largestis divided between Verona and the provinces of Brescia (Lombardy region) and Trenti ...

. After five seasons with Parma, Guardalben (along with

Nicola Mora Nicola Mora (born 31 July 1979) is an Italian footballer who played as a defender. Career Mora started his career at hometown club Parma. After played 3 league matches, he joined Napoli of Serie B in temporary deal and was signed by another seco ...

and

Matuzalém Matuzalém Francelino da Silva (born 10 June 1980), commonly known as just Matuzalém, is a Brazilian football manager and former player, who played as a midfielder. Club career Early career Matuzalém began his career at Salvador-based Vi ...

) joined

Piacenza Piacenza (; egl, label= Piacentino, Piaṡëinsa ; ) is a city and in the Emilia-Romagna region of northern Italy, and the capital of the eponymous province. As of 2022, Piacenza is the ninth largest city in the region by population, with over ...

in a co-ownership deal. Half of Guardalben's rights was valued for 3 billion lire. Guardalben was exchanged with Cristiano Lupatelli in January 2006. Guardalben signed a three-year contract with

Vicenza Vicenza ( , ; ) is a city in northeastern Italy. It is in the Veneto region at the northern base of the ''Monte Berico'', where it straddles the Bacchiglione River. Vicenza is approximately west of Venice and east of Milan. Vicenza is a th ...

of Serie B in July 2006, as Adriano Zancopè's backup, but he was injured in October and back to squad in May 2007. In the next season, he became the first choice since November 2007, until February 2008 the arrival of

Marco Fortin Marco Fortin (born 8 July 1974) is an Italian football goalkeeper who plays for Calvi Noale in Eccellenza Veneto. During his playing career, Fortin frequently wore the number 14 shirt, as the pronunciation of his surname sounded similar to the ...

. In summer 2009, he was signed by Serie A club

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, ...

as third-choice keeper, and never played a single game during his stay with the ''blucerchiati''. In July 2010 he was signed by Serie B club

Modena Modena (, , ; egl, label=Emilian language#Dialects, Modenese, Mòdna ; ett, Mutna; la, Mutina) is a city and ''comune'' (municipality) on the south side of the Po Valley, in the Province of Modena in the Emilia-Romagna region of northern I ...

in a free transfer.

International career

In 2005, Guardalben was called up three times by the

Italy national football team The Italy national football team ( it, Nazionale di calcio dell'Italia) has represented Italy in international football since its first match in 1910. The national team is controlled by the Italian Football Federation (FIGC), the governing bo ...

, all as unused substitute.

References

External links

ilpalermocalcio.it
Living people 1974 births Sportspeople from the Province of Verona Association football goalkeepers Italian footballers Hellas Verona F.C. players U.S. Massese 1919 players Parma Calcio 1913 players Piacenza Calcio 1919 players Palermo F.C. players L.R. Vicenza players Treviso F.B.C. 1993 players U.C. Sampdoria players Modena F.C. players Serie A players Serie B players Footballers from Veneto {{Italy-footy-goalkeeper-stub