Nicolás Marcelo Stefanelli (; born 22 November 1994) is an Argentine 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 le ...

who plays a

striker Striker or The Strikers may refer to: People *A participant in a strike action *A participant in a hunger strike *Blacksmith's striker, a type of blacksmith's assistant *Striker's Independent Society, the oldest mystic krewe in America People wi ...

for

Major League Soccer Major League Soccer (MLS) is a men's professional soccer league sanctioned by the United States Soccer Federation, which represents the sport's highest level in the United States. The league comprises 29 teams—26 in the U.S. and 3 in Canada ...

club

Inter Miami Club Internacional de Fútbol Miami, known as Inter Miami CF or simply Inter Miami, is an American professional soccer club based in the Miami metropolitan area. Established in 2018, the club began play in Major League Soccer (MLS) in the 2 ...

Club career

Defensa y Justicia

In 2014,

Defensa y Justicia Club Social y Deportivo Defensa y Justicia, commonly known as Defensa y Justicia, is an Argentine football club from Florencio Varela, Buenos Aires, established in 1935.

were promoted for the first time ever to the

Argentine Primera División The Primera División (; en, "First Division"), known officialy as Liga Profesional de Fútbol, or Torneo Binance for sponsorship reasons, is a professional football league in Argentina, organised by the Argentine Football Association (AFA). Th ...

. During the following pre-season, in July 2014, Stefanelli was moved up to the A squad from the U19 squad. It was, however, decided that he would benefit from being loaned out, so he would have to wait another 18 months for his debut in the first tier.

Villa Dálmine

On 15 August 2014 Stefanelli started a loan spell at

Villa Dálmine Club Villa Dálmine is an Argentine football club from Campana, Buenos Aires Province. The team currently plays in Primera B Nacional, the second level of the Argentine football league system. Due to a financial crisis, the club was named "Club A ...

, contributing to their promotion from

Primera B Metropolitana Primera B Metropolitana is one of two professional leagues that form the third level of the Argentine football league system. The division is made up of 17 clubs mainly from the city of Buenos Aires and its metropolitan area, Greater Buenos Aires. ...

, the third tier of Argentine football, to

Primera B Nacional Primera Nacional (usually called simply Nacional B, in English "National B Division", and known as Primera B Nacional until the 2019–20 season) is the second division of the Argentine football league system. The competition is made up of 37 tea ...

, the second tier. His league debut came on 1 September 2014 in a 1-0 win over

Club Atlético Atlanta Club Atlético Atlanta is an Argentine sports club from the Villa Crespo district of Buenos Aires. Nicknamed ''Los Bohemios'' ("The Bohemians"), Atlanta is mostly known for its football team, although the institution also hosts the practise of ba ...

. He came on as a substitute in the 75th minute, replacing Gabriel Sanabria. He scored his first goal for Dálmine three weeks later in a 1-1 draw with

Chacarita Juniors Club Atlético Chacarita Juniors (usually known simply as Chacarita) is an Argentine football club headquartered in Villa Crespo, Buenos Aires, while the stadium is located in Villa Maipú, General San Martín Partido of Greater Buenos Aires. ...

. The goal came in the 75th minute, six minutes after he had been brought on off the bench.

Return to Defensa y Justicia

On 1 January 2016 Stefanelli returned to Defensa and the

Argentine Primera Division Argentines (mistakenly translated Argentineans in the past; in Spanish (masculine) or (feminine)) are people identified with the country of Argentina. This connection may be residential, legal, historical or cultural. For most Argentines, s ...

. During 18 months he scored a total of 11 goals in 35 appearances. The club finished fourth in Zone 2 of the

2016 Argentine Primera División The 2016 Argentine Primera División - Copa Axion Energy was the 126th season of top-flight professional football in Argentina. The season began on February 5 and ended on May 29. Thirty teams competed in the league, twenty eight returning from ...

, which qualified them for the

2017 Copa Sudamericana The 2017 Copa CONMEBOL Sudamericana was the 16th edition of the CONMEBOL Sudamericana (also referred to as the ''Copa Sudamericana'', or pt, Copa Sul-Americana), South America's secondary club football tournament organized by CONMEBOL. Argent ...

. Defensa y Justicia finished tenth in the 2016–17 season and were therefore qualified for the

2018 Copa Sudamericana The 2018 Copa CONMEBOL Sudamericana was the 17th edition of the CONMEBOL Sudamericana (also referred to as the ''Copa Sudamericana'', or pt, Copa Sul-Americana), South America's secondary club football tournament organized by CONMEBOL. Brazilia ...

AIK

On 1 July 2017

AIK AIK Fotboll (), more commonly known simply as AIK (), an abbreviation for Allmänna Idrottsklubben (meaning ''the public'' or ''general sports club''), is a Swedish football club competing in Allsvenskan, the top flight of Swedish football. The ...

, of the Swedish first tier

Allsvenskan Allsvenskan (; en, the All-Swedish, also known as Fotbollsallsvenskan, en, the Football All-Swedish) is a Swedish professional league for men's association football clubs. It was founded in 1924 and is the top tier of the Swedish football lea ...

, announced that they had signed Stefanelli on a three-and-a-half-year contract, from 15 July 2017 to 31 December 2020. He made his Allsvenskan debut on 16 July 2017, a 1–0 home win against

IFK Norrköping Idrottsföreningen Kamraterna Norrköping, more commonly known as IFK Norrköping or simply Norrköping, is a Swedish professional football club based in Norrköping. The club is affiliated to Östergötlands Fotbollförbund and play their ...

. Stefanelli was praised by both pundits and AIK fans afterwards, even though he didn't manage to score. On 1 October 2017 he scored a hattrick when AIK won 5–2 win against Elfsborg.

Loan to Anorthosis Famagusta

On 18 January 2019 it was announced that Stefanelli had signed a loan deal with

Anorthosis Famagusta Anorthosis Famagusta ( el, Ανόρθωση Αμμοχώστου, translit=Anorthosi Ammochostou), commonly known as Anorthosis in English or Anorthosi in Greek, is a Cypriot football club, part of the Anorthosis Famagusta multi-sport club fou ...

in the

Cypriot First Division The Cypriot First Division ( el, Πρωτάθλημα Α΄ Κατηγορίας) is the top tier football league competition in Cyprus, run by the Cyprus Football Association. Since February 2016, it is sponsored by Cyta and is thus officially ...

Return to AIK

On 26 February 2021 AIK confirmed that Stefanelli returned back to the club.

Inter Miami

On 5 January 2023, Stefanelli joined

side

on a two-year deal.

Personal life

Stefanelli is a

dual national Multiple/dual citizenship (or multiple/dual nationality) is a legal status in which a person is concurrently regarded as a national or citizen of more than one country under the laws of those countries. Conceptually, citizenship is focused on t ...

; he holds an Italian

EU passport The European Union itself does not issue ordinary passports, but ordinary passport booklets issued by its Member state of the European Union, 27 member states share a common format. This common format features a coloured cover (for which Burgu ...

as well as an Argentine passport. He grew up and went to school in Quilmes, Argentina. Stefanelli is nicknamed "Chicho" in Argentina and "Nico" by his Swedish teammates.

Career statistics

Honours

AIK *

2018 File:2018 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: The 2018 Winter Olympics opening ceremony in PyeongChang, South Korea; Protests erupt following the Assassination of Jamal Khashoggi; March for Our Lives protests take place across the United ...

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Stefanelli, Nicolas Living people 1994 births AIK Fotboll players Argentine footballers Defensa y Justicia footballers Villa Dálmine footballers Anorthosis Famagusta F.C. players Unión La Calera footballers Inter Miami CF players People from Quilmes People from Buenos Aires Province Argentine Primera División players Primera Nacional players Primera B Metropolitana players Allsvenskan players Cypriot First Division players Chilean Primera División players Expatriate footballers in Sweden Expatriate footballers in Cyprus Expatriate footballers in Chile Argentine expatriate sportspeople in Sweden Argentine expatriate sportspeople in the United States Argentine expatriate footballers Argentine people of Italian descent Association football forwards Sportspeople from Buenos Aires Province