Nikola Sekulov (; born 18 February 2002) is an Italian 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 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 ...

for club

Juventus Next Gen Juventus Next Gen (), also known as Juve Next Gen or Juve NG (), is a professional football club based in Turin, Piedmont, Italy, which acts as the reserve team of club Juventus. They compete in , and play their home games at the Stadio Gius ...

. Born in Italy to Macedonian parents, Sekulov represented

Macedonia Macedonia most commonly refers to: * North Macedonia, a country in southeastern Europe, known until 2019 as the Republic of Macedonia * Macedonia (ancient kingdom), a kingdom in Greek antiquity * Macedonia (Greece), a traditional geographic reg ...

internationally at youth level, before switching to Italy in 2018.

Club career

Born in Piacenza, Italy, to Macedonian parents, Sekulov began his youth career at Piacenza in 2007, remaining there until 2012 when he moved to

Parma Parma (; egl, Pärma, ) is a city in the northern Italian region of Emilia-Romagna known for its architecture, Giuseppe Verdi, music, art, prosciutto (ham), Parmigiano-Reggiano, cheese and surrounding countryside. With a population of 198,292 ...

. In 2015 he joined

Pro Piacenza Associazione Sportiva Pro Piacenza 1919 S.r.l. or simply Pro Piacenza was an Italian association football club, based in Piacenza, Emilia-Romagna. The club played in Serie C, the third tier of Italian football, until 18 February 2019 when ...

, before moving to

Juventus Juventus Football Club (from la, iuventūs, 'youth'; ), colloquially known as Juve (), is a professional Association football, football club based in Turin, Piedmont, Italy, that competes in the Serie A, the top tier of the Italian football leagu ...

in 2016. Sekulov made his

Serie C The Serie C () is the third-highest division in the Italian football league system after the Serie B and Serie A. The Lega Italiana Calcio Professionistico (Lega Pro) is the governing body that runs the Serie C. The unification of the Lega Pro ...

debut for

Juventus U23 Juventus Next Gen (), also known as Juve Next Gen or Juve NG (), is a professional football club based in Turin, Piedmont, Italy, which acts as the reserve team of club Juventus. They compete in , and play their home games at the Stadio Giusepp ...

– the reserve team of Juventus – on 21 October 2020 in a 1–0 defeat to

Pro Vercelli Football Club Pro Vercelli 1892, commonly referred to as Pro Vercelli, is an Italian football club based in Vercelli, Piedmont. The club is mostly renowned as one of the most successful teams in the early football era of Italy, with seven natio ...

. On 22 September 2021, Sekulov scored his first goal in his career in a 2–1 win against

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 ...

. On 17 October, Sekulov scored a brace in a 2–1 win against

Seregno Seregno (; lmo, label= Brianzoeu, Seregn ) is a town and ''comune'' of the new Province of Monza and Brianza in the Italian region of Lombardy. Seregno received the honorary title of city with a presidential decree on 26 January 1979. It is ser ...

. On 29 October, Sekulov extended his contract with

until 2025. On 7 December 2022, Sekulov scored Juventus Next Gen's 2–0 in their victory against Padova in

Coppa Italia Serie C Coppa Italia Serie C ( it, Serie C Italian Cup), formerly named Coppa Italia Lega Pro, is a straight knock-out based competition involving teams from Serie C in Italian football first held in 1972. Format There are a total of six rounds in the c ...

after carrying the ball from his own half. On 15 July 2023, he joined

Serie B The Serie B (), currently named Serie Balkrishna Industries, BKT for sponsorship reasons, is the second-highest division in the Italian football league system after the Serie A. It has been operating for over ninety years since the 1929–30 ...

side

Cremonese Cremona (, also ; ; lmo, label= Cremunés, Cremùna; egl, Carmona) is a city and ''comune'' in northern Italy, situated in Lombardy, on the left bank of the Po river in the middle of the ''Pianura Padana'' (Po Valley). It is the capital of the ...

on loan. On 12 January 2024, the loan was terminated early.

International career

Sekulov represented Macedonia internationally at youth level until the under-17s, switching allegiance to Italy in 2018. He represented the under-17s at the

2019 UEFA European Under-17 Championship The 2019 UEFA European Under-17 Championship (also known as UEFA Under-17 Euro 2019) was the 18th edition of the UEFA European Under-17 Championship (37th edition if the Under-16 era is also included), the annual international youth football cham ...

, reaching the final of the competition where Italy lost to the

Netherlands ) , anthem = ( en, "William of Nassau") , image_map = , map_caption = , subdivision_type = Sovereign state , subdivision_name = Kingdom of the Netherlands , established_title = Before independence , established_date = Spanish Netherl ...

Style of play

A half-winger (), Sekulov has been likened to former Juventus midfielder

Claudio Marchisio Claudio Marchisio (; born 19 January 1986) is an Italian former professional footballer who played as a midfielder. A product of the Juventus youth system, he spent a large portion of his career at his hometown club, with the exception of a sea ...

for his technical qualities, movements, and height.

Career statistics

Club

Honours

Italy U17 *

UEFA European Under-17 Championship The UEFA European Under-17 Championship or simply UEFA Under-17 Championship, is an annual football competition contested by the European men's under-17 national teams of the member associations of UEFA. Spain is the most successful team in this ...

runner-up:

2019 File:2019 collage v1.png, From top left, clockwise: Hong Kong protests turn to widespread riots and civil disobedience; House of Representatives votes to adopt articles of impeachment against Donald Trump; CRISPR gene editing first used to experim ...

Notes

References

External links

* * * * 2002 births Living people Sportspeople from Piacenza Footballers from Emilia-Romagna Italian men's footballers Italy men's youth international footballers Macedonian men's footballers North Macedonia men's youth international footballers Italian people of Macedonian descent Men's association football midfielders Piacenza Calcio 1919 players Parma Calcio 1913 players AS Pro Piacenza 1919 players Juventus FC players Juventus Next Gen players US Cremonese players Serie B players Serie C players {{Italy-footy-midfielder-2000s-stub