Paolo Giovannelli (born 1 October 1960 in Cecina) is a retired

Italian Italian(s) may refer to: * Anything of, from, or related to the people of Italy over the centuries ** Italians, an ethnic group or simply a citizen of the Italian Republic or Italian Kingdom ** Italian language, a Romance language *** Regional Ita ...

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 ...

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 ...

Club career

Throughout his club career, Giovannelli played 11 seasons (172 games, 12 goals) in the Italian

Serie A The Serie A (), also called Serie A TIM for national sponsorship with TIM, is a professional league competition for football clubs located at the top of the Italian football league system and the winner is awarded the Scudetto and the Coppa ...

for

A.S. Roma ' (''Rome Sport Association''), commonly referred to as Roma (), is a professional football club based in Rome, Italy. Founded by a merger in 1927, Roma has participated in the top tier of Italian football for all of its existence, except for ...

Pisa Calcio Pisa Sporting Club, commonly referred to as Pisa, is an Italian football club based in Pisa, Tuscany. The team currently plays in Serie B. The club was founded in 1909 as Pisa Sporting Club and refounded in 1994 as Pisa Calcio (and registered i ...

Ascoli Calcio 1898 Ascoli Calcio 1898 F.C., commonly referred to as Ascoli, is an Italian football club based in Ascoli Piceno, Marche. The club was formed in 1898 and currently plays in Serie B. The team traditionally play in vertical black and white stripes. ...

and

A.C. Cesena A.C. Cesena, commonly referred to as Cesena (), was an Italian football club based in Cesena, Emilia-Romagna. The club spent most of its history in professional leagues such as Serie A and Serie B, but went bankrupt and folded in 2018. Another ...

. He is mostly remembered by

fans for his winning goal that he scored on 2 March 1980 in a

Derby della Capitale The Derby della Capitale ( en, Derby of the capital city), also known as Derby Capitolino and Derby del Cupolone, as well as The Rome Derby in English and Derby di Roma in Italian, is the football local derby in Rome, Italy, between Lazio and Ro ...

game against S.S. Lazio; he scored from a free-kick with five minutes remaining to play in the game, which was the only league goal he ever scored in his Roma career. His tine at the club was hampered by a serious injury he suffered in 1981, which greatly limited his appearances in the next three seasons.

International career

Although Giovannelli was never capped for the Italy senior side, at international level, he represented the Italy U21 side on four occasions in 1982, and also took part at

UEFA European Under-21 Football Championship The UEFA European Under-21 Championship, the UEFA Under-21 Championship or simply the Euro Under-21, is a biennial football competition contested by the European men's under-21 national teams of the UEFA member associations. Since 1992, the compe ...

with the team that year.

Honours

;Roma *

champion: 1982–83. *

Coppa Italia The ("Italy Cup") is an annual knockout cup competition in Italian football organized by the FIGC until the 2009–10 season and the Lega Serie A ever since. History The beginning of the tournament was turbulent, due to the complexity of ...

winner: 1979–80, 1980–81. 1960 births Living people Italian footballers Italy under-21 international footballers Serie A players Serie B players A.S. Roma players Pisa S.C. players Ascoli Calcio 1898 F.C. players A.C. Cesena players Association football midfielders People from Cecina, Tuscany Sportspeople from the Province of Livorno Footballers from Tuscany {{Italy-footy-midfielder-1960s-stub