Paolo Palmacci (born 17 May 1984), is an Italian beach soccer player 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 ...

, having originally started as a forward. He has appeared at eight editions of the FIFA Beach Soccer World Cup representing the Italy national team, earning a silver medal on two occasions (

2008 File:2008 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: Lehman Brothers went bankrupt following the Subprime mortgage crisis; Cyclone Nargis killed more than 138,000 in Myanmar; A scene from the opening ceremony of the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing; ...

and

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 ...

), and, as of 2019, is the most-capped Italian player ever.

Career

Palmacci began playing football aged 6. He originally pursued

association football Association football, more commonly known as football or soccer, is a team sport played between two teams of 11 players who primarily use their feet to propel the ball around a rectangular field called a pitch. The objective of the game is ...

, making appearances in both

Serie D The Serie D () is the top level of semi-professional football in the country. The fourth tier of the Italian league system, the competition sits beneath the third professional league, Serie C. It is administered by the Lega Nazionale Dilettant ...

and Serie C1. In 2003, aged 19, he started playing beach soccer, in his hometown of

Terracina Terracina is an Italian city and ''comune'' of the province of Latina, located on the coast southeast of Rome on the Via Appia ( by rail). The site has been continuously occupied since antiquity. History Ancient times Terracina appears in anci ...

. In 2005, he began competing for the city's beach soccer club in the LND Serie A, Italy's national beach soccer league. Palmacci was first called up to the Italy national team in 2006, aged 22, for an exhibition tournament in Réunion. He was subsequently a surprise inclusion in Italy's final 12-man squad for the

2006 FIFA Beach Soccer World Cup The 2006 FIFA Beach Soccer World Cup was the second edition of the FIFA Beach Soccer World Cup, governed by FIFA. Overall, this was the 12th edition of a world cup in beach soccer since the establishment of the '' Beach Soccer World Championships ...

a month later. At the 2008 World Cup, he scored his self-proclaimed favourite ever beach soccer goal, an

overhead kick In association football, a bicycle kick, also known as an overhead kick, scissors kick, is an acrobatic strike where a player kicks an airborne ball rearward in midair. It is achieved by throwing the body backward up into the air and, before ...

in the quarter-final victory over

France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic, Pacific and Indian Oceans. Its metropolitan area ...

. He then went on to score one of Italy's three goals in the defeat against

Brazil Brazil ( pt, Brasil; ), officially the Federative Republic of Brazil (Portuguese: ), is the largest country in both South America and Latin America. At and with over 217 million people, Brazil is the world's fifth-largest country by area ...

the final Final, Finals or The Final may refer to: *Final (competition), the last or championship round of a sporting competition, match, game, or other contest which decides a winner for an event ** Another term for playoffs, describing a sequence of cont ...

. In 2011, he won the domestic treble with Terracina (league, cup and super cup). Palmacci became Italy's all-time record appearance maker at the 2015 European Games in Baku, overtaking the previous holder, Michele Leghissa. At the 2017 World Cup qualifiers in September 2016, Palmacci reached 189 goals for his country, becoming Italy's all-time record goalscorer, surpassing Roberto Pasquali. However, he has since relinquished this record to Gabriele Gori. He also made his 200th appearance for Italy at the tournament, against

Poland Poland, officially the Republic of Poland, is a country in Central Europe. It is divided into 16 administrative provinces called voivodeships, covering an area of . Poland has a population of over 38 million and is the fifth-most populou ...

in the semi-finals. After 11 years with Terracina, Palmacci made a "shock" move to rival club Catania in 2017. Later that year, Palmacci reached the milestone of 200 goals for Italy in an 11–4 victory against

Ukraine Ukraine ( uk, Україна, Ukraïna, ) is a country in Eastern Europe. It is the second-largest European country after Russia, which it borders to the east and northeast. Ukraine covers approximately . Prior to the ongoing Russian inv ...

during the Superfinal of the

Euro Beach Soccer League The Euro Beach Soccer League (EBSL) is the premier competition in beach soccer contested between European men's national teams. The competition has been held annually since its establishment in 1998, making it the oldest beach soccer tournament in ...

. In 2019, he was one of just two surviving Italian players to play in the World Cup final against

Portugal Portugal, officially the Portuguese Republic ( pt, República Portuguesa, links=yes ), is a country whose mainland is located on the Iberian Peninsula of Southwestern Europe, and whose territory also includes the Atlantic archipelagos of ...

, having also played Italy's only previous final in 2008.

Statistics

Honours

''As of 2019 season'' The following is a selection, not an exhaustive list, of the major honours Palmacci has achieved with Italy:

Team

* FIFA Beach Soccer World Cup **Runner-up (2): 2008, 2019 *

**Winner (1):

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 Unit ...

**Runner-up (1): 2010 *

Mediterranean Beach Games The Mediterranean Beach Games is a multi-sport event organized by the International Committee of Mediterranean Games (CIJM) since 2015. The CIJM formed the games in a meeting on October 20, 2012 in Mersin, Turkey, and decided on a format of every 4 ...

**Gold medal (1): 2015 *

European Games The European Games is a continental multi-sport event in the Olympic tradition contested by athletes from European nations and several transcontinental countries. The Games were envisioned and are governed by the European Olympic Committees ...

**Silver medal (1): 2015 * UEFA qualifiers for the FIFA Beach Soccer World Cup: **Runner-up (1):

Individual

(6): **Superfinal: ***Top scorer: 2009,

2016 File:2016 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: Bombed-out buildings in Ankara following the 2016 Turkish coup d'état attempt; the Impeachment of Dilma Rousseff, impeachment trial of Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff; Damaged houses duri ...

**Regular season stages: ***Top scorer: 2009 x1,

2012 File:2012 Events Collage V3.png, From left, clockwise: The passenger cruise ship Costa Concordia lies capsized after the Costa Concordia disaster; Damage to Casino Pier in Seaside Heights, New Jersey as a result of Hurricane Sandy; People gat ...

x1 ***Best player: 2012 x1,

References

External links

Paolo Palmacci
profile at

Beach Soccer Worldwide Beach Soccer Worldwide (BSWW) is the organisation responsible for the founding and growth of association football's derivative sport of beach soccer. The founding partners of BSWW codified the rules of beach soccer in 1992, with BSWW as it is know ...

{{DEFAULTSORT:Palmacci, Paolo 1984 births Living people Italian men's footballers Italian beach soccer players Men's association football midfielders European Games silver medalists for Italy Beach soccer players at the 2015 European Games European Games medalists in beach soccer Beach soccer players at the 2019 European Games Sportspeople from Latina, Lazio Footballers from Lazio