Paolo Ponzo (11 March 1972 – 24 March 2013) was an Italian

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 last 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 ...

for

Liguria Liguria (; lij, Ligûria ; french: Ligurie) is a Regions of Italy, region of north-western Italy; its Capital city, capital is Genoa. Its territory is crossed by the Alps and the Apennine Mountains, Apennines Mountain chain, mountain range and is ...

club

Imperia Imperia (; lij, Inpêia or ) is a coastal city and ''comune'' in the Regions of Italy, region of Liguria, Italy. It is the capital of the Province of Imperia, and historically it was capital of the ''Intemelia'' district of Liguria. Benito Muss ...

Career

Early career

Born in

Cairo Montenotte Cairo Montenotte () is a ''comune'' (municipality) in the Province of Savona in Liguria, an Italian region located west of Genoa and northwest of Savona. Located in Val Bormida, it is a member of the Comunità Montana Alta Val Bormida. It is con ...

, Liguria, Ponzo started his senior career with

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 ...

club Vado. In

1991–92 Serie A During the 1991–92 Serie A, under the guidance of Fabio Capello, Milan completed a remarkable unbeaten season, a run that eventually totalled 58 games. They finished eight points ahead of Serie A runners-up Juventus. However, it was a disappoi ...

season, he was signed by one of the largest club in Liguria region,

Genoa C.F.C. Genoa Cricket and Football Club, commonly referred to as Genoa (), is a professional football club based in Genoa, Liguria, Italy, that competes in , the second division of the Italian football league system. Established in 1893, Genoa is ...

He played a season with its youth team and left for

Montevarchi Montevarchi is a town and ''comune'' in the province of Arezzo, Tuscany, Italy. History The town of Montevarchi sprang up around 1100, near to a fortified Benedictine monastery, founded by bishop Elempert (986–1010) of Arezzo. At first the cas ...

in 1992.

Serie B teams

After 3

Serie C2 Lega Pro Seconda Divisione was the fourth highest football league in Italy, the lowest with a professional status. Usually it consisted of 36 teams, but in the 2011–12 season, there were 41 teams divided geographically into two divisions of 2 ...

seasons with the

Tuscany Tuscany ( ; it, Toscana ) is a Regions of Italy, region in central Italy with an area of about and a population of about 3.8 million inhabitants. The regional capital is Florence (''Firenze''). Tuscany is known for its landscapes, history, art ...

team, he was signed by

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 ...

club

Cesena Cesena (; rgn, Cisêna) is a city and ''comune'' in the Emilia-Romagna region of Italy, served by Autostrada A14, and located near the Apennine Mountains, about from the Adriatic Sea. The total population is 97,137. History Cesena was o ...

. After the club relegated, he left for Serie B club

Ravenna Ravenna ( , , also ; rgn, Ravèna) is the capital city of the Province of Ravenna, in the Emilia-Romagna region of Northern Italy. It was the capital city of the Western Roman Empire from 408 until its collapse in 476. It then served as the cap ...

in 1997. He played 4 times for the

Emilia–Romagna egl, Emigliàn (man) egl, Emiglièna (woman) rgn, Rumagnòl (man) rgn, Rumagnòla (woman) it, Emiliano (man) it, Emiliana (woman) or it, Romagnolo (man) it, Romagnola (woman) , population_note = , population_blank1_title ...

club and moved to regional and league rival Reggiana in January 1998, in exchange with Sebastiano Vecchiola. In January 2000, he was signed by Serie B club Savoia from Reggiana, at that time at Serie C1. He played 15 times for the

Campania Campania (, also , , , ) is an administrative Regions of Italy, region of Italy; most of it is in the south-western portion of the Italian peninsula (with the Tyrrhenian Sea to its west), but it also includes the small Phlegraean Islands and the i ...

club. Savoia finished as the bottom team and relegated.

Modena

In 2000, he was signed by

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 ...

, his second

Serie C1 Lega Pro Prima Divisione was the third highest football (soccer), football league in Italy. It consisted of 33 teams, divided geographically into two divisions of 16 and 17 teams for group A and B respectively. Until 2008 it was known as Serie C1 ...

club. He followed the team promoted to Serie B as Serie C1 champion and promoted to

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 ...

as Serie B runner-up. From 2002 to 2004, he played 43 Serie A matches. He made his Serie A debut on 14 September 2002, losing to

A.C. Milan Associazione Calcio Milan (), commonly referred to as AC Milan or simply Milan, is a professional Association football, football club in Milan, Italy, founded in 1899. The club has spent its entire history, with the exception of the 1980–81 ...

0–3. He followed the team relegated back to Serie B in 2004.

Spezia

In 2005, he left for Serie C1 club

Spezia La Spezia (, or , ; in the local Spezzino dialect) is the capital city of the province of La Spezia and is located at the head of the Gulf of La Spezia in the southern part of the Liguria region of Italy. La Spezia is the second largest city ...

, which is from his home region. He won promotion to Serie B again as champion. in

2006–07 Serie B The 2006–07 Serie B season is the 75th season since its establishment in 1929. It started on 9 September 2006 and ended on 10 June 2007. The 22 clubs in Serie B each played 42 matches during the regular season. The 2006–07 season marked the ...

season, he played 27 matches in all competitions, started 20 times. He was on the bench in the relegation play-out.

Later career

In 2007, Ponzo was re-signed by Reggiana. He played 2 seasons for the club in Serie C2/ Seconda Divisione. In July 2009, he left to play for

Savona Savona (; lij, Sann-a ) is a seaport and ''comune'' in the west part of the northern Italy, Italian region of Liguria, capital of the Province of Savona, in the Riviera di Ponente on the Mediterranean Sea. Savona used to be one of the chie ...

from his home province, the

Province of Savona The province of Savona ( it, provincia di Savona; Ligurian: ''provinsa de Sann-a'') is a province in the Liguria region of Italy. Its capital is the city of Savona, which has a population of 61,219 inhabitants. The province has a total populatio ...

. He made 32 league appearances for the club and won promotion back to professional league as Group A champion.

Death

On 24 March 2013 Ponzo died of a heart attack during the Maremontana running race.

Career statistics

Apps 43 : 2002–04 (Modena) *

Apps 331 : 1995–97 (Cesena), 1997 (Ravenna), 1999-00 (Savoia), 1998–99 (Reggiana), 2001–02 2004–05 (Modena), 2006–07 (Spezia) *

Apps 114 : 1999-00 2008–09 (Reggiana), 2000–01 (Modena), 2005–06 (Spezia) *

Apps 142 : 1992–95 (Montevarchi), 2007–08 (Reggiana), 2010–11 (Savona) *

Apps 32 : 2009–10 (Savona) *

Eccellenza The Eccellenza (, "excellence") is the fifth level (since 2014–15) of Italian football. It is a regional league, composed of 28 divisions divided geographically. All 20 regions are represented by at least one division except for Piedmont and Ao ...

Apps 76 : 1988–91 (Vado), 2011–12 (Imperia)

References

External links

Football.it Profile

La Gazzetta dello Sport Profile (2006–07 season)

LaSerieD.com Profile
{{DEFAULTSORT:Ponzo, Paolo Italian footballers Serie A players Serie B players Genoa C.F.C. players A.C. Cesena players Ravenna F.C. players A.C. Reggiana 1919 players Modena F.C. 2018 players Spezia Calcio players Savona F.B.C. players Men's association football midfielders People from Cairo Montenotte 1972 births 2013 deaths Footballers from Liguria Sportspeople from the Province of Savona