Riccardo Meggiorini (born 4 September 1985) 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

forward Forward is a relative direction, the opposite of backward. Forward may also refer to: People * Forward (surname) Sports * Forward (association football) * Forward (basketball), including: ** Point forward ** Power forward (basketball) ** Sm ...

for an amateur side San Giovanni Lupatoto.

Club career

Early career

Meggiorini took his first steps as a footballer at age eight, in a small football team from Tarmassia, a small fraction of

Isola della Scala Isola della Scala is a ''comune'' (municipality) of c. 10,000 inhabitants in the Province of Verona in the Italian region of Veneto, located about west of Venice and about southeast of Verona. Isola della Scala borders the following municipaliti ...

, and at 12 he entered in the

Verona Verona ( , ; vec, Verona or ) is a city on the Adige River in Veneto, Northern Italy, Italy, with 258,031 inhabitants. It is one of the seven provincial capitals of the region. It is the largest city Comune, municipality in the region and the ...

youth system, where he remained for two years. He moved to

Bovolone Bovolone is a town and a ''comune'' (municipality) in the Province of Verona in the Italian region Veneto, located about west of Venice and about southeast of Verona. Bovolone borders the following municipalities: Cerea, Concamarise, Isola dell ...

in 2000, in which he scored 46 goals in 26 games in the category of ''Allievi regionali''. He earned a call-up to the first team the following season, scoring 13 times in 27 appearances.

Inter Milan

In the summer of 2003, Meggiorini moved, on loan, to

Internazionale Football Club Internazionale Milano, commonly referred to as Internazionale () or simply Inter, and colloquially known as Inter Milan in English-speaking countries, is an Italian professional football club based in Milan, Lombardy. Inter is t ...

, who placed him in the ''Primavera'' of the Nerazzurri. At the end of the season, on 23 June 2004 the club redeemed his contract. After starting the season in the youth team,

Roberto Mancini Roberto Mancini (; born 27 November 1964) is an Italian football manager and former player. He is currently the manager of the Italy national team. As a player, Mancini operated as a deep-lying forward, and was best known for his time at Samp ...

called him up into the first team for the trip to

Cagliari Cagliari (, also , , ; sc, Casteddu ; lat, Caralis) is an Italian municipality and the capital of the island of Sardinia, an autonomous region of Italy. Cagliari's Sardinian name ''Casteddu'' means ''castle''. It has about 155,000 inhabitant ...

, giving him his

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 ...

debut on 14 November 2004, which ended 3–3.

Spezia and Pavia

In January 2005, he left on loan to

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 ...

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 ...

, along with

Hernán Paolo Dellafiore Paolo Hernán Dellafiore (born 2 February 1985) is an Argentine-born Italian footballer, who plays as a central defender for Serie D club Mantova. Club career Internazionale Born in Buenos Aires to Italian parents, Dellafiore started his profe ...

. In the summer of the same year, he moved to

Pavia Pavia (, , , ; la, Ticinum; Medieval Latin: ) is a town and comune of south-western Lombardy in northern Italy, south of Milan on the lower Ticino river near its confluence with the Po. It has a population of c. 73,086. The city was the capit ...

, also in Serie C1. In January 2006, he moved to

Cittadella Cittadella ( vec, Sitadeła) is a medieval walled city in the province of Padua, northern Italy, founded in the 13th century as a military outpost of Padua. The surrounding wall has been restored and is in circumference with a diameter of around ...

, another Serie C1 team. He loan was extended in July 2006

Cittadella

He was bought by Cittadella in co-ownership deal in summer 2007, for €40,000, and won promotion to Serie B in June 2008.

Genoa and Bari

In June 2009 Meggiorini was involved in the signing of

Diego Milito Diego Alberto Milito (born 12 June 1979) is an Argentine former professional footballer who played as a striker. He is currently a sports manager. Milito began his club career in Argentina with Racing Club in 1999, and later moved to Italian ...

(€28 million) and

Thiago Motta Thiago Motta (; ; born 28 August 1982) is a professional football manager and former player. He is currently the head coach of club Bologna. A midfielder, Motta spent his early career at Barcelona, where he was injury-prone. He played two and ...

(€10.2 million). Which Inter paid Genoa €20 million cash and half of the registration rights of Meggiorini (tagged for €2.5 million),

Robert Acquafresca Robert Acquafresca (; born 11 September 1987) is an Italian former professional footballer who played as a striker. He is a former Italy under-21 international and represented Italy at the 2008 Summer Olympics. Club career Early career Bor ...

(€9.5 million), half of

Ivan Fatić Ivan Fatić (, ; born 21 August 1988) is a Montenegrin retired football player who played as a defender or midfielder. He Is manager in youth categories of Rudar Pljevlja. Club career Italy Fatić was signed by Italian Serie A side Internazion ...

(€200,000),

Leonardo Bonucci Leonardo Bonucci (; born 1 May 1987) is an Italian professional footballer who plays as a centre-back and captains both club Juventus and the Italy national team. Known for his technique and ball-playing ability, he is regarded as one of the b ...

(€3 million) and

Francesco Bolzoni Francesco Bolzoni (born 7 May 1989) is an Italian footballer who plays as a midfielder for Swiss club Rapperswil-Jona that competes in the third-tier Swiss Promotion League. He is a former Italy U21 international. Club career Internazionale ...

(€3 million). Genoa also paid another €2.5 million to

via Inter in order to fully owned the registration rights of Meggiorini. Meggiorini was transferred to

Bari Bari ( , ; nap, label= Barese, Bare ; lat, Barium) is the capital city of the Metropolitan City of Bari and of the Apulia region, on the Adriatic Sea, southern Italy. It is the second most important economic centre of mainland Southern Italy a ...

on 2 July 2009 along with Bonucci,

Matteo Paro Matteo Paro (born 17 March 1983) is an Italian former footballer who played as a midfielder. Career Juventus Paro made his Serie A debut on 17 May 2003, in a 2–1 loss to Reggina. Chievo In the summer of 2003, Juventus sold half of Paro's con ...

(loan),

Andrea Ranocchia Andrea Ranocchia (; born 16 February 1988) is a former Italian professional footballer who played as a defender. Club career Early career Born in Assisi in the province of Perugia, Ranocchia started his career at Perugia then in Arezzo. Ranocch ...

(loan) and

Giuseppe Greco Giuseppe Greco (; 4 January 1952 – September 1985) was a hitman and high-ranking member of the Sicilian Mafia. A number of sources refer to him exclusively as Pino Greco, although Giuseppe was his Christian name; "Pino" is a frequent abbr ...

(loan) in another co-ownership deal, which the 50% registration rights of Bonucci Meggiorini were valued €1.75 million and €2.75 million respectively. On 26 June 2010, he was bought back by Genoa as the

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 ...

side made a higher bid than Bari in a closed tender, for €1.79 million.Genoa CFC Report and Accounts on 31 December 2010 Four days later, Genoa was reported to have agreed with

Chievo Chievo (4,500 inhabitants) is a frazione of Verona located to the west of the city, around from the historic city centre, on the shores of the river Adige. It is best known for its football team, A.C. ChievoVerona, which competes in the second ...

to swap Meggiorini for

goalkeeper In many team sports which involve scoring goals, the goalkeeper (sometimes termed goaltender, netminder, GK, goalie or keeper) is a designated player charged with directly preventing the opposing team from scoring by blocking or intercepting o ...

Stefano Sorrentino. However, the deal collapsed.

Bologna

On 9 July 2010, he was sold to

Bologna Bologna (, , ; egl, label= Emilian, Bulåggna ; lat, Bononia) is the capital and largest city of the Emilia-Romagna region in Northern Italy. It is the seventh most populous city in Italy with about 400,000 inhabitants and 150 different nat ...

in another co-ownership deal, for €3 million. Despite not a solid member of starting XI, he also made 3 assists, tied the team record with Diego Pérez.

Novara

The following year Genoa bought back Meggiorini again (direct swap with Federico Rodríguez) but left for another side, Serie A newcomer

Novara Novara (, Novarese: ) is the capital city of the province of Novara in the Piedmont region in northwest Italy, to the west of Milan. With 101,916 inhabitants (on 1 January 2021), it is the second most populous city in Piedmont after Turin. It is ...

in temporary deal, for €400,000,Genoa CFC SpA financial report and accounts on 31 December 2012 as the club had sold its flagship striker

Pablo Andrés González Pablo is a Spanish form of the name Paul. People * Pablo Alborán, Spanish singer *Pablo Aimar, Argentine footballer *Pablo Armero, Colombian footballer * Pablo Bartholomew, Indian photojournalist *Pablo Brandán, Argentine footballer *Pablo Brene ...

and Cristian Bertani.

Torino

On 16 January 2012, he was sold in co-ownership to

Torino Turin ( , Piedmontese: ; it, Torino ) is a city and an important business and cultural centre in Northern Italy. It is the capital city of Piedmont and of the Metropolitan City of Turin, and was the first Italian capital from 1861 to 1865. T ...

, returning to

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 ...

after playing in the top flight for three years. The fee was €1 million. He debuted 21 January against his former team,

, substituting Juan Surraco in the 71st minute. In February 2012, he scored the match-winner against

Sampdoria Unione Calcio Sampdoria, commonly referred to as Sampdoria (), is an Italian professional football club based in Genoa. The club was formed in 1946 from the merger of two existing sports clubs whose roots can be traced back to the 1890s, ...

, 2–1. On 1 May he scored a header, securing the victory for his team at

Livorno Livorno () is a port city on the Ligurian Sea on the western coast of Tuscany, Italy. It is the capital of the Province of Livorno, having a population of 158,493 residents in December 2017. It is traditionally known in English as Leghorn (pronou ...

. Torino was promoted to

at the end of the season. On 22 June 2012, Torino bought him outright from Genoa for €600,000. On 27 January 2013, he scored a brace at the

San Siro Stadio Giuseppe Meazza, commonly known as San Siro, is a football stadium in the San Siro district of Milan, Italy, which is the home of A.C. Milan and Inter Milan. It has a seating capacity of 80,018, making it one of the largest stadiums in ...

against

Inter Inter may refer to: Association football clubs * Inter Milan, an Italian club * SC Internacional, a Brazilian club * Inter Miami CF, an American club * FC Inter Sibiu, a Romanian club * FC Inter Turku, a Finnish club * FK Inter Bratislava, a form ...

, ending 2–2. He concluded the season with 3 goals in 31 appearances.

Chievo

On 4 July 2014, he signed a two-year contract, with an option for a third, with Chievo. He scored his first goal for Chievo at home against

Empoli Empoli () is a town and ''comune'' in the Metropolitan City of Florence, Tuscany, Italy, about southwest of Florence, to the south of the Arno in a plain formed by the river. The plain has been usable for agriculture since Roman times. The comm ...

, in the match in which he debuted with Chievo. On 8 December, he scored with a fantastic bicycle kick against Cagliari, then was decisive in a 2–1 encounter won against

, scoring his club's second goal after a 50-metre dribbling run.

Vicenza

On 15 July 2020 he signed a 1-year contract with an option for extension with

Vicenza Vicenza ( , ; ) is a city in northeastern Italy. It is in the Veneto region at the northern base of the ''Monte Berico'', where it straddles the Bacchiglione River. Vicenza is approximately west of Venice and east of Milan. Vicenza is a th ...

Amateur levels

On 7 September 2022, Meggiorini joined amateur side San Giovanni Lupatoto.

International career

He made one appearance for the Italy U-19 team and two for the U-20.

Honours

Spezia *

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 ...

: 2005

References

External links

Profile at La Gazzetta dello Sport (2009–10)

Inter Archive
*
Profile of Riccardo Meggiorini on Torinofc.it
{{DEFAULTSORT:Meggiorini, Riccardo Living people 1985 births Sportspeople from the Province of Verona Association football forwards Italian footballers Italy youth international footballers Serie A players Serie B players Inter Milan players Spezia Calcio players A.S. Cittadella players S.S.C. Bari players Bologna F.C. 1909 players F.C. Pavia players Novara F.C. players Torino F.C. players A.C. ChievoVerona players L.R. Vicenza players Footballers from Veneto