Roberto Soriano (; born 8 February 1991) is a 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

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 ...

club

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 ...

. Born in

Germany Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated betwe ...

, he plays for the Italy national team.

Club career

Early career

Soriano was born in the German city of

Darmstadt Darmstadt () is a city in the States of Germany, state of Hesse in Germany, located in the southern part of the Frankfurt Rhine Main Area, Rhine-Main-Area (Frankfurt Metropolitan Region). Darmstadt has around 160,000 inhabitants, making it th ...

to a family from

Sperone Sperone is a town and ''comune'' in the province of Avellino, in the Campania region of southern Italy. Geography The town is bordered by Avella, Baiano, Sirignano and Visciano Visciano (Campanian: ) is a municipality, that is on the edge of t ...

Province of Avellino The Province of Avellino ( it, Provincia di Avellino) is a province in the Campania region of Southern Italy. The area is characterized by numerous small towns and villages scattered across the province; only two towns have a population over 20,0 ...

, Italy. He started his career with

Bayern Munich Fußball-Club Bayern München e. V. (FCB, ), also known as FC Bayern (), Bayern Munich, or simply Bayern, is a German professional sports club based in Munich, Bavaria. It is best known for its professional men's football team, which pla ...

after being spotted by their scouts in the

2007 Champions Youth Cup The 2007 Champions Youth Cup was the first and only staging of the Champions Youth Cup, a proposed annual football tournament. It was supported by the G-14 group and was intended to be a Club World Championship for the Under-19 teams of some of the ...

while playing for ''Die Roten''.

Sampdoria

On 2 February 2009, Soriano moved to Italian club

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, ...

for an undisclosed fee. Soriano immediately entered Sampdoria's ''Primavera'', or youth team, for the

2009 Torneo di Viareggio The 2009 winners of the Torneo di Viareggio (in English, the Viareggio Tournament, officially the Viareggio Cup World Football Tournament Coppa Carnevale), the annual youth football tournament held in Viareggio, Tuscany, are listed below. Format ...

, where the

Genoa Genoa ( ; it, Genova ; lij, Zêna ). is the capital of the Italian region of Liguria and the List of cities in Italy, sixth-largest city in Italy. In 2015, 594,733 people lived within the city's administrative limits. As of the 2011 Italian ce ...

based club finished as runners-up. In the 2009–10 season, Sampdoria were eliminated in the semi-finals at the

Campionato Nazionale Primavera The Campionato Nazionale Primavera – Trofeo Giacinto Facchetti, was an Italian football youth competition. It is organised by the Lega Serie A and the participating teams that take part in Serie A and Serie B: the first edition was held in th ...

, in which Soriano played.

Empoli

In June 2010, he was loaned 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 ...

side

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 ...

. Soriano made his club debut on 15 August 2010 in a friendly against Reggiana. Soriano was substituted by Gianluca Musacci during the second half. Empoli went on to win that match 4–1. He made his Serie B debut in Empoli's first Serie B match of the season as a defensive/holding midfielder along with

Davide Moro Davide Moro (born 2 January 1982) is an Italian former professional footballer who played as a central midfielder. Career On 17 August 2009, Moro was loaned from Empoli to Livorno. He already played twice for Empoli in the 2009–10 Coppa Itali ...

. He was substituted for

Mirko Valdifiori Mirko Valdifiori (; born 21 April 1986) is an Italian professional footballer who plays as a midfielder. A Cesena youth-product, he began his career with the senior side in 2004, but was sent on loan to Serie C sides Pavia and Legnano, before m ...

in the 66th minute. Empoli drew that game 1–1 against

Frosinone Frosinone (, local dialect: ) is a town and ''comune'' in Lazio, central Italy, the administrative seat of the province of Frosinone. It is located about south-east of Rome close to the Rome-Naples A1 Motorway. The city is the main city of the Va ...

. However, Empoli would win the away match 3–2. Soriano started from the bench in the next match, losing his starting spot to Gianluca Musacci. He returned to the starting XI in Empoli's 5th Serie B game of the season, and played as a central/defensive midfielder, a position he would be utilized in during the next 2 rounds (4–4–2 formation and 4–3–1–2 formation). On 11 December, he scored his first Serie B goal in the game against

Portogruaro Portogruaro ( vec, Porto, fur, Puart) is a town and ''comune'' in the Metropolitan City of Venice, Veneto, northern Italy. The city is the centre of a district, made up of 11 ''comuni'', which form the Venezia Orientale with the San Donà di Piav ...

. On 31 August 2015, Soriano signed a contract with

Napoli Naples (; it, Napoli ; nap, Napule ), from grc, Νεάπολις, Neápolis, lit=new city. is the regional capital of Campania and the third-largest city of Italy, after Rome and Milan, with a population of 909,048 within the city's adminis ...

worth €13.5m with

Juan Camilo Zúñiga Juan Camilo Zúñiga Mosquera (; born 14 December 1985) is a Colombian former professional footballer who played as a wing-back. Zúñiga has previously played for Italian clubs Siena and Napoli, having won two Coppa Italia titles with the la ...

set to join Sampdoria as part of the deal, but the transfer fell through because Napoli did not deposit the contract with

Lega Serie A The Lega Nazionale Professionisti Serie A (Italian for ''National Professionals League Serie A''), commonly known as LNPA or Lega Serie A (Serie A League), is the governing body that runs the major professional Association football, football com ...

before the 23:00 deadline. It is believed the delay was mainly due to disputes about image rights.

Villarreal

On 2 August 2016, Spanish club

Villarreal CF Villarreal Club de Fútbol, S.A.D. ( ca-valencia, Vila-real Club de Futbol, S.A.D.), usually abbreviated to Villarreal CF or simply Villarreal, is a professional football club based in Villarreal, in the Castellón province of eastern Spain, th ...

and Sampdoria reached an agreement for the transfer of Soriano. He signed a five-year contract, for a reported fee of €14 million. Soriano made his club debut in a 1–1 away draw against

Granada Granada (,, DIN 31635, DIN: ; grc, Ἐλιβύργη, Elibýrgē; la, Illiberis or . ) is the capital city of the province of Granada, in the autonomous communities of Spain, autonomous community of Andalusia, Spain. Granada is located at the fo ...

La Liga The Campeonato Nacional de Liga de Primera División, commonly known simply as Primera División in Spain, and as La Liga in English-speaking countries and officially as LaLiga Santander for sponsorship reasons, stylized as LaLiga, is the men's ...

, on 20 August.

Torino (loan)

On 17 August 2018, he joined Italian club

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 ...

on loan with an option to buy.

Bologna (loan)

On 4 January 2019, he joined Italian club

on loan with an option to buy.

International career

Youth team

Soriano played all three matches in the 2008 UEFA European Under-17 Football Championship elite round. He also received a call-up to the 2008 Minsk under-17 International Tournament. He scored a goal in the third place match. Soriano was to receive a call-up from the Italian under-19 side for the game against

Romania Romania ( ; ro, România ) is a country located at the crossroads of Central Europe, Central, Eastern Europe, Eastern, and Southeast Europe, Southeastern Europe. It borders Bulgaria to the south, Ukraine to the north, Hungary to the west, S ...

in December 2008. He was included in Italy's starting line-up for this match. The game finished 3–1 to Italy. Soriano received a call-up to all upcoming U18/19 matches, played in the friendly against

Norway Norway, officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic country in Northern Europe, the mainland territory of which comprises the western and northernmost portion of the Scandinavian Peninsula. The remote Arctic island of Jan Mayen and t ...

in March, was an unused substitute 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 ...

(born 1990 class) in April and also appeared in an U18 international tournament in Slovakia. In August 2009, he was promoted to the U21 team aged , for the match against Wales. Coach

Pierluigi Casiraghi Pierluigi Casiraghi (; born 4 March 1969) is an Italian professional football coach and former player who played as a striker. Casiraghi began his playing career in Italy in 1985, with Monza. He later played for Juventus, and Lazio, before end ...

called-up 6 new players in for that match, only

Mattia Perin Mattia Perin (; born 10 November 1992) is an Italian professional footballer who plays as a goalkeeper for club Juventus. He also represented the Italy national team. He began his career with Genoa in 2010, and, aside from two season-long loa ...

(born in November 1992) and

Lorenzo Crisetig Lorenzo Crisetig (born 20 January 1993) is an Italian footballer who plays as a midfielder for Reggina. Crisetig made his competitive debut on 27 September 2011, in the 2011–12 UEFA Champions League. Club career Youth career Born in Cividal ...

(born in January 1993) were younger than Soriano. He made his debut in the first match of U21 qualification, a 1–2 loss to

Wales Wales ( cy, Cymru ) is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is bordered by England to the Wales–England border, east, the Irish Sea to the north and west, the Celtic Sea to the south west and the ...

on 4 September 2009. Soriano was also involved in two of Italy's qualification matches in September and October. On 17 November, he opened the scoring for Italy in a 0–4 victory away against

Luxembourg Luxembourg ( ; lb, Lëtzebuerg ; french: link=no, Luxembourg; german: link=no, Luxemburg), officially the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg, ; french: link=no, Grand-Duché de Luxembourg ; german: link=no, Großherzogtum Luxemburg is a small lan ...

. In January 2010, Soriano returned to the U19 team and played in the elite qualification round and in the final of the tournament. On 3 September 2010, he returned to the U21 team and scored the winning goal for Azzurrini in the second last qualifying match. Italy must win the last 2 matches and depends the result of Wales versus Hungary (which Hungary lost eventually, certainly finished second or below). Soriano played the last match of the qualifying, substituted Marrone in the 56th minute. Italy beat Wales 1–0 and finished ahead Wales as the first of Group 3, qualifying directly to play-offs round while Wales were eliminated. In the play-offs round, he received the call-up but failed to enter the line-up nor on the bench in the first leg.

Senior team

On 9 November 2014, he was called up by

Antonio Conte Antonio Conte (; born 31 July 1969) is an Italian professional football manager and former player who is the head coach of Premier League club Tottenham Hotspur. Playing as a midfielder, Conte began his career at local club Lecce and later b ...

to the senior Italy squad ahead of a

UEFA Euro 2016 qualifying The UEFA Euro 2016 qualifying tournament was a football competition that was played from September 2014 to November 2015 to determine the 23 UEFA member men's national teams joining the automatically qualified host team France in the UEFA Euro 2 ...

match against

Croatia , image_flag = Flag of Croatia.svg , image_coat = Coat of arms of Croatia.svg , anthem = "Lijepa naša domovino"("Our Beautiful Homeland") , image_map = , map_caption = , capit ...

and a friendly against

Albania Albania ( ; sq, Shqipëri or ), or , also or . officially the Republic of Albania ( sq, Republika e Shqipërisë), is a country in Southeastern Europe. It is located on the Adriatic and Ionian Seas within the Mediterranean Sea and shares ...

. He debuted against Croatia at the San Siro on the 16th, replacing

Manuel Pasqual Manuel Pasqual (; born 13 March 1982) is a retired Italian professional footballer who played for the Italy national team. He is an offensive left-back who is well known for his crossing ability. He is also capable of playing as a wide midfiel ...

in the 28th minute of a 1–1 draw.

Career statistics

Club

International

References

External links

* *
FIGC National Team data
{{DEFAULTSORT:Soriano, Roberto Italian men's footballers Italy men's youth international footballers Italy men's under-21 international footballers Italy men's international footballers German men's footballers German expatriate sportspeople in Spain Italian expatriate men's footballers Italian expatriate sportspeople in Spain Expatriate men's footballers in Spain Serie A players Serie B players La Liga players FC Bayern Munich II players UC Sampdoria players Empoli FC players Villarreal CF players Torino FC players Bologna FC 1909 players Men's association football midfielders German sportspeople of Italian descent People of Campanian descent Footballers from Darmstadt Sportspeople from Avellino 1991 births Living people Footballers from Campania