Simone Scuffet (; born 31 May 1996) 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

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 ...

for Romanian

Liga I The Liga I (; ''First League''), also spelled as Liga 1, is a Romanian professional league for men's association football clubs. Currently sponsored by betting company Superbet, it is officially known as the SuperLiga. It is the country's top ...

side CFR Cluj.

Club career

Udinese

An Udinese youth product, Scuffet made his first team debut on 1 February 2014 at the age of 17 in a

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 ...

match against

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 ...

, as a replacement for injured Željko Brkić. After a string of impressive performances, he was subsequently promoted as first choice keeper, relegating Brkić on the bench. On 9 June 2014, following a successful debut season, Scuffet signed a new five-year deal with the club. He failed to get the same level of game time during the 2014–15 season with

Orestis Karnezis Orestis-Spyridon Karnezis ( el, Ορέστης-Σπυρίδων Καρνέζης; born 11 July 1985) is a Greek former professional footballer who played as a goalkeeper. Club career Panathinaikos Born in Athens, but grew up in Corfu, Karnezis ...

preferred as the first-choice goalkeeper at Udinese. On 8 December 2014, he Scuffet was named at the #1 spot in the goalkeepers category as part of ''Outside of the Boots 100 Best Young Players to Watch in 2015 feature. On 16 December 2014, he was named at the #1 spot as FutbolSapiens's 10 Best Young Goalkeepers of the Year feature.

Loan to Como

On 6 August 2015, Scuffet was sent out on loan 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

Como Como (, ; lmo, Còmm, label=Comasco dialect, Comasco , or ; lat, Novum Comum; rm, Com; french: Côme) is a city and ''comune'' in Lombardy, Italy. It is the administrative capital of the Province of Como. Its proximity to Lake Como and ...

. Although he was able to obtain more playing time at Como, he endured a negative season with the club, as he conceded 52 goals, while Como finished in last place in the league and were relegated to

Lega Pro The Serie C () is the third-highest division in the Italian football league system after the Serie B and Serie A. The Lega Italiana Calcio Professionistico (Lega Pro) is the governing body that runs the Serie C. The unification of the Lega Pro ...

at the end of the

2015–16 Serie B The 2015–16 Serie B (known as the Serie B ConTe.it for sponsorship reasons) was the 84th season since its establishment in 1929. A total of 22 teams contested the league: 16 returning from the 2014–15 season, 4 promoted from Lega Pro, and 2 ...

season.

Loan to Kasımpaşa

On 16 January 2019, Scuffet joined Turkish side Kasımpaşa on loan until 30 June.

Loan to Spezia

On 19 August 2019, Scuffet joined Serie B club Spezia on loan until 30 June 2020 with an option to buy. He was the starting goalkeeper throughout the season, which ended with the club achieving promotion to Serie A.

Return to Udinese

In July 2020, Scuffet returned to Udinese. On 28 October, he returned between the sticks for the club, playing as a starter in the

Italian Cup 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 ...

match against

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 ...

, which finished in a 3–1 win. On 2 May 2021, due to a suspension of starting goalkeeper

Juan Musso Juan Agustín Musso (born 6 May 1994) is an Argentine professional footballer who plays as a goalkeeper for club Atalanta and the Argentina national team. Club career Musso trained at the academy of Club de Regatas San Nicolas, before going ...

, he returned to Serie A action for the 2–1 defeat against

Juventus Juventus Football Club (from la, iuventūs, 'youth'; ), colloquially known as Juve (), is a professional Association football, football club based in Turin, Piedmont, Italy, that competes in the Serie A, the top tier of the Italian football leagu ...

in which he conceded two goals to

Cristiano Ronaldo Cristiano Ronaldo dos Santos Aveiro (; born 5 February 1985) is a Portuguese professional footballer who plays as a forward and captains the Portugal national team. He is currently a free agent. Widely regarded as one of the greatest p ...

APOEL

On 30 August 2021, Scuffet signed a two-year contract with Cypriot First Division club

APOEL APOEL FC ( el, ΑΠΟΕΛ; short for Αθλητικός Ποδοσφαιρικός Όμιλος Ελλήνων Λευκωσίας, ''Athletikos Podosferikos Omilos Ellinon Lefkosias'', literally "Athletic Football Club of Greeks of Nicosia") ...

CFR Cluj

On 17 July 2022, Scuffet joined Romanian

champions CFR Cluj on a free transfer.

International career

Scuffet has represented Italy U-17 team at both the

2013 UEFA European Under-17 Championship The 2013 UEFA European Under-17 Championship was the twelfth edition of UEFA's European Under-17 Football Championship since the re-organising of age group competitions in 2002. Slovakia were hosts of the tournament with games taking place at four ...

– where they reached the final – and the

2013 FIFA U-17 World Cup The 2013 FIFA U-17 World Cup was the fifteenth tournament of the FIFA U-17 World Cup. The tournament was held in the United Arab Emirates between 17 October and 8 November. Nigeria won the tournament after defeating Mexico 3–0 in the final, cla ...

, where they were eliminated in the round of 16 by

Mexico Mexico (Spanish: México), officially the United Mexican States, is a country in the southern portion of North America. It is bordered to the north by the United States; to the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; to the southeast by Guatema ...

. In March and in April 2014 he was called up by Italy senior coach

Cesare Prandelli Claudio Cesare Prandelli (; born 19 August 1957) is an Italian football coach and former player. He was most recently head coach of Fiorentina. Career Player Prandelli was a midfielder who moved from Atalanta to Juventus in 1979. His first game ...

to join two training camps ahead of the

2014 World Cup The 2014 FIFA World Cup was the 20th FIFA World Cup, the quadrennial world championship for men's national football teams organised by FIFA. It took place in Brazil from 12 June to 13 July 2014, after the country was awarded the hosting righ ...

. He made his first appearance for the Italy U-21 team on 12 August 2015, in a friendly match against

Hungary Hungary ( hu, Magyarország ) is a landlocked country in Central Europe. Spanning of the Carpathian Basin, it is bordered by Slovakia to the north, Ukraine to the northeast, Romania to the east and southeast, Serbia to the south, Croatia a ...

. In June 2017, he was included in the Italy under-21 squad for the

2017 UEFA European Under-21 Championship The 2017 UEFA European Under-21 Championship (also known as UEFA Under-21 Euro 2017) was the 21st edition of the UEFA European Under-21 Championship, a biennial international youth football championship organised by UEFA for the men's under-21 na ...

by manager Luigi Di Biagio.

Style of play

Scuffet has earned praise in the media for his reflexes, confidence, consistency, calm composure, leadership qualities, and precocious performances as a youngster, which have earned him comparisons with former

Italy national football team The Italy national football team ( it, Nazionale di calcio dell'Italia) has represented Italy in international football since its first match in 1910. The national team is controlled by the Italian Football Federation (FIGC), the governing bo ...

goalkeeper and

2006 World Cup The 2006 FIFA World Cup, also branded as Germany 2006, was the 18th FIFA World Cup, the quadrennial international football world championship tournament. It was held from 9 June to 9 July 2006 in Germany, which had won the right to host the ...

winner Gianluigi Buffon, who also made his Serie A debut as a teenager. Regarded as one of the most promising young players of his generation, in 2014 ''

Don Balón ''Don Balón'' is a Spanish weekly sports magazine specializing in Spanish and international football. The magazine was published in Barcelona between 1975 and 2011. It was distributed on five continents. Since 2011 ''Don Balón'' has been a full ...

'' listed him as one of the top 100 young players in the world. His ability to come out off his line and his confidence when handling crosses and high balls have been cited as areas for improvement by pundits, however.

Career statistics

Honours

International

Italy U17 *

UEFA European Under-17 Championship The UEFA European Under-17 Championship or simply UEFA Under-17 Championship, is an annual football competition contested by the European men's under-17 national teams of the member associations of UEFA. Spain is the most successful team in this ...

runner-up:

2013 File:2013 Events Collage V2.png, From left, clockwise: Edward Snowden becomes internationally famous for leaking classified NSA wiretapping information; Typhoon Haiyan kills over 6,000 in the Philippines and Southeast Asia; The Dhaka garment fact ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Scuffet, Simone Living people 1996 births Sportspeople from Udine Footballers from Friuli Venezia Giulia Association football goalkeepers Italian footballers Italy under-21 international footballers Italy youth international footballers Italian expatriate footballers Udinese Calcio players Como 1907 players Kasımpaşa S.K. footballers Spezia Calcio players APOEL FC players CFR Cluj players Serie A players Serie B players Süper Lig players Liga I players Cypriot First Division players Expatriate footballers in Turkey Expatriate footballers in Cyprus Italian expatriate sportspeople in Turkey Italian expatriate sportspeople in Cyprus Italian expatriate sportspeople in Romania