Tomas Locatelli (; born 9 June 1976) is an Italian former

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 usually played as a playmaking

attacking midfielder A midfielder is an Glossary of association football terms#O, 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 #Cent ...

behind the forwards; he was also capable of playing as a

central 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 ...

Club career

Locatelli played over 200 matches in

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 ...

. After being a member of the club's youth side, he started his professional career at native club

Atalanta Atalanta (; grc-gre, Ἀταλάντη, Atalantē) meaning "equal in weight", is a heroine in Greek mythology. There are two versions of the huntress Atalanta: one from Arcadia, whose parents were Iasus and Clymene and who is primarily known ...

in 1993 and made his

debut against

Udinese Udinese Calcio, commonly referred to as Udinese, is a professional Italian football club based in Udine, Friuli-Venezia Giulia, that currently plays in Serie A. It was founded on 30 November 1896 as a sports club, and on 5 July 1911 as a fo ...

, on 2 April 1994. He moved 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 ...

in 1995, spending two seasons with the club making 10 league appearances, also winning the 1995–96 Serie A title. During his time with the club, he made his European debut in the 1996–97 UEFA Champions League, also scoring a goal in a 4–2 home win over

Göteborg Gothenburg (; abbreviated Gbg; sv, Göteborg ) is the second-largest city in Sweden, fifth-largest in the Nordic countries, and capital of the Västra Götaland County. It is situated by the Kattegat, on the west coast of Sweden, and has a p ...

on 30 October 1996. In 1997, he moved to Udinese, and in 2000 he moved 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 ...

, where he remained for five seasons. He signed with A.C. Siena after Bologna were relegated 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 ...

2005 File:2005 Events Collage V2.png, From top left, clockwise: Hurricane Katrina in the Gulf of Mexico; the Funeral of Pope John Paul II is held in Vatican City; "Me at the zoo", the first video ever to be uploaded to YouTube; Eris was discovered in ...

. During the 2008–09 and 2009–10 seasons, he played for Serie B club Mantova. In the 2010–11 season, he played for

Spal Società Polisportiva Ars et Labor, commonly known as S.P.A.L. (), is a professional football club based in Ferrara, Emilia-Romagna, Italy. The team plays in Serie B, the second tier of the Italian football league system. Founded in 1907, since ...

Lega Pro Prima Divisione Lega Pro Prima Divisione was the third highest 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. Before the 1978� ...

. Since 31 March 2012 he has played for

Arezzo Arezzo ( , , ) , also ; ett, 𐌀𐌓𐌉𐌕𐌉𐌌, Aritim. is a city and ''comune'' in Italy and the capital of the province of the same name located in Tuscany. Arezzo is about southeast of Florence at an elevation of above sea level. ...

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 ...

. He was banned 2 years for involvement in 2011–12 Italian football scandal on 18 June 2012.

International career

Locatelli has made 10 appearances for the Italy national under-21 football team, scoring one goal. He has also made 2 appearances for the senior Italy national football team, making his national team debut on 13 November 1999, in a 3–1 friendly home defeat to

Belgium Belgium, ; french: Belgique ; german: Belgien officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a country in Northwestern Europe. The country is bordered by the Netherlands to the north, Germany to the east, Luxembourg to the southeast, France to th ...

, in Lecce.

Trivia

Due to having several commonalities with

Manuel Locatelli Manuel Locatelli (born 8 January 1998) is an Italian professional footballer who plays as a midfielder for club Juventus, on loan from Sassuolo, and the Italy national team. After coming through the club's youth system, Locatelli made his pro ...

, such as birthplace and the experience of playing for both Atalanta and A.C. Milan, he was mistakenly thought to be the player's father by a number of pundits. However, he has later stated that there are no family ties between him and Manuel.

Honours

Club

;Milan *

: 1995–96

External links

AIC Profile

FIGC Profile

References

Italian footballers Italy youth international footballers Italy under-21 international footballers Italy international footballers Atalanta B.C. players A.C. Milan players Udinese Calcio players Bologna F.C. 1909 players A.C.N. Siena 1904 players Mantova 1911 players S.S. Arezzo players Serie A players Serie B players Serie C players Serie D players Association football midfielders Footballers from Bergamo 1976 births Living people {{Italy-footy-midfielder-1970s-stub