Daniele Dessena (born 10 May 1987) 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 ...

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 club

Olbia Olbia (, ; sc, Terranoa; sdn, Tarranoa) is a city and commune of 60,346 inhabitants (May 2018) in the Italian insular province of Sassari in northeastern Sardinia, Italy, in the historical region of Gallura. Called ''Olbia'' in the Roman age ...

on loan from

Virtus Entella Virtus Entella, commonly referred to as Entella, is an Italian professional football club based in Chiavari, Liguria. Founded in 1914, the club currently competes in the . History 1914: Foundation The club was founded in 1914 as Foot-Ball Club ...

Club career

Parma

Dessena began his football career in the youth ranks of

Parma Parma (; egl, Pärma, ) is a city in the northern Italian region of Emilia-Romagna known for its architecture, music, art, prosciutto (ham), cheese and surrounding countryside. With a population of 198,292 inhabitants, Parma is the second mos ...

and made his official debut in the first team on 27 February 2005 against

Lazio it, Laziale , population_note = , population_blank1_title = , population_blank1 = , demographics_type1 = , demographics1_footnotes = , demographics1_title1 = , demographics1_info1 = , demographics1_title2 ...

. This season also made his debut in the UEFA Cup on 24 February 2005, in a 2–0 win against

VfB Stuttgart Verein für Bewegungsspiele Stuttgart 1893 e. V., commonly known as VfB Stuttgart (), is a German sports club based in Stuttgart, Baden-Württemberg. The club's football team is currently part of Germany's first division, the Bundesliga. VfB S ...

. During the 2005–06 season he scored 3 goals in 17 games. During the 2006–07 season Dessena became one of the star players at

, he made 34

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 Cop ...

appearances scoring 2 goals, he also scored 2 goals in 6 games during the

UEFA Cup A cup is an open-top used to hold hot or cold liquids for pouring or drinking; while mainly used for drinking, it also can be used to store solids for pouring (e.g., sugar, flour, grains, salt). Cups may be made of glass, metal, china, clay ...

campaign. The 2007–08 season, Dessena played in 28

games for

. In total he played 101 games for

in all competitions scoring 7 goals in the Emilian shirt.

Sampdoria and Cagliari

In the summer of 2008 Dessena arrived at

U.C. 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 a €4 million transfer fee. He made his debut on 31 August in a 1–1 draw against

Inter Milan 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 ...

. On 23 October 2008, he scored his first goal for Sampdoria against

Partizan Belgrade Jugoslovensko sportsko društvo Partizan ( sr-Cyrl, Југословенско спортско друштво Партизан, lit=Yugoslav Sports Society Partizan), commonly abbreviated as JSD Partizan ( sr-Cyrl, ЈСД Партизан, link ...

in the group stage of the

. He also scored a brace for Sampdoria in a 5–0 victory against Reggina on 9 May 2009. He made 25 appearances and scored two goals during his first season at the club. On 31 August 2009, he joined fellow

side Cagliari. On 27 September, he scored his first goal for Cagliari in the game against his former team Parma. He scored again on 18 October against Catania and 14 March 2010 against Genoa. On 25 June 2010, he was re-signed by Sampdoria after being brought back to the club by his former Parma Manager

Domenico Di Carlo Domenico "Mimmo" Di Carlo (born 23 March 1964) is an Italian football coach and a former player, currently in charge of Pordenone. Career Player Di Carlo started his playing career in his native city, playing for the local Serie C2 team Real ...

. Despite playing in a

UEFA Champions League The UEFA Champions League (abbreviated as UCL, or sometimes, UEFA CL) is an annual club football competition organised by the Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) and contested by top-division European clubs, deciding the competi ...

qualifier game for Sampdoria during the 2010–11 season, Sampdoria had to settle for a place in the

UEFA Europa League The UEFA Europa League (abbreviated as UEL, or sometimes, UEFA EL), formerly the UEFA Cup, is an annual football club competition organised since 1971 by the Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) for eligible European football clubs. ...

after failing to progress to the group stages. Dessena made 6 appearances for Sampdoria during the Europa League campaign. However, the Serie A season ended in relegation to

Serie B The Serie B (), currently named Serie 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 season. It had been ...

, Dessena stayed with the club in Serie B making 8 appearances during the first half of the 2011–12 season.

Cagliari

Having made only eight appearances in 2011–12 during the first part of the season for

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, ...

, Dessena was loaned to

club Cagliari in January for the remainder of the season. He made 12 appearances and scored 1 goal. After impressing during his 6-month loan spell, he joined Cagliari on a permanent deal in July 2012. In the 2012–13 season he totalled 31 appearances and three goals under managers

Massimo Ficcadenti Massimo Ficcadenti (born 6 November 1967 in Fermo) is an Italian football manager and former midfielder. Career Playing Ficcadenti started his playing career with Sambenedettese, where he played from 1985 to 1989. He then signed for Messina, pl ...

and Ivo Pulga. In the 2013–14 season he was deployed more frequently in a holding midfield position under new manager Luis Diego López. In February 2014, Dessena wore special rainbow laces against

in support of Paddy Powers #Allacciamoli campaign to combat homophobia in football.

Brescia

On 10 January 2019, Dessena signed with

club

Brescia Brescia (, locally ; lmo, link=no, label= Lombard, Brèsa ; lat, Brixia; vec, Bressa) is a city and ''comune'' in the region of Lombardy, Northern Italy. It is situated at the foot of the Alps, a few kilometers from the lakes Garda and Iseo ...

Pescara

On 1 February 2021, Dessena signed with

club

Pescara Pescara (; nap, label= Abruzzese, Pescàrë; nap, label= Pescarese, Piscàrë) is the capital city of the Province of Pescara, in the Abruzzo region of Italy. It is the most populated city in Abruzzo, with 119,217 (2018) residents (and approxim ...

Serie C

On 20 July 2021, he signed with

. On 1 February 2023, Dessena moved on loan to

, with an obligation to buy.

International career

Dessena made 2 appearances for the Italy U18 team and 7 appearances for the U-19 team. In May 2008 he won the

Toulon Tournament The Toulon Tournament (officially the Festival International "Espoirs" – Tournoi Maurice Revello) is a football (training match) tournament, which traditionally features invited national teams composed of youth players from U-17 to U-23 level. ...

with the Italy National Olympic team, assisting teammate

Dani Osvaldo Pablo Daniel "Dani" Osvaldo (; born 12 January 1986) is a former professional footballer who played as a forward. Born and raised in Argentina, Osvaldo represented the Italy national team internationally. Osvaldo began his career at Huracán ...

for the only goal of the victorious final against

Chile Chile, officially the Republic of Chile, is a country in the western part of South America. It is the southernmost country in the world, and the closest to Antarctica, occupying a long and narrow strip of land between the Andes to the east a ...

. During the event, he scored a goal in Italy's victory over the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territori ...

. He played for Italy at the 2008 Summer Olympics in

Beijing } Beijing ( ; ; ), alternatively romanized as Peking ( ), is the capital of the People's Republic of China. It is the center of power and development of the country. Beijing is the world's most populous national capital city, with over 21 ...

. From 2006 to 2009, he was a regular member of the Italy U-21's, coached by

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 endi ...

. In May 2009, he was called up to the European Championships but only made substitute appearances as second choice behind Luca Cigarini and

Claudio Marchisio Claudio Marchisio (; born 19 January 1986) is an Italian former professional footballer who played as a midfielder. A product of the Juventus youth system, he spent a large portion of his career at his hometown club, with the exception of a sea ...

. He finished with a Bronze medal with Italy finishing in 3rd.

Career statistics

''Updated 15 August 2020''

Honours

;Cagliari *

: 2015–16 Italy U21 *

2008 File:2008 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: Lehman Brothers went bankrupt following the Subprime mortgage crisis; Cyclone Nargis killed more than 138,000 in Myanmar; A scene from the opening ceremony of the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing; ...

UEFA European Under-21 Championship The UEFA European Under-21 Championship, the UEFA Under-21 Championship or simply the Euro Under-21, is a biennial football competition contested by the European men's under-21 national teams of the UEFA member associations. Since 1992, the comp ...

bronze: 2009http://www.uefa.com/newsfiles/19078.pdf

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Dessena, Daniele 1987 births Living people Footballers from Parma Italian people of Sardinian descent Italian men's footballers Men's association football midfielders Serie A players Serie B players Serie C players Parma Calcio 1913 players UC Sampdoria players Cagliari Calcio players Brescia Calcio players Delfino Pescara 1936 players Virtus Entella players Olbia Calcio 1905 players Italy men's youth international footballers Italy men's under-21 international footballers Olympic footballers for Italy Footballers at the 2008 Summer Olympics Footballers from Emilia-Romagna