Davide Zappacosta (born 11 June 1992) 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 full-back for 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 (region), Arcadia, whose parents were Iasus and Clymene (mythology ...

Club career

Early career

Born in

Sora, Lazio Sora () is a town and ''comune'' of Lazio, Italy, in the province of Frosinone. It is built in a plain on the banks of the Liri. This part of the valley is the seat of some important manufacturing, especially of paper mills. The area around Sora i ...

, Zappacosta joined hometown's Sora's youth setup in 1998, aged six, as a forward. In 2006–07 season, he was a player of Sora's under-15 team in Lazio Region Giovanissimi League. In 2008, he moved to neighbouring Isola Liri, appearing in Campionato Nazionale Dante Berretti under-20's, and made his senior debut for the side in the 2009–10 campaign; obtaining a total of 14 caps and a goal in the league.

Atalanta

In January 2011 Zappacosta joined

in a co-ownership deal for €60,000 transfer fee. He played for the Primavera for six months. He appeared during the pre-season with the main squad.

Avellino

On 31 August 2011, at age 19, he was signed by Avellino initially in temporary deal. The loan was turned into a co-ownership deal for €40,000 fee in 2012, after Atalanta bought him outright from Isola Liri for an undisclosed fee.Atalanta B.C. S.p.A. ''bilancio'' (financial report and accounts) on 31 December 2012
PDF purchased from Italian C.C.I.A.A.
(in Italian) He played 3 seasons for Avellino, which the first two seasons in

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 ...

, winning the championship of the Group B of the third-tier in the 2012–13 season as well as crowded as the grand champions after winning

Trapani Trapani ( , ; scn, Tràpani ; lat, Drepanum; grc, Δρέπανον) is a city and municipality (''comune'') on the west coast of Sicily, in Italy. It is the capital of the Province of Trapani. Founded by Elymians, the city is still an imp ...

of the Group A. After promotion 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 ...

he decided to tattoo the date "05.05.2013". The following year he scored a debut goal in Serie B in the match won 2–1 against

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 i ...

, standing out as one of the best full backs in the league.

Return to Atalanta

On 4 June 2014 Zappacosta returned to

for €900,000 fee, signing a four-year deal. He made his official debut with

on 23 August 2014 against Pisa in a 2–0 win in the third qualifying round of the

Coppa Italia The ("Italy Cup") is an annual knockout cup competition in Italian football organized by the FIGC until the 2009–10 season and the Lega Serie A ever since. History The beginning of the tournament was turbulent, due to the complexity of ...

. On 31 August 2014 Zappacosta made his debut 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 Cop ...

, starting in a 0–0 home draw against

Hellas Verona Hellas Verona Football Club, commonly referred to as Hellas Verona or simply Verona, is a professional Italian football club based in Verona, Italy, that currently plays in Serie A. The team won the Serie A Championship in 1984–85. His ...

. On 6 January 2015 he scored his first

goal in the 37th minute of a 2–2 draw to

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

. On 11 January, one week later, he scored his second goal in the 72nd minute of a 1–1 home draw against

Chievo Verona Associazione Calcio ChievoVerona, commonly referred to as ChievoVerona or simply Chievo , is a former professional Italian football club named after and based in Chievo, a suburb of 4,500 inhabitants in Verona, Veneto, and owned by Paluani, a ...

. On 8 February, Zappacosta scored his third goal of the season in the 9th minute of a 3–2 away defeat against

Fiorentina ACF Fiorentina, commonly referred to as Fiorentina (), is an Italian professional football club based in Florence, Tuscany, Italy. The original team was founded by a merger in August 1926, while the actual club was refounded in August 2002 fol ...

. He finished the 2014–15 season to

with 30 appearances, three goals and one assist.

Torino

On 10 July 2015 he was sold 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 ...

, in the same transfer that brought the midfielder Daniele Baselli to

Piedmont it, Piemontese , population_note = , population_blank1_title = , population_blank1 = , demographics_type1 = , demographics1_footnotes = , demographics1_title1 = , demographics1_info1 = , demographics1_title2 ...

, for a total of €10 million transfer fee. On 20 September, Zappacosta made his debut for Torino as a substitute replacing Bruno Peres in the 76th minute of a 2–0 home win over

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, ...

. He scored his first goal for the club on 28 October during a 3–3 draw at home to

. Zappacosta finished his first season to Torino with 26 appearances, one goal and one assist, and his second with 29 appearances, one goal and five assists.

Chelsea

On 31 August 2017, he was sold to

Chelsea Chelsea or Chelsey may refer to: Places Australia * Chelsea, Victoria Canada * Chelsea, Nova Scotia * Chelsea, Quebec United Kingdom * Chelsea, London, an area of London, bounded to the south by the River Thames ** Chelsea (UK Parliament consti ...

for a reported fee of €28 million plus bonuses. He signed a four-year deal at Stamford Bridge. The transfer was completed minutes before the transfer window shut on deadline day. Zappacosta made his debut for Chelsea on 9 September as a substitute replacing

Victor Moses Victor Moses (born 12 December 1990) is a Nigerian professional footballer who plays as a winger on either flank for Russian club Spartak Moscow. He has also been deployed as a wing-back at times during his career. Moses began his career in t ...

in the 74th minute of a 2–1 away win against

Leicester City Leicester ( ) is a city, unitary authority and the county town of Leicestershire in the East Midlands of England. It is the largest settlement in the East Midlands. The city lies on the River Soar and close to the eastern end of the National ...

. He made his Champions League debut and scored his first goal for Chelsea on 12 September 2017, in a 6–0 home win against Qarabağ FK. With this goal, Zappacosta became the 100th Italian player to score a goal in the Champions League. His first

Premier League The Premier League (legal name: The Football Association Premier League Limited) is the highest level of the men's English football league system. Contested by 20 clubs, it operates on a system of promotion and relegation with the English Fo ...

goal came from outside the box in a 5–0 home win against Stoke City on 30 December 2017. At the end of the season he was an unused substitute as Chelsea beat Manchester United in the

2018 FA Cup Final The 2018 FA Cup Final was an association football match between Manchester United and Chelsea on 19 May 2018 at Wembley Stadium in London, England. It was the 137th FA Cup final overall and was the showpiece match of English football's primary c ...

. On 29 May 2019, Zappacosta appeared in Chelsea's 4–1 victory over Arsenal in the

2019 UEFA Europa League Final The 2019 UEFA Europa League Final was the final match of the 2018–19 UEFA Europa League, the 48th season of Europe's secondary club football tournament organised by UEFA, and the 10th season since it was renamed from the UEFA Cup to the UEFA E ...

, coming on as a late substitute for

Eden Hazard Eden Michael Walter Hazard (born 7 January 1991) is a Belgian professional footballer who plays as a winger or attacking midfielder for La Liga club Real Madrid. Known for his creativity, dribbling, passing and vision, Hazard is considered o ...

Roma (loan)

On 21 August 2019, Zappacosta signed a one-year extension to his contract at Chelsea and then joined Roma on an initial six-month loan deal with an option to extend the loan until the end of the 2019–20 season. On 4 October 2019, Zappacosta suffered an

anterior cruciate ligament The anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) is one of a pair of cruciate ligament Cruciate ligaments (also cruciform ligaments) are pairs of ligaments arranged like a letter X. They occur in several joints of the body, such as the knee joint and th ...

injury during training.

Genoa (loan)

On 19 September 2020, Zappacosta returned to Italy with

on loan until the end of 2020–21 season. One day later on 20 September, he scored a goal on his league debut as Genoa beat Crotone 4–1 at home.

Second return to Atalanta

On 24 August 2021, Zappacosta returned to Bergamo to sign with Atalanta on a permanent deal for his third spell at the club. He carried out his medical and signed on a 4 year contract the following day, reportedly signing from Chelsea for a fee of around €10 million, plus add ons. He scored his first goal against Sassuolo.

International career

During his period in

Irpinia Irpinia (Modern Latin ''Hirpinia'') is a geographical and cultural region of Southern Italy. It was the inland territory of the ancient '' Hirpini'' tribe, and its extent matches approximately today's province of Avellino. Geography The territ ...

, he made his debut with the Italy under-21 on 5 September 2013 in a

2015 UEFA European Under-21 Championship Fifteen or 15 may refer to: *15 (number), the natural number following 14 and preceding 16 *one of the years 15 BC, AD 15, 1915, 2015 Music * Fifteen (band), a punk rock band Albums * ''15'' (Buckcherry album), 2005 * ''15'' (Ani Lorak alb ...

qualifier match against

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 ...

, losing 3–1. He also received a call-up from

Italy under-21 Serie B representative team Italy national under-21 football B team is the Italy national football team that represents Serie B at competitions and is controlled by the Lega B. Due to sponsorship reasons, the team was credited as Under-21 Serie B TIM until 2010. They are ...

against a team of free agent that was trained in a camp held by

Italian Footballers' Association The Italian Footballers' Association (Italian: ''Associazione Italiana Calciatori''), also referred to by the acronym AIC, is the association for footballers in Italy. It was established in 1968 and currently has 4,500 members, of which 2,500 ar ...

, in August 2013. He took part in the 2015

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 ...

in the Czech Republic, playing as a starter in the right full-back position in all three of Italy's games, who were eliminated in the group stage. In May 2016, Zappacosta was called up to the senior national team by coach

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 ...

in preparation for the

UEFA Euro 2016 The 2016 UEFA European Football Championship, commonly referred to as UEFA Euro 2016 (stylised as UEFA EURO 2016) or simply Euro 2016, was the 15th UEFA European Championship, the quadrennial international men's football championship of Europe ...

. He was subsequently included in the list of 30 provisional players for the tournament. On 31 May, he was named one of three reserves for the senior side for Euro 2016. He made his international debut for Italy on 12 November 2016, against

Liechtenstein Liechtenstein (), officially the Principality of Liechtenstein (german: link=no, Fürstentum Liechtenstein), is a German-speaking microstate located in the Alps between Austria and Switzerland. Liechtenstein is a semi-constitutional monarch ...

in a

2018 World Cup qualifying The 2018 FIFA World Cup qualification process was a series of tournaments organised by the six FIFA confederations to decide 31 of the 32 teams which would play in the 2018 FIFA World Cup, with Russia qualifying automatically as hosts. All 210 ...

match, starting the match as a right back.

Career statistics

Club

International

Honours

Avellino *

2012–13 1 (one, unit, unity) is a number representing a single or the only entity. 1 is also a numerical digit and represents a single unit of counting or measurement. For example, a line segment of ''unit length'' is a line segment of length 1. I ...

* Supercoppa di Lega Pro Prima Divisione: 2013 Chelsea *

FA Cup The Football Association Challenge Cup, more commonly known as the FA Cup, is an annual knockout football competition in men's domestic English football. First played during the 1871–72 season, it is the oldest national football competi ...

: 2017–18 *

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. ...

: 2018–19

References

External links

Profile
at the Atalanta B.C. website
Profile
at the Italian Football Federation website * {{DEFAULTSORT:Zappacosta, Davide 1992 births Living people People from Sora, Lazio People of Lazian descent Italian men's footballers Men's association football defenders Italy men's international footballers Italy men's under-21 international footballers UEFA Europa League winning players AC Isola Liri players Atalanta BC players US Avellino 1912 players Torino FC players Chelsea F.C. players AS Roma players Genoa CFC players Serie C players Serie B players Serie A players Premier League players Italian expatriate men's footballers Expatriate men's footballers in England Italian expatriate sportspeople in England Footballers from the Province of Frosinone