Luca Cigarini (; born 20 June 1986) 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 Reggiana.

Club career

Parma

Cigarini was one of the notable youth products in the 2005

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 ...

squad, alongside

Daniele Dessena Daniele Dessena (born 10 May 1987) is an Italian professional footballer who plays as a midfielder for club Olbia on loan from Virtus Entella. Club career Parma Dessena began his football career in the youth ranks of Parma and made his official ...

Atalanta

After Parma was relegated to Serie B in June 2008, Cigarini was sold to

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 ...

in join-ownership bid, for €4.5 million on 11 July.

Napoli

On 3 July 2009, Cigarini signed for

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 ...

from

on a five-year deal for €10.5 million. Atalanta paid Parma €3.5 million plus half the registration rights of Alessio Manzoni to sign Cigarini outright. On 2 August 2010, Cigarini joined

Sevilla FC Sevilla Fútbol Club () is a Spanish professional football club based in Seville, the capital and largest city of the autonomous community of Andalusia, Spain. It plays in Spanish football's top flight, La Liga. Sevilla have won the UEFA E ...

on a loan deal for the 2010–11 season who paid €292,500 for the loan and, upon conclusion of the season, had the option to purchase the midfielder for €7 million.

Return to Atalanta

Cigarini returned to

on loan in summer 2011 for free. On 4 July 2012, the loan was renewed for €1.25 million loan fee. On 5 July 2013, after spending two seasons on loan with Atalanta, a co-ownership deal was agreed to with

for €2.75 million.SSC Napoli FC SpA ''bilancio'' (financial report and accounts) on 30 June 2013
PDF purchased from Italian CCIAA
/ref> Cigarini continued to play for Atalanta for the upcoming

2013–14 Serie A The 2013–14 Serie A (known as the Serie A TIM for sponsorship reasons) was the 112th season of top-tier Italian football, the 82nd in a round-robin tournament, and the 4th since its organization under a league committee separate from Serie B. ...

season. Cigarini scored his first goal of the season against

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on 20 October. In June 2014 Atalanta acquired Cigarini outright for €2.35 million. Atalanta paid €5.75 million transfer fee in total to re-acquire Cigarini.

Sampdoria

After spending five years with Atalanta, Cigarini made the switch from Bergamo 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 ...

, signing a permanent deal with Sampdoria.

Cagliari

In 2017, Cigarini moved to Serie A rivals Cagliari in an exchange deal with

Nicola Murru Nicola Murru (born 16 December 1994) is an Italian professional footballer who plays for Serie B club Sampdoria, as a left-back. Club career Born in Cagliari, Murru started his career at hometown's Cagliari. In July 2011 he was promoted to fir ...

Crotone

On 8 September 2020, Cigarini signed with Crotone a 2-years contract.

Reggiana

On 23 August 2021, he signed a two-year contract with Reggiana in

Serie C 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 ...

, returning to the third tier for the first time since his professional debut season with Sambenedettese.

International career

On 7 September 2007, Cigarini scored his first ever goal (which was also the winning goal) with the Italy U-21 squad in a 2–1 victory over the

Faroe Islands The Faroe Islands ( ), or simply the Faroes ( fo, Føroyar ; da, Færøerne ), are a North Atlantic island group and an autonomous territory of the Kingdom of Denmark. They are located north-northwest of Scotland, and about halfway bet ...

in a UEFA U-21 Qualifying match. He was also part of

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 ...

's Olympic team that won the

2008 Toulon Tournament The 2008 Toulon Tournament was the 36th edition of the Toulon Tournament, and was held from 20 May to 29 May 2008. Tournament finished with the final between Italy and Chile at Stade Mayol in Toulon as Italy had the title after the final score of ...

. He also played for Italy in the

2009 UEFA European Under-21 Football Championship The 2009 UEFA European Under-21 Championship began on 15 June 2009, and was the 17th UEFA European Under-21 Championship. This was the first tournament after the competition reverted to a two-year format, following the single-year 2006–07 compe ...

. Cigarini received his first call-up to the senior team on 30 August 2010. New coach Cesare Prandelli named him in the squad for the upcoming

Euro 2012 qualifiers The qualifying competition for UEFA Euro 2012 was a series of parallel association football competitions held over 2010 and 2011 to decide the qualifiers for UEFA Euro 2012, held in Poland and Ukraine. The draw for the qualifying rounds was held ...

as an injury replacement for

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 ...

Style of play

Luca Cigarini usually plays as a

deep-lying playmaker 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 ...

in midfield, although he is 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 ...

. He is mostly known for his ability to orchestrate his team's attacking moves, courtesy of his technical qualities and precise long passing. As a youngster, he was nicknamed ''il Professore'' (The Professor) by Cesare Prandelli, his Parma youth manager at the time, due to his playmaking abilities and intelligent reading of the game. The Italian sports newspaper '' La Gazzetta dello Sport'' has also stated that Cigarini has a similar vision of the game to that of fellow Italian midfielder

Andrea Pirlo Andrea Pirlo (; born 19 May 1979) is an Italian professional football coach and former player who is head coach of Süper Lig club Fatih Karagümrük. Considered one of the best deep-lying playmakers ever, Pirlo was renowned for his visio ...

Career statistics

Club

Honours

Italy U21 *

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

External links

Player profile
on Napoli's official website
Luca Cigarini National Team Stats
at FIGC.it {{DEFAULTSORT:Cigarini, Luca Living people 1986 births Footballers from the Province of Reggio Emilia Men's association football midfielders Italian men's footballers Italy men's youth international footballers Italy men's under-21 international footballers Italian expatriate men's footballers Expatriate men's footballers in Spain Italian expatriate sportspeople in Spain Olympic footballers for Italy Footballers at the 2008 Summer Olympics Parma Calcio 1913 players AS Sambenedettese players Atalanta BC players UC Sampdoria players SSC Napoli players Sevilla FC players Cagliari Calcio players FC Crotone players AC Reggiana 1919 players Serie A players Serie C players La Liga players