Morgan De Sanctis (; born 26 March 1977) is an Italian former 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, rugb ...

who played 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 ...

. He last played for

Ligue 1 Ligue 1, officially known as Ligue 1 Uber Eats for sponsorship reasons, is a French professional league for men's association football clubs. At the top of the French football league system, it is the country's primary football competition. ...

club

Monaco Monaco (; ), officially the Principality of Monaco (french: Principauté de Monaco; Ligurian: ; oc, Principat de Mónegue), is a sovereign city-state and microstate on the French Riviera a few kilometres west of the Italian region of Lig ...

, and currently works as sporting director for

Salernitana Unione Sportiva Salernitana 1919, commonly referred to as Salernitana, is an Italian football club based in Salerno, Campania. The original club was founded in 1919 and has been reconstituted three times in the course of its history, most recentl ...

. De Sanctis played for several Italian clubs throughout his career; he began his career with Pescara, and later also played for

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

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 ...

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 ...

, and Roma; he also had spells in Spain and Turkey with

Sevilla Seville (; es, Sevilla, ) is the capital and largest city of the Spanish autonomous community of Andalusia and the province of Seville. It is situated on the lower reaches of the River Guadalquivir, in the southwest of the Iberian Peninsula ...

and

Galatasaray Galatasaray Spor Kulübü (, ''Galatasaray Sports Club'') is a Turkish sports club based on the European side of the city of Istanbul in Turkey. Most notable for its association football department, the club also consists of various other de ...

respectively, and ended his career in France after a season with Monaco in 2017. At international level, he has represented the Italy national team, and was included in squads for the

2000 Summer Olympics The 2000 Summer Olympics, officially the Games of the XXVII Olympiad and also known as Sydney 2000 ( Dharug: ''Gadigal 2000''), the Millennium Olympic Games or the Games of the New Millennium, was an international multi-sport event held from ...

UEFA Euro 2008 The 2008 UEFA European Football Championship, commonly referred to as UEFA Euro 2008 or simply Euro 2008, was the 13th UEFA European Championship, a quadrennial football tournament contested by the member nations of UEFA (the Union of Europea ...

, the

2009 FIFA Confederations Cup The 2009 FIFA Confederations Cup was the eighth Confederations Cup, and was held in South Africa from 14 June to 28 June 2009, as a prelude to the 2010 FIFA World Cup. The draw was held on 22 November 2008 at the Sandton Convention Centre in Jo ...

, the

2010 FIFA World Cup , image = 2010 FIFA World Cup.svg , size = 200px , caption = ''Ke Nako. (Tswana and Sotho for "It's time") Celebrate Africa's Humanity'It's time. Celebrate Africa's Humanity'' (English)''Dis tyd. Vier Afrika se mensd ...

and

UEFA Euro 2012 The 2012 UEFA European Football Championship, commonly referred to as UEFA Euro 2012 or simply Euro 2012, was the 14th European Championship for men's national football teams organised by UEFA. The final tournament, held between 8 June and 1 ...

Club career

Early career

After a three-year stint with

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 ...

side Pescara, De Sanctis became a reserve player for the

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 ...

giants

, playing only three times in two seasons before joining

in 1999 in a co-ownership deal along with

Marco Zamboni Marco Khaleel Zamboni (born 7 December 1977) is an Italian professional football defender, currently playing for AC Garda. Club career Zamboni was born in Bussolengo, Italy. After starting his career with Chievo in 1995, he played for Juventus ...

, for 2.5 billion Lire (€1,291,142.25) each. In May 2000, the deal became permanent, for 8 billion lire (€4,131,655), as part of the deal that Juventus signed

Marco Zanchi Marco Zanchi (born 15 April 1977) is a retired Italian footballer who played as a defender. Career Born in San Giovanni Bianco, Zanchi made his professional debut with Atalanta in 1994. He appeared in 19 games before 1996, when he transferred ...

Udinese

After three seasons also as a back-up for

Luigi Turci Luigi Turci (born 27 January 1970) is an Italian former professional footballer who played as a goalkeeper. He retired after the 2006–07 season. His last club was Cesena in Serie B. He is currently active as goalkeeping coach of A.C. Milan. Foo ...

, he finally managed to start in 2002–03 season. His contract was renewed on 10 November 2000, 18 October 2003 and 20 September 2005, which his annual gross salary increased from €569,000 (€310,000 net) in 2003 to €623,000 (€350,000 net) in 2005, plus other bonuses, including a loyalty bonus since 2005, for €350,878 a season (€200,000 net). He played all 6 group stage matches of the

2005–06 UEFA Champions League The 2005–06 UEFA Champions League was the 51st season of UEFA's premier European club football tournament, the UEFA Champions League and the 14th since it was rebranded from the European Cup in 1992. 74 teams from 50 football associations took p ...

, and reached round of 16 of the

2005–06 UEFA Cup The 2005–06 UEFA Cup, the 35th edition of the UEFA Cup, was won by Sevilla, beating Middlesbrough in the final. It was the first victory for Sevilla in a European competition, and the first appearance by Middlesbrough in a European final. The ...

Sevilla

On 8 June 2007, he unilaterally terminated his contract with Udinese, by mis-using Webster ruling. He signed a four-year contract with

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 ...

, worth €1,381,578.94 a season (€1.05 million in net). Udinese submitted the case to FIFA Dispute Resolution Chamber as Udinese and De Sanctis failed to agree the compensation. On 10 December 2009, the DRC awarded Udinese liable to receive €3,933,134 from De Sanctis, quoting

Matuzalém Matuzalém Francelino da Silva (born 10 June 1980), commonly known as just Matuzalém, is a Brazilian football manager and former player, who played as a midfielder. Club career Early career Matuzalém began his career at Salvador-based Vi ...

's case as legal reference. The case then appealed to the

Court of Arbitration for Sport The Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS; french: Tribunal arbitral du sport, ''TAS'') is an international body established in 1984 to settle disputes related to sport through arbitration. Its headquarters are in Lausanne, Switzerland and its ...

and on 1 March 2011 awarded Udinese a sum of €2,250,055.

Galatasaray (loan)

He was loaned out to

for the 2008–09 season. He played all the league and European matches since 31 August.

Napoli

On 24 July 2009,

signed the goalkeeper from

on a four-year deal, for €1.5 million.

Roma

On 25 July 2013,

Roma Roma or ROMA may refer to: Places Australia * Roma, Queensland, a town ** Roma Airport ** Roma Courthouse ** Electoral district of Roma, defunct ** Town of Roma, defunct town, now part of the Maranoa Regional Council * Roma Street, Brisbane, a ...

signed De Sanctis on a two-year deal from

, for a transfer fee of €500,000. He had aided to Roma's perfect start to the Serie A season, keeping 9 clean sheets in the first 10 games, conceding just once as they topped the table on 30 points. On 5 January 2014, in a crucial match against Juventus, he conceded three goals for the first time of the season meaning that Roma were now 8 points behind Juventus at the top of the table. During the 2013–14 season, he went 745 consecutive minutes without conceding a goal in the Italian top-flight; he currently holds the joint seventh-highest unbeaten streak in Serie A, alongside

Luca Marchegiani Luca Marchegiani (; born 22 February 1966) is an Italian former professional footballer who played as a goalkeeper. He represented several Italian clubs throughout his career, in particular Torino and Lazio, where he won various titles. At int ...

Monaco

On 13 July 2016, De Sanctis was signed by

on a one-year deal. He made his debut for the club on 26 July, in the first leg of the Third qualifying round of the UEFA Champions League against Fenerbahçe, but was forced off in the 12th minute of the eventual 2–1 away defeat after sustaining an injury. He served as the club's second goalkeeper throughout the season, making his only Ligue 1 appearance on 10 September, in a 4–1 away win over

Lille Lille ( , ; nl, Rijsel ; pcd, Lile; vls, Rysel) is a city in the northern part of France, in French Flanders. On the river Deûle, near France's border with Belgium, it is the capital of the Hauts-de-France region, the prefecture of the No ...

. On 6 December, he featured in Monaco's 3–0 defeat to

Bayer Leverkusen Bayer 04 Leverkusen Fußball GmbH, also known as Bayer 04 Leverkusen (), Bayer Leverkusen, or simply Leverkusen, is a professional football club based in Leverkusen in the state of North Rhine-Westphalia. The club competes in the Bundesliga, t ...

in the Champions League, becoming the first Italian player to play in the competition with five different clubs (Udinese, Sevilla, Napoli, Roma, and Monaco). Monaco went on to reach the semi-finals of the tournament, losing out to De Sanctis's former club Juventus. On 26 April 2017, he started in the club's 5–0 defeat to eventual champions

Paris Saint-Germain Paris Saint-Germain Football Club (), commonly referred to as Paris Saint-Germain, Paris, Paris SG or simply PSG is a professional football club based in Paris, France. They compete in Ligue 1, the top division of French football. As Fr ...

in the

Coupe de France The Coupe de France, formerly known as the Coupe Charles Simon, is the premier knockout cup competition in French football organized by the French Football Federation (FFF). It was first held in 1917 and is open to all amateur and profession ...

semi-final. Monaco finished the 2016–17 season as

champions. After De Sanctis's contract expired with the club on 31 July 2017, he announced his retirement from professional football.

International career

At youth level, De Sanctis represented the Italy under-21 side on 7 occasions between 1999 and 2000, and won the

2000 UEFA European Under-21 Championship The 2000 UEFA European Under-21 Championship was the 12th staging of UEFA's European Under-21 Championship. The final tournament was hosted by Slovakia from 27 May to 4 June 2000. The tournament had 47 entrants. Northern Ireland competed for th ...

with the team. He was also part of the Italy squad that took part at the

in Sydney. De Sanctis never became a regular in the Italian senior national team due to the consistency of

Gianluigi Buffon Gianluigi Buffon (; born 28 January 1978) is an Italian professional footballer who captains and plays as a goalkeeper for the club Parma. He is widely regarded as one of the greatest goalkeepers of all time. He is one of the few recorded pl ...

, and therefore often served as a back-up keeper. De Sanctis made his senior international debut for Italy on 30 March 2005, under manager

Marcello Lippi Marcello Romeo Lippi (; born 12 April 1948) is an Italian former professional football player and manager, who led the Italian national team to victory in the 2006 FIFA World Cup. He was appointed as Italy head coach in the summer of 2004 and ...

, in a 0–0 friendly draw against

Iceland Iceland ( is, Ísland; ) is a Nordic island country in the North Atlantic Ocean and in the Arctic Ocean. Iceland is the most sparsely populated country in Europe. Iceland's capital and largest city is Reykjavík, which (along with its ...

. Although he did not make Lippi's 23-man squad for the

2006 FIFA 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 th ...

, he was chosen as one of the four back-up players to be called up in the event of an injury to Buffon,

Angelo Peruzzi Angelo Peruzzi (; born 16 February 1970) is an Italian football coach and former goalkeeper, and a three-time winner of the Serie A Goalkeeper of the Year award. Peruzzi is regarded by pundits as one of the greatest Italian goalkeepers of all ...

Marco Amelia Marco may refer to: People * Marco (given name), people with the given name Marco * Marco (actor) (born 1977), South Korean model and actor * Georg Marco (1863–1923), Romanian chess player of German origin * Tomás Marco (born 1942), Spanish co ...

. After the

, he secured a place as the team's number two goalkeeper to travel with the Italian squad to

, under

Roberto Donadoni Roberto Donadoni (; born 9 September 1963) is an Italian football manager and former midfielder. Donadoni was capable of playing on either flank, or in the centre. He began his career with Atalanta, and he later became a pillar of the powerhous ...

, as well as the

and the

, under Lippi. Although Buffon suffered an injury in the opening match of the latter tournament, De Sanctis did not feature in any matches, as

Federico Marchetti Federico Marchetti (; born 7 February 1983) is an Italian professional footballer who plays as a goalkeeper for Serie A club Spezia. Marchetti began his professional club career with Torino in 2002, and was subsequently loaned out to Pro Verce ...

was instead chosen to start; Italy were eliminated in the first round. The team's subsequent 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 ...

preferred to include younger understudies, such as

Antonio Mirante Antonio Mirante (born 8 July 1983) is an Italian professional footballer who plays as a goalkeeper for club AC Milan. Club career Juventus and loans After starting his professional career with Juventus, Mirante was loaned to Crotone in 2004, ...

and

Salvatore Sirigu Salvatore Sirigu (, ; born 12 January 1987) is an Italian professional footballer who plays as a goalkeeper for club Fiorentina and the Italy national team. Sirigu began his career with Venezia, and then Palermo. In 2011, he moved to Paris S ...

, to Buffon, instead of De Sanctis. However, after injury to

Emiliano Viviano Emiliano Viviano (; born 1 December 1985) is an Italian professional footballer who plays as a goalkeeper for Turkish Süper Lig club Fatih Karagümrük. Club career Brescia Born in Florence, Viviano is a product of Fiorentina and Brescia you ...

, De Sanctis returned to the squad as Buffon's back-up for

UEFA Euro 2012 qualifying 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 hel ...

matches in September 2011, and also appeared in Italy's 3–0 friendly win against

Northern Ireland Northern Ireland ( ga, Tuaisceart Éireann ; sco, label=Ulster Scots dialect, Ulster-Scots, Norlin Airlann) is a part of the United Kingdom, situated in the north-east of the island of Ireland, that is #Descriptions, variously described as ...

in Pescara on 11 October, three years after his last cap for Italy. He eventually made the squad for the final tournament, but did not play, as Italy reached the final. His final match for Italy came on 16 October 2012, in a 3–1 win over

Denmark ) , song = ( en, "King Christian stood by the lofty mast") , song_type = National and royal anthem , image_map = EU-Denmark.svg , map_caption = , subdivision_type = Sovereign state , subdivision_name = Kingdom of Denmark , establish ...

in a 2014 World Cup qualifier. On 26 March 2013, the day of his 36th birthday, he announced that he would be retiring from international football after Italy's World Cup qualifier against

Malta Malta ( , , ), officially the Republic of Malta ( mt, Repubblika ta' Malta ), is an island country in the Mediterranean Sea. It consists of an archipelago, between Italy and Libya, and is often considered a part of Southern Europe. It lies ...

later that day. In total, he made 6 appearances for Italy.

Style of play

A reliable and commanding goalkeeper, known for his leadership from the back and vocal presence on the pitch, in his prime, De Sanctis was known in particular for his shot-stopping ability, positioning, handling, and speed when rushing off his line, and is regarded as one of the best Italian goalkeepers of his generation; he was also adept at stopping penalties.

After football

Following his retirement as a player, De Sanctis was appointed a team manager with his former club Roma in August 2017. In the autumn of 2017, he enrolled in an

UEFA Union of European Football Associations (UEFA ; french: Union des associations européennes de football; german: Union der europäischen Fußballverbände) is one of six continental bodies of governance in association football. It governs fo ...

's coaching programme, which allowed him to coach youth teams, and first teams 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 P ...

, as well as hold assistant manager positions in Serie B and Serie A. On 15 December, he received his coaching licence. In December 2018, he also obtained his Sporting Director diploma through the Coverciano Technical Centre.

Car crash

On January 5, 2021, De Sanctis was involved in a car accident in

Rome , established_title = Founded , established_date = 753 BC , founder = King Romulus ( legendary) , image_map = Map of comune of Rome (metropolitan city of Capital Rome, region Lazio, Italy).svg , map_caption ...

, which caused serious injuries to him. He was rushed to hospital and had undergone an operation on an abdominal

haemorrhage Bleeding, hemorrhage, haemorrhage or blood loss, is blood escaping from the circulatory system from damaged blood vessels. Bleeding can occur internally, or externally either through a natural opening such as the mouth, nose, ear, urethra, v ...

, where his

spleen The spleen is an organ found in almost all vertebrates. Similar in structure to a large lymph node, it acts primarily as a blood filter. The word spleen comes .

was removed.

Career statistics

Club

:Source:

¹Includes

Supercoppa Italiana The Supercoppa Italiana ( en, Italian Super Cup) is an annual association football, football match contested by the winners of the Serie A and the Coppa Italia in the previous season. If the same team wins both the Serie A and Coppa Italia titles ...

International

:Source:

Honours

Club

Juventus *

: 1997–98 *

1997 File:1997 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The movie set of ''Titanic'', the highest-grossing movie in history at the time; '' Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone'', is published; Comet Hale-Bopp passes by Earth and becomes one of ...

Udinese *

UEFA Intertoto Cup The UEFA Intertoto Cup (from la, Inter, 'between' + german: toto, ' betting pool'),Most precisely, from ( football pool); cf. often abbreviated and more known in the German-speaking world as UI Cup and originally called the International Fo ...

2000 File:2000 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: Protests against Bush v. Gore after the 2000 United States presidential election; Heads of state meet for the Millennium Summit; The International Space Station in its infant form as seen from S ...

Galatasaray *

Turkish Super Cup The Turkish Super Cup ( Turkish: ''TFF Süper Kupa''), as it is currently known, is the annual super cup football match contested between the previous season's Süper Lig champions and the Turkish Cup winners in Turkey. It was originally known as ...

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; ...

Napoli *

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 ...

: 2011–12 Monaco *

: 2016–17

International

Italy *

UEFA European Championship The UEFA European Football Championship, less formally the European Championship and informally the Euro, is the primary association football tournament organised by the Union of European Football Associations ( UEFA). The competition is conte ...

: Runner-up

2012 File:2012 Events Collage V3.png, From left, clockwise: The passenger cruise ship Costa Concordia lies capsized after the Costa Concordia disaster; Damage to Casino Pier in Seaside Heights, New Jersey as a result of Hurricane Sandy; People gat ...

Individual

Pallone d'Argento The Pallone d'Argento – Coppa Giaime Fiumanò ''(Silver Ball)'' was an annual award instituted by the Unione Stampa Sportiva Italiana (Italian Sports Press Association) or USSI. It was presented to Serie A The Serie A (), also called Serie ...

: 2009–10

References

External links

Player profile
on Napoli's official website

Ligue 1 Player profile

FIGC Player profile
{{DEFAULTSORT:De Sanctis, Morgan Living people 1977 births Sportspeople from the Province of Chieti Association football goalkeepers Italian footballers Italy youth international footballers Italy under-21 international footballers Italy international footballers Delfino Pescara 1936 players Juventus F.C. players Udinese Calcio players Sevilla FC players Galatasaray S.K. footballers S.S.C. Napoli players A.S. Roma players AS Monaco FC players Serie A players Serie B players La Liga players Süper Lig players Ligue 1 players Olympic footballers of Italy Footballers at the 2000 Summer Olympics UEFA Euro 2008 players 2009 FIFA Confederations Cup players 2010 FIFA World Cup players UEFA Euro 2012 players Italian expatriate footballers Expatriate footballers in Spain Expatriate footballers in Turkey Expatriate footballers in Monaco Italian expatriate sportspeople in Spain Italian expatriate sportspeople in Turkey Italian expatriate sportspeople in Monaco A.S. Roma non-playing staff Footballers from Abruzzo