Fernando Martin Forestieri (born 15 January 1990) is a 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 le ...

who plays as a

second striker Forwards (also known as attackers) are outfield positions in an association football team who play the furthest up the pitch and are therefore most responsible for scoring goals as well as assisting them. As with any attacking player, the role ...

for

Malaysia Super League The Malaysia Super League ( ms, Liga Super Malaysia) is the men's top professional football division of the Malaysian football league system. Administered by the Football Malaysia Limited Liability Partnership (FMLLP), now known as the Malays ...

club

Johor Darul Ta'zim Johor Darul Ta'zim Football Club or simply JDT is a professional Association football, football club based in Johor Bahru, Johor, Malaysia. The club was founded in 1972 as PKENJ FC and currently competes in the top division of Malaysian football ...

. Born in Argentina, he is a former Italy youth international.

Club career

Born in

Rosario Rosario () is the largest city in the central provinces of Argentina, Argentine province of Santa Fe Province, Santa Fe. The city is located northwest of Buenos Aires, on the west bank of the Paraná River. Rosario is the third-most populous ci ...

, Argentina, by Italian parents, Forestieri's career began in 2003 with

Newell's Old Boys Club Atlético Newell's Old Boys () is an Argentine sports club based in Rosario, Santa Fe. The club was founded on 3 November 1903, and is named after Isaac Newell of the English county of Kent, one of the pioneers of Argentine football. A ...

. Later on that year, when he was just 13,

Boca Juniors Club Atlético Boca Juniors () is an Argentine sports club headquartered in La Boca, a neighbourhood of Buenos Aires. The club is mostly known for its professional football team which, since its promotion in 1913, has always played in the A ...

bought Forestieri for $50,000. With his parents returning home, Forestieri left Boca to join

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

at the age of 16.

Genoa

In January 2006, Genoa signed Forestieri on a three-year contract. Boca tried to keep the young player, but failed to do so. In March, Boca contested the regularity of the transfer and, refusing a €300,000 indemnification from Genoa, the Argentine club submitted the case to the AFA. That summer he played some friendly matches with

, and in one of them

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 ...

president

Urbano Cairo Urbano Cairo (born 21 May 1957) is an Italian businessman and chairman of Torino F.C. Cairo is a native of Milan. His principal business interest is in Cairo Communication, a business which he founded. At as mid-2016, Cairo via U.T. Communicati ...

saw Forestieri in action and offered €500,000 for him, but Genoa refused. On 8 November 2006, Forestieri made his official debut with Genoa in a

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 ...

loss against

Empoli Empoli () is a town and ''comune'' in the Metropolitan City of Florence, Tuscany, Italy, about southwest of Florence, to the south of the Arno in a plain formed by the river. The plain has been usable for agriculture since Roman times. The comm ...

. Forestieri made his

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 ...

league debut on 13 January 2007, on an away match lost 2–1 to

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 ...

, by scoring for Genoa. He then played as a regular with the Genoa Primavera youth team that won the 2007 International Viareggio trophy. On 25 July 2007,

Siena Siena ( , ; lat, Sena Iulia) is a city in Tuscany, Italy. It is the capital of the province of Siena. The city is historically linked to commercial and banking activities, having been a major banking center until the 13th and 14th centuri ...

announced that they had signed Forestieri from Genoa in a co-ownership deal, for €1.7 million, to compensate the transfer debt to Siena involving the transfers of

Andrea Masiello Andrea Masiello (born 5 February 1986) is an Italian professional footballer, who plays as a centre-back for club Südtirol. He is perhaps best known for match-fixing in the Derby of Puglia, whilst playing for Bari, scoring an own goal to gu ...

and

Abdoulay Konko Abdoulaye Konko Faye (born 9 March 1984) is a French football coach and former player who played as a right-back. He is a youth coach at Genoa. Playing career Juventus A youth product of Juventus, Konko was loaned to Crotone with Giovanni ...

to Genoa. He made his

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 ...

debut on 26 September, coming off the bench in a match against

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 ...

. On 13 January 2008, Forestieri scored his first goal for Siena after being brought on as a substitute against

Internazionale 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 ...

in a 3–2 loss. On 25 June 2008, Genoa acquired the entirety of his transfer rights for €4.5 million (with Siena acquiring half of

Manuel Coppola Manuel Coppola (born 11 May 1982) is an Italian former footballer who played as a midfielder. Career Early career Born in Rome, Lazio, Coppola started his professional career at Tivoli. In January 2004 he was signed by Messina, but spent the ...

for €1.5 million and the full rights of

Abdelkader Ghezzal Abdelkader Mohamed Ghezzal ( ar, عبد القادر غزال; born 5 December 1984) is a former professional footballer who played as a forward or midfield playmaker. Born in France, he made 28 appearances for the Algeria national team scorin ...

for €3.5 million), successively loaning him out to Siena for another season, but in the first part of the season with coach

Giampaolo Giampaolo or Gianpaolo is an Italian male given name or surname. Its English translation is " John Paul". It is often short for "Giovanni Paolo". Notable people with the name include: Given name *Gianpaolo Ambrosi, Italian luger * Gianpaolo Belli ...

he played only in two games. In January 2009, he was loaned to

Vicenza Vicenza ( , ; ) is a city in northeastern Italy. It is in the Veneto region at the northern base of the ''Monte Berico'', where it straddles the Bacchiglione River. Vicenza is approximately west of Venice and east of Milan. Vicenza is a th ...

in Serie B, where he scored 5 goals in 19 appearances.

Udinese

In July 2009 Forestieri agreed for a move to

La Liga The Campeonato Nacional de Liga de Primera División, commonly known simply as Primera División in Spain, and as La Liga in English-speaking countries and officially as LaLiga Santander for sponsorship reasons, stylized as LaLiga, is the men's ...

, joining

Málaga Málaga (, ) is a municipality of Spain, capital of the Province of Málaga, in the autonomous community of Andalusia. With a population of 578,460 in 2020, it is the second-most populous city in Andalusia after Seville and the sixth most pop ...

on loan from Genoa and Udinese. He was sold to Udinese Calcio in co-ownership deal on 28 July, for €1.5million. He scored his only goal for the club on 20 December 2009 in 2–1 win against

Mallorca Mallorca, or Majorca, is the largest island in the Balearic Islands, which are part of Spain and located in the Mediterranean. The capital of the island, Palma, is also the capital of the autonomous community of the Balearic Islands. The Bal ...

. In summer 2010 he failed to find a new club and stayed at Udinese's youth team. Udinese held some club friendlies for players pending to leave, credited the team as ''Udinese B''. He failed to leave the club and played for Udinese's ''Primavera'' youth team. In January 2011 he had been sent to Serie B club

. On 15 July 2011 he was signed by newly relegated

team

Bari Bari ( , ; nap, label= Barese, Bare ; lat, Barium) is the capital city of the Metropolitan City of Bari and of the Apulia region, on the Adriatic Sea, southern Italy. It is the second most important economic centre of mainland Southern Italy a ...

along with Zdeněk Zlámal., which Udinese bought him outright from Genoa on 7 July. He would be a potential replacement of Paulo Vitor Barreto who was bought back by Udinese in June.

Watford

On 31 August 2012,

Watford Watford () is a town and borough in Hertfordshire, England, 15 miles northwest of Central London, on the River Colne. Initially a small market town, the Grand Junction Canal encouraged the construction of paper-making mills, print works, a ...

signed Forestieri on loan from Udinese. He scored his first goal against

Huddersfield Town Huddersfield Town Association Football Club is a professional football club based in Huddersfield, West Yorkshire, England, which compete in the . The team have played home games at the Kirklees Stadium since moving from Leeds Road in 1994. The ...

on 29 September and then got sent off three days later against

Charlton Athletic Charlton Athletic Football Club is an English professional football club based in Charlton, south-east London, which compete in . Their home ground is The Valley, where the club have played since 1919. They have also played at The Mount in C ...

. Watford goalkeeper

Manuel Almunia Manuel Almunia Rivero (born 19 May 1977) is a Spanish former footballer who played as a goalkeeper. He competed mainly in the Spanish lower leagues in his early years, only appearing in 26 La Liga games over the course of two seasons with Rec ...

has claimed to see likenesses to

Lionel Messi Lionel Andrés Messi (; born 24 June 1987), also known as Leo Messi, is an Argentine professional footballer who plays as a forward for club Paris Saint-Germain and captains the Argentina national team. Widely regarded as one of the ...

and says he has a bright future, but must avoid getting involved with referees. Forestieri scored his second Watford goal 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 ...

in November which proved to be the decider as Watford emerged as 2–1 winners. On Monday 14 January 2013, the striker signed a permanent five-and-a-half-year deal with the club. Forestieri scored his first goals as a permanent Watford player against

Sheffield Wednesday Sheffield Wednesday Football Club is a professional association football club based in Sheffield, South Yorkshire, England. The team competes in League One, the third tier of the English football league system. Formed in 1867 as an offshoot of ...

on 5 March 2013 – netting a brace at Vicarage Road in an emotional 2–1 win where Forestieri was spotted crying and kissing the Watford badge after the final whistle, and three weeks later Forestieri scored another brace, this time against

Burnley Burnley () is a town and the administrative centre of the wider Borough of Burnley in Lancashire, England, with a 2001 population of 73,021. It is north of Manchester and east of Preston, at the confluence of the River Calder and River Bru ...

on 29 March 2013.

Sheffield Wednesday

After a below par 2014–15 season (despite winning promotion to

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 Foo ...

) with

, scoring only 5 goals in 25 games, mixed with the combination of constant manager changes, Forestieri found himself sliding down the pecking order at

Vicarage Road Vicarage Road is a stadium in Watford, England, and is the home stadium of championship club Watford. An all-seater stadium, its current capacity is 22,200. History It has been the home of Watford since 1922, when the club moved from Cassi ...

. Forestieri found himself subject to immense interest from clubs in the

Championship In sport, a championship is a competition in which the aim is to decide which individual or team is the champion. Championship systems Various forms of competition can be referred to by the term championship. Title match system In this system ...

including

Leeds Leeds () is a city and the administrative centre of the City of Leeds district in West Yorkshire, England. It is built around the River Aire and is in the eastern foothills of the Pennines. It is also the third-largest settlement (by populati ...

Reading Reading is the process of taking in the sense or meaning of Letter (alphabet), letters, symbols, etc., especially by Visual perception, sight or Somatosensory system, touch. For educators and researchers, reading is a multifaceted process invo ...

and

. On 29 August 2015

completed the signing of Forestieri on a four-year deal, for an undisclosed fee believed to be around £3,000,000. He became the 14th summer signing by the Owls, and the 3rd to move from

to Hillsborough along with

Lewis McGugan Lewis Shay McGugan (born 25 October 1988) is an English professional footballer who plays as a midfielder. A player with excellent natural stamina, technical skills and mental attributes, he has represented England at under-17 and under-19 lev ...

and Daniel Pudil. He made his Owls debut in the 3–1 away defeat to

on 12 September. He was Wednesday's top goalscorer with 15 in all competitions. Forestieri won the

Player of the Year Several sports leagues honour their best player with an award called Player of the Year (POY) . In the United States, this type of award is usually called a Most Valuable Player award. Association football In association football, this award is he ...

award at the end of the 2015–16 season. On 9 January 2017, Forestieri extended his contract with Sheffield Wednesday by a further year, committing until the summer of 2020. On 24 June 2020, it was announced that he had declined a new contract and would be leaving the club on the 30 June.

Return to Udinese

On 8 September 2020, Forestieri agreed a return to

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 a two-year deal. During the 2021–22 season Forestieri played 4 times, scoring 2 goals and providing 1 assist in only 54 minutes of football. After limited opportunities and despite an outstanding free kick goal for

in November 2021 against

Fernando was released from his Udinese contract by mutual consent in December 2021. Fernando had scored 4 goals in 28 games during his second spell at the club.

Johor Darul Ta'zim

In January 2022, Forestieri left Udinese and headed to Asia, joining Malaysian giants

on a two-year contract. He won his first ever trophy in club football shortly after, when JDT defeated Kuala Lumpur City 3–0 to win the

Piala Sumbangsih Piala Sumbangsih (English: Malaysia Charity Cup), also known as Piala Sultan Haji Ahmad Shah ( en, Sultan Haji Ahmad Shah Cup), is the Malaysian super cup competition. It is the curtain raiser match to the new Malaysian football season, pitting ...

(Charity Shield), with one of the goals scored by Forestieri on his debut. On 13 March 2022, he scored his first hat-trick for the club in a

Malaysia FA Cup The Malaysia FA Cup ( ms, Piala FA) is an annual national knock-out football tournament in Malaysia. The cup was first held in 1990. The competition was previously managed by Football Association of Malaysia (FAM), before being transferred to Fo ...

match against BRM F.C. where JDT won 10–0. On 11 May 2022 during the match against

Negeri Sembilan Negeri Sembilan (, Negeri Sembilan Malay: ''Nogoghi Sombilan'', ''Nismilan'') is a state in Malaysia which lies on the western coast of Peninsular Malaysia. It borders Selangor on the north, Pahang in the east, and Malacca and Johor to the s ...

, Forestieri help JDT to secure 3 points which he scored a 90+10' wonder goal on what seems to be the last touch of the match.

International career

After declining a call-up to the Argentina under-17 team, Forestieri was called up by Italy for its U-17, U-19 and U-20 football teams. On 13 April 2011 he made his debut with the Italy U-21 team in a friendly game against

Russia Russia (, , ), or the Russian Federation, is a List of transcontinental countries, transcontinental country spanning Eastern Europe and North Asia, Northern Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, largest country in the ...

Style of play

A technical and flexible player, he is a trequartista, but he can also act as a second striker or as an outside forward in a 4-3-3. He is quick and has excellent dribbling and shooting, and can create numerical superiority thanks to his one-on-one ability. Throughout his career he has developed a great ability to adapt to playing in different roles. He has also been seen playing as a trequartista, a winger on both sides and occasionally as a forward, making him a real offensive wild card. A good penalty taker, he has a good shot from distance. With a low centre of gravity, he is able to slip easily in one-on-one situations. For this reason, the coach

Jos Luhukay Jos Luhukay (born 13 June 1963) is a Dutch football manager and former player, who was most recently head coach of VVV-Venlo. Playing career He began his career at the age of 15 at his hometown club FC VVV and he made his league debut in Januar ...

in his seasons at Sheffield Wednesday often played him as a right winger in a 4-2-3-1 or as a wide midfielder in a 4-4-2. Thus abandoning his initial deployment in central roles with a few exceptions, he is sometimes deployed as a second forward in a 4-4-2 to act as a link around a physical centre forward.

Legal issues

Forestieri was accused of racially abusing opposition player Krystian Pearce in a pre-season friendly. He was charged by police, and on 28 December 2018, an

arrest warrant An arrest warrant is a warrant issued by a judge or magistrate on behalf of the state, which authorizes the arrest and detention of an individual, or the search and seizure of an individual's property. Canada Arrest warrants are issued by a j ...

was issued after Forestieri failed to attend court. He was found not guilty by a court in March 2019, but was charged with racial abuse by the Football Association. The FA found him guilty and issued a six-game ban, which he said he intended to appeal.

Career statistics

Honours

Club

Johor Darul Ta'zim *

Malaysia Charity Shield Piala Sumbangsih (English: Malaysia Charity Cup), also known as Piala Sultan Haji Ahmad Shah ( en, Sultan Haji Ahmad Shah Cup), is the Malaysian super cup competition. It is the curtain raiser match to the new Malaysian football season, pitting ...

2022 File:2022 collage V1.png, Clockwise, from top left: Road junction at Yamato-Saidaiji Station several hours after the assassination of Shinzo Abe; 2022 Sri Lankan protests, Anti-government protest in Sri Lanka in front of the Presidential Secretari ...

, 2023 *

Malaysia Cup The Malaysia Cup ( ms, Piala Malaysia), formerly known as ''Malaya Cup'', is an annual association football, football tournament in Malaysia, held at the end of the calendar year. The cup was first held in 1921. Despite its prestige and popular ...

Individual

Sheffield Wednesday *PFA Fans' Player of the Month Award: March 2016 *

Top Scorer:

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Forestieri, Fernando 1990 births Living people Footballers from Rosario, Santa Fe Argentine emigrants to Italy Argentine footballers Italian footballers Men's association football forwards Genoa C.F.C. players A.C.R. Siena 1904 players Málaga CF players L.R. Vicenza players Udinese Calcio players Empoli F.C. players S.S.C. Bari players Watford F.C. players Sheffield Wednesday F.C. players Johor Darul Ta'zim F.C. players Serie A players Serie B players La Liga players English Football League players Malaysia Super League players Italy men's under-21 international footballers Italy men's youth international footballers Argentine expatriate footballers Italian expatriate footballers Expatriate footballers in England Expatriate footballers in Spain Expatriate footballers in Malaysia Argentine expatriate sportspeople in England Argentine expatriate sportspeople in Spain Italian expatriate sportspeople in England Italian expatriate sportspeople in Spain