Valentino Lai (born 3 February 1984) is a former

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 played 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 ...

. Born in Italy, Lai represented Sweden internationally.

Club career

Born in Cagliari, Italy, Lai started his career playing for Swedish club

FBK Balkan FBK Balkan is a Swedish association football, football club located in the district Rosengård of Malmö. The club was founded on 22 November 1962. They currently play in Swedish football Division 2, Division 2 Södra Götaland. The club comes fro ...

at youth level, and subsequently

Malmö FF Malmö Fotbollförening, commonly known as Malmö FF, Malmö, or MFF, is a professional football club and the most successful football club in Sweden in terms of trophies won. Formed in 1910 and affiliated with the Scania Football Association, ...

. In 2001, he moved back to Italy playing for

Venezia Venice ( ; it, Venezia ; vec, Venesia or ) is a city in northeastern Italy and the capital of the Veneto region. It is built on a group of 118 small islands that are separated by canals and linked by over 400 bridges. The islan ...

, where 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. In 2002, he moved to

Palermo Palermo ( , ; scn, Palermu , locally also or ) is a city in southern Italy, the capital (political), capital of both the autonomous area, autonomous region of Sicily and the Metropolitan City of Palermo, the city's surrounding metropolitan ...

, appearing just in one

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 ...

match. After two loan spells at the Serie B level, in

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 ...

and

Triestina Unione Sportiva Triestina Calcio 1918, commonly referred to as Triestina, is an Italian football club based in Trieste, Friuli-Venezia Giulia. Originally founded in 1918, the club has been re-established several times in its history. As of the ...

, in June 2005 Lai decided to return in Sweden by signing a 2-years contract for

Landskrona BoIS Landskrona Boll och Idrottsällskap ( en, Landskrona Ball and Sports Society, locally referred to as BoIS) is a Sweden, Swedish professional Football club (association football), football club located in Landskrona, Scania, which currently pla ...

, playing in

Superettan Superettan (; meaning the super first (division)) is an association football league and the second highest league in the league system of Swedish men's football. Contested by 16 clubs, it operates on a system of promotion and relegation with Al ...

. Then he went to the Danish club

Vejle Boldklub Vejle Boldklub is a Danish professional football club based in Vejle in Jutland. Formed in 1891, the club is one of the most successful clubs in Danish football history, having won the Danish championship five times and the Danish cup title six t ...

. In the winter of 2010, Valentino went to

Apollon Limassol Apollon Limassol FC ( el, Απόλλων Λεμεσού, ''Apollon Lemesou'') is a Cypriot sports club, based in Limassol. It has football, basketball and volleyball teams. Founded in 1954, Apollon FC currently plays in the Cypriot First Divisi ...

on a loan deal. After leaving Apollon Limassol in summer of 2010, Lai went back to Vejle BK.

International career

At international level, Lai also represented Sweden at U21 level.

References

External links

Vejle Boldklub profile
* 1984 births Living people People from the Province of Cagliari Swedish footballers Sweden under-21 international footballers Italian footballers Swedish people of Italian descent Italian emigrants to Sweden Malmö FF players Vejle Boldklub players Landskrona BoIS players Venezia F.C. players Palermo F.C. players U.S. Salernitana 1919 players U.S. Triestina Calcio 1918 players Apollon Limassol FC players Viborg FF players Swedish expatriate footballers Expatriate footballers in Denmark Expatriate footballers in Italy Expatriate footballers in Cyprus Serie A players Serie B players Danish Superliga players Allsvenskan players KSF Prespa Birlik players Association football midfielders Footballers from Sardinia {{Sweden-footy-midfielder-stub