Elia Benedettini (born 22 June 1995) is a

Sammarinese Sammarinese () are citizens and people of the Republic of San Marino. Language San Marino recognizes Italian as the official language. The indigenous Sammarinese language is a variety of Romagnol spoken by approximately 83 percent of the populati ...

footballer who plays as a

goalkeeper In many team sports that involve scoring goal (sport), 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 i ...

for Murata. He is the cousin of San Marino goalkeeper Simone.

Club career

Benedettini began his career at

San Marino Calcio Associazione Camachista San Marino Calcio, better known as San Marino Calcio, is a Sammarinese professional football club based in the city of Acquaviva, that competes in the Serie D, the fourth tier of Italian football, since being promoted i ...

Lega Pro The Lega Italiano Calcio Professionistico (Italian for Professional Football Italian League), commonly known as Lega Pro (Pro League), is the governing body that runs the third tier of professional football competitions in Italy, the Serie C. I ...

, the third tier of the Italian football system. He was first called up to a matchday squad on 24 September 2012, remaining an unused substitute in a 0–1 home loss against

Pavia Pavia ( , ; ; ; ; ) is a town and comune of south-western Lombardy, in Northern Italy, south of Milan on the lower Ticino (river), Ticino near its confluence with the Po (river), Po. It has a population of c. 73,086. The city was a major polit ...

at the Stadio Olimpico in Serravalle. On 10 February 2013 he was called up again and remained unused in a 2–0 home win over PortoSummaga. His third call-up on 5 May resulted in his only appearance of the season, in a home match against

Cremonese Cremona ( , , ; ; ) is a city and (municipality) in northern Italy, situated in Lombardy, on the left bank of the Po (river), Po river in the middle of the Po Valley. It is the capital of the province of Cremona and the seat of the local city a ...

. Starting goalkeeper Mattia Migani was sent off in the second minute, so forward Francesco Cassola was substituted for Benedettini, who immediately conceded a

penalty kick A penalty shot or penalty kick is a play used in several sports whereby a goal is attempted during untimed play. Depending on the sport, when a player commits certain types of penalties, the opposition is awarded a penalty shot or kick attempt. ...

by Giuseppe Le Noci in an eventual 1–6 defeat. On 21 July 2013, he joined

Cesena Cesena (; ) is a city and ''comune'' (municipality) in the Emilia-Romagna region of Italy; and - with Forlì - is the capital of the Province of Forlì-Cesena. Served by Autostrada A14 (Italy), Autostrada A14, and located near the Apennine M ...

for an undisclosed fee. In July 2014, Benedettini moved to

Serie D The Serie D () is the highest level of semi-professional football in Italy, and the fourth tier of the Italian national league system. It sits beneath the third and lowest fully professional league, Serie C, and feeds in to it through promotion ...

club Pianese. In July 2016, he moved to

Serie B The Serie B (), officially known as 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 b ...

club

Novara Novara (; Novarese Lombard, Novarese: ) is the capital city of the province of Novara in the Piedmont (Italy), Piedmont region in northwest Italy, to the west of Milan. With 101,916 inhabitants (on 1 January 2021), it is the second most populous ...

on a free transfer. He made his competitive debut for the club on 24 December 2016 in a 4–1 away defeat to

Virtus Entella Virtus Entella, commonly referred to as Entella, is an Italian professional Association football, football club based in Chiavari, Liguria. Founded in 1914, the club currently competes in the . Entella will play in Serie B 2025/26 after winning ...

. He was released by Novara by mutual consent on 9 October 2020. On 14 January 2021, he returned to

. On 11 July 2022, Benedettini agreed to join

Cailungo Cailungo is a settlement in San Marino San Marino, officially the Republic of San Marino, is a landlocked country in Southern Europe, completely surrounded by Italy. Located on the northeastern slopes of the Apennine Mountains, it is the ...

Campionato Sammarinese di Calcio Campionato Sammarinese di Calcio (English translation: Sammarinese Football Championship) is the highest competition for Association football, football clubs located at the only level of the San Marino, Sammarinese Football in San Marino, footb ...

. Benedettini agreed to terms with

Libertas Libertas (Latin for 'liberty' or 'freedom', ) is the Roman goddess and personification of liberty. She became a politicised figure in the late republic. She sometimes also appeared on coins from the imperial period, such as Galba's "Freedom ...

on 31 July 2023.

International career

He made his senior international debut for

San Marino San Marino, officially the Republic of San Marino, is a landlocked country in Southern Europe, completely surrounded by Italy. Located on the northeastern slopes of the Apennine Mountains, it is the larger of two European microstates, microsta ...

on 27 June 2015, in a

UEFA Euro 2016 qualifying The UEFA Euro 2016 qualifying tournament was a football competition that was played from September 2014 to November 2015 to determine the 23 UEFA member men's national teams joining the automatically qualified host team France in the UEFA Euro 2 ...

match against

Slovenia Slovenia, officially the Republic of Slovenia, is a country in Central Europe. It borders Italy to the west, Austria to the north, Hungary to the northeast, Croatia to the south and southeast, and a short (46.6 km) coastline within the Adriati ...

Ljubljana {{Infobox settlement , name = Ljubljana , official_name = , settlement_type = Capital city , image_skyline = {{multiple image , border = infobox , perrow = 1/2/2/1 , total_widt ...

, a 0–6 defeat. Prior to this, he had played for San Marino's youth teams.

Personal life

Benedettini works for his parents' transport company while also playing football.

Career statistics

International

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Benedettini, Elia Living people 1995 births People from Borgo Maggiore Sammarinese men's footballers Men's association football goalkeepers San Marino men's international footballers San Marino Calcio players AC Cesena players US Pianese players Novara FC players Cesena FC players SP Cailungo players Serie B players Serie C players Campionato Sammarinese di Calcio players Sammarinese expatriate men's footballers Sammarinese expatriate sportspeople in Italy Expatriate men's footballers in Italy