Gianpaolo Bellini (born 27 March 1980) 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, rugby lea ...

who played as a defender. Bellini is a one-club man; he spent his entire professional career with

Atalanta Atalanta (; ) 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), Clymene and who is primarily known from the tales of the Caly ...

, and currently holds the record for the most appearances in the club's history (435). His primary position was

left-back In the sport of association football, a defender is an Glossary of association football terms#O, outfield player whose primary role is to stop attacks during the game and prevent the opposition from scoring. Defenders fall into four main categ ...

, but he was also capable of playing on the right flank and as a central defender.

Club career

Born in

Sarnico Sarnico (Bergamasque: ) is a ''comune'' (municipality) in the Province of Bergamo in the Italian region of Lombardy, about northeast of Milan and about east of Bergamo at the southern end of Lake Iseo. Sarnico borders the following municipali ...

Province of Bergamo The province of Bergamo (; ) is a Provinces of Italy, province in the Lombardy region of Italy. Its capital is the city of Bergamo. The province has a population of 1,103,768 (2023), an area of , and contains 242 ''comune, comuni'' (municipali ...

, Bellini played his first league match on 11 April 1999 for

, at that time in

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 ...

. In the 2009–10 season, Bellini played as left-back, while

Thomas Manfredini Thomas Manfredini (born 27 May 1980) is an Italian former professional footballer who played as a centre-back. Career SPAL Udinese Atalanta Manfredini was signed by Serie B club Atalanta B.C. on 27 June 2005 for €1.2 million.Atalanta B.C. ...

Paolo Bianco Paolo Bianco (born 20 August 1977) is an Italian football coach and former footballer who played as a defender. He currently manages Frosinone Calcio. Career Foggia Bianco started his career within the junior ranks of Foggia in the Italian ...

, Leonardo Talamonti were used as central-defenders. On 26 July 2010, he and Manfredini signed a new 3+1 year contract with the club. On 8 May 2016, Bellini scored in his final game, a 1–1

Serie A The Serie A (), officially known as Serie A Enilive in Italy and Serie A Made in Italy abroad for sponsorship reasons, is a professional association football league in Italy and the highest tier of the Italian football league system. Establish ...

draw against

Udinese Udinese Calcio (; "Udinese Football") is a professional football club based in Udine, Friuli-Venezia Giulia, Italy. The team currently competes in the Serie A, the first tier of Italian football. It was founded on 30 November 1896 as a sport ...

at the Stadio di Bergamo. He retired having made a record 435 appearances for Atalanta, 279 of which were in the Serie A.

International career

Along with

Cesare Natali Cesare Natali (born 5 April 1979) is an Italian former professional footballer who played as a centre-back. Club career Atalanta Natali started his career at Atalanta. He scored the opening goal in the relegation playoffs second legs in June 20 ...

, his teammate at Atalanta, Bellini was called up to the Italy under-21 side for the

2002 UEFA European Under-21 Football Championship UEFA European Under-21 Championship 2002 was the 13th staging of UEFA's European Under-21 Championship. The final tournament was hosted by Switzerland between 16 and 28 May 2002. Czech Republic U-21s won the competition for the first time. Qu ...

. They partnered in 2 matches at the tournament as Italy reached the semi-finals.

Managerial career

In 2017, Bellini was named assistant head coach of Atalanta's Primavera (under-21) team. After five years as a deputy to Massimo Brambilla, in 2022, Bellini was appointed head coach of Atalanta's under-17 team.

Honours

;Atalanta *

: 2005–06,

2010–11 1 (one, unit, unity) is a number, numeral, and glyph. It is the first and smallest positive integer of the infinite sequence of natural numbers. This fundamental property has led to its unique uses in other fields, ranging from science to sp ...

References

External links

Atalanta B.C. Official Player Profile

Gianpaolo Bellini National Team Stats
at FIGC.it Italian men's footballers Italy men's under-21 international footballers Atalanta BC players Serie A players Serie B players Men's association football defenders Footballers from the Province of Bergamo 1980 births Living people 21st-century Italian sportsmen {{Italy-footy-defender-1980s-stub