Giuseppe Pezzella (born 29 November 1997) is an Italian 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 plays as a

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 ...

for

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 ...

club

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 River, Arno in a plain formed by the river. The plain has been usable for agriculture since Ancient Ro ...

Club career

Palermo

Pezzella is a youth product from

Palermo Palermo ( ; ; , 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 province. The ...

. He made his

debut with the senior side on 6 December 2015 against

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 ...

, replacing

Mato Jajalo Mato Jajalo (; born 25 May 1988) is a Bosnian former professional footballer who played as a defensive midfielder. Jajalo started his professional career at Slaven Belupo, before joining Siena in 2009. The following year, he was loaned to 1. FC ...

after 65 minutes of a 3–0 away defeat.

Udinese

On 30 June 2017, Pezzella joined

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 ...

on a five-year contract.

Loan to Genoa

On 21 January 2019, Pezzella joined to

Genoa Genoa ( ; ; ) is a city in and the capital of the Italian region of Liguria, and the sixth-largest city in Italy. As of 2025, 563,947 people live within the city's administrative limits. While its metropolitan city has 818,651 inhabitan ...

on loan with an option to buy until 30 June 2019.

Parma

On 27 August 2019, Pezzella signed to

Parma Parma (; ) is a city in the northern Italian region of Emilia-Romagna known for its architecture, Giuseppe Verdi, music, art, prosciutto (ham), Parmesan, cheese and surrounding countryside. With a population of 198,986 inhabitants as of 2025, ...

a five-year contract, but he was on loan until the end of 2019–20 season, with an obligation to buy.

Loan to Atalanta

On 27 July 2021, Pezzella moved to

on a season-long loan with option to buy, which would have become an obligation to buy if certain conditions were met.

Loan to Lecce

On 26 August 2022, Pezzella was loaned by

Lecce Lecce (; ) is a city in southern Italy and capital of the province of Lecce. It is on the Salentine Peninsula, at the heel of the Italian Peninsula, and is over two thousand years old. Because of its rich Baroque architecture, Lecce is n ...

, with an option to buy.

Empoli

On 31 July 2023, Serie A side Empoli announced the free signing of Pezzella on a three-year contract, with an option for a further year.

International career

With the Italy U-20 side, Pezzella took part at the

2017 FIFA U-20 World Cup The 2017 FIFA U-20 World Cup was the 21st edition of the FIFA U-20 World Cup, the biennial international men's youth football championship contested by the under-20 national teams of the member associations of FIFA, since its inception in 1977 a ...

, winning the bronze medal. The same year, he was also called up by the Italy U-21 manager

Luigi Di Biagio Luigi Di Biagio (; born 3 June 1971) is an Italian professional football manager and former player who is currently managing Saudi Arabia U23. A former midfielder, Di Biagio last played for Ascoli in 2007, and previously also played for seve ...

for the

2017 UEFA European Under-21 Championship The 2017 UEFA European Under-21 Championship (also known as UEFA Under-21 Euro 2017) was the 21st edition of the UEFA European Under-21 Championship, a biennial international youth association football, football championship organised by UEFA for ...

, following Nicola Murru's injury, although he did not appear in the tournament. Italy were eliminated by

Spain Spain, or the Kingdom of Spain, is a country in Southern Europe, Southern and Western Europe with territories in North Africa. Featuring the Punta de Tarifa, southernmost point of continental Europe, it is the largest country in Southern Eur ...

in the semi-finals of the competition on 27 June, following a 3–1 defeat. Pezzella made his debut with the Italy U21 team on 1 September 2017, in a 3–0 friendly loss against

Career statistics

Club

References

External links

* 1997 births Living people Footballers from Naples Italian men's footballers Men's association football forwards Men's association football fullbacks Serie A players Palermo FC players Udinese Calcio players Genoa CFC players Parma Calcio 1913 players Atalanta BC players US Lecce players Empoli FC players Italy men's under-21 international footballers Italy men's youth international footballers 21st-century Italian sportsmen {{Italy-footy-defender-1990s-stub