Mauro Esposito (; born 13 June 1979) 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 mainly as a

right winger In the sport of association football, a midfielder takes an outfield position primarily in the middle of the pitch. Midfielders may play an exclusively defensive role, breaking up attacks, and are in that case known as defensive midfielders. ...

Club career

Born in

Torre del Greco Torre del Greco (; ; "Greek man's Tower") is a ''comune'' in the Metropolitan City of Naples in Italy, with a population of c. 85,000 . The locals are sometimes called ''Corallini'' because of the once plentiful coral in the nearby sea, and becaus ...

Campania Campania is an administrative Regions of Italy, region of Italy located in Southern Italy; most of it is in the south-western portion of the Italian Peninsula (with the Tyrrhenian Sea to its west), but it also includes the small Phlegraean Islan ...

, Esposito made his professional debut in 1997 with

Pescara Calcio Delfino Pescara 1936, commonly referred to as Pescara, is a professional football in Italy, Italian football club based in Pescara, Abruzzo. The club was formed in 1936 and currently plays in Serie C, but will play in Serie B in the 2025–26 s ...

after having a trial with English club Everton. He went on to play in two

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 ...

campaigns with the team. After an unsuccessful trial with

Rangers A ranger is typically someone in a law enforcement or military/paramilitary role specializing in patrolling a given territory, called "ranging" or "scouting". The term most often refers to: * Park ranger or forest ranger, a person charged with prot ...

, he joined

Udinese Calcio Udinese Calcio (; "Udinese Football") is a professional association football, football club based in Udine, Friuli-Venezia Giulia, Italy. The team currently competes in the Serie A, the first tier of Italian football league system, Italian fo ...

with which he first appeared in

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 ...

, playing just nine league games in two years and also being loaned to his previous club. In 2001–02, Esposito moved to

Cagliari Calcio Cagliari Calcio, commonly referred to as Cagliari (), is an Football in Italy, Italian football club based in Cagliari, Sardinia, that plays in Serie A, the first tier of Italian football. The club currently plays home matches at the 16,416-sea ...

in the second division, being an undisputed starter during his spell with the

Sardinia Sardinia ( ; ; ) is the Mediterranean islands#By area, second-largest island in the Mediterranean Sea, after Sicily, and one of the Regions of Italy, twenty regions of Italy. It is located west of the Italian Peninsula, north of Tunisia an ...

ns and scoring in double digits in three of his six seasons – in 2003–04, he netted a career-best 17 goals in 40 matches, with his team finishing in second position and returning to the top flight after a five-year absence. After his scoring partner

David Suazo Óscar David Suazo Velázquez (born 5 November 1979) is a Honduran retired professional footballer turned coach who played as a striker. Suazo played more than 300 league games and scored over 90 league goals in Italy during a span of 12 season ...

's confirmed departure, on 4 July 2007,

AS Roma Associazione Sportiva Roma (''Rome Sport Association''; Italian pronunciation: Help:IPA/Italian, ) is a professional Association football, football club based in Rome, Italy. Founded by a merger in 1927, Roma has participated in the top tier ...

acquired 50% of Esposito's rights for €2 million, plus the free loan of Daniele Magliocchetti. He signed a three-year contract, with a gross annual salary of €1.4 million. In June 2008, Esposito was purchased definitely by Roma for €350,000, and Magliocchetti was sold in a co-ownership deal for a nominal fee of €484. During his two seasons with the side, he was very rarely used, with all of his league appearances coming in 2007–08; on 1 September 2008, he was sent on loan to

AC ChievoVerona Associazione Calcio ChievoVerona, commonly referred to as ChievoVerona or simply Chievo (, ), is an Football in Italy, Italian football club named after and representing Chievo, a suburb of 4,500 inhabitants in Verona, Veneto. It is owned sinc ...

of Serie B, with the

Veneto Veneto, officially the Region of Veneto, is one of the 20 regions of Italy, located in the Northeast Italy, north-east of the country. It is the fourth most populous region in Italy, with a population of 4,851,851 as of 2025. Venice is t ...

club having the option to sign him permanently for €2.5M (plus

VAT A value-added tax (VAT or goods and services tax (GST), general consumption tax (GCT)) is a consumption tax that is levied on the value added at each stage of a product's production and distribution. VAT is similar to, and is often compared wi ...

) at the end of the season. On 1 February 2010, Esposito moved, in the same predicament, to US Grosseto FC, also in the second level. His contract with Roma expired on 30 June and, in September, he signed with

Atletico Roma FC Atletico Roma Football Club was an Italian football club based in Rome, Italy. The club was founded as Nuova Tor Sapienza Calcio, which was renamed to Cisco Tor Sapienza in 1998. Under several merger, the club was subsequent known as A.S. Cis ...

of the

Lega Pro Prima Divisione Serie C1 was the third highest football league in Italy Italy, officially the Italian Republic, is a country in Southern Europe, Southern and Western Europe, Western Europe. It consists of Italian Peninsula, a peninsula that extends into ...

. In the 2011 summer, his club was dissolved and Esposito retired, aged 32.

International career

On 9 October 2004, Esposito made his debut for

Italy Italy, officially the Italian Republic, is a country in Southern Europe, Southern and Western Europe, Western Europe. It consists of Italian Peninsula, a peninsula that extends into the Mediterranean Sea, with the Alps on its northern land b ...

, in a

2006 FIFA World Cup The 2006 FIFA World Cup was the 18th FIFA World Cup, the quadrennial international Association football, football world championship tournament. It was held from 9 June to 9 July 2006 in Germany, which had won the right to FIFA World Cup hosts ...

qualifier 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 ...

, starting in the 0–1 loss in

Celje Celje (, , ) is the List of cities and towns in Slovenia, third-largest city in Slovenia. It is a regional center of the traditional Slovenian region of Styria (Slovenia), Styria and the administrative seat of the City Municipality of Celje. Th ...

. He would be later called by coach

Marcello Lippi Marcello Romeo Lippi (; born 12 April 1948) is an Italian former professional association football, football player and manager, who led the Italy national football team, Italy national team to victory in the 2006 FIFA World Cup. He was appoin ...

for the pre-World Cup stage held on 2/3 May, but did not make the final cut. On 16 August 2006, Esposito was picked by new manager

Roberto Donadoni Roberto Donadoni (; born 9 September 1963) is an Italian football manager and former midfielder. A skilful and versatile winger, Donadoni was capable of playing on either flank, or in the centre. He began his career with Atalanta, and late ...

for a friendly with

Croatia Croatia, officially the Republic of Croatia, is a country in Central Europe, Central and Southeast Europe, on the coast of the Adriatic Sea. It borders Slovenia to the northwest, Hungary to the northeast, Serbia to the east, Bosnia and Herze ...

, starting in a 0–2 home defeat. It would be his last appearance for the national team.

Honours

Udinese *

UEFA Intertoto Cup The UEFA Intertoto Cup (from , "between" and , " betting pool"),Most precisely, from ( football pool); cf. originally called the International Football Cup, was a summer football competition between European clubs. The competition was dis ...

2000 2000 was designated as the International Year for the Culture of Peace and the World Mathematics, Mathematical Year. Popular culture holds the year 2000 as the first year of the 21st century and the 3rd millennium, because of a tende ...

References

External links

*
National team data
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Esposito, Mauro 1979 births Living people Sportspeople from Torre del Greco Italian men's footballers Men's association football wingers Serie A players Serie B players Serie C players Delfino Pescara 1936 players Udinese Calcio players Cagliari Calcio players AS Roma players AC ChievoVerona players US Grosseto 1912 players Atletico Roma FC players Italy men's international footballers Footballers from the Metropolitan City of Naples