Simone Scuffet (; born 31 May 1996) 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

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 club

Napoli Naples ( ; ; ) is the regional capital of Campania and the third-largest city of Italy, after Rome and Milan, with a population of 908,082 within the city's administrative limits as of 2025, while its province-level municipality is the thir ...

, on loan from

Cagliari Cagliari (, , ; ; ; Latin: ''Caralis'') is an Comune, Italian municipality and the capital and largest city of the island of Sardinia, an Regions of Italy#Autonomous regions with special statute, autonomous region of Italy. It has about 146,62 ...

Club career

Udinese

An Udinese youth product, Scuffet made his first team debut on 1 February 2014 at the age of 17 in a

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 ...

match against

Bologna Bologna ( , , ; ; ) is the capital and largest city of the Emilia-Romagna region in northern Italy. It is the List of cities in Italy, seventh most populous city in Italy, with about 400,000 inhabitants and 150 different nationalities. Its M ...

, as a replacement for injured Željko Brkić. After a string of impressive performances, he was subsequently promoted as first choice keeper, relegating Brkić on the bench. On 9 June 2014, following a successful debut season, Scuffet signed a new five-year deal with the club. He failed to get the same level of game time during the 2014–15 season with Orestis Karnezis preferred as the first-choice goalkeeper at Udinese. On 8 December 2014, he Scuffet was named at the #1 spot in the goalkeepers category as part of ''Outside of the Boots 100 Best Young Players to Watch in 2015 feature. On 16 December 2014, he was named at the #1 spot as FutbolSapiens's 10 Best Young Goalkeepers of the Year feature.

Various loans

On 6 August 2015, Scuffet was sent out on loan 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 ...

side

Como Como (, ; , or ; ) is a city and (municipality) in Lombardy, Italy. It is the administrative capital of the Province of Como. Nestled at the southwestern branch of the picturesque Lake Como, the city is a renowned tourist destination, ce ...

. Although he was able to obtain more playing time at Como, he endured a negative season with the club, as he conceded 52 goals, while Como finished in last place in the league and were relegated to

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 ...

at the end of the 2015–16 Serie B season. On 16 January 2019, Scuffet joined Turkish side Kasımpaşa on loan until 30 June. On 19 August 2019, Scuffet joined Serie B club Spezia on loan until 30 June 2020 with an option to buy. He was the starting goalkeeper throughout the season, which ended with the club achieving promotion to Serie A.

Return to Udinese

In July 2020, Scuffet returned to Udinese. On 28 October, he returned between the sticks for the club, playing as a starter in the

Italian Cup Coppa Italia () is the annual domestic cup of Italian football. The knockout competition was organized by the DDS and the Lega Calcio until the 2009–10 season and by Lega Serie A ever since. Juventus is the competition's most successf ...

match against

Vicenza Vicenza ( , ; or , archaically ) is a city in northeastern Italy. It is in the Veneto region, at the northern base of the Monte Berico, where it straddles the Bacchiglione, River Bacchiglione. Vicenza is approximately west of Venice and e ...

, which finished in a 3–1 win. On 2 May 2021, due to a suspension of starting goalkeeper Juan Musso, he returned to Serie A action for the 2–1 defeat against

Juventus Juventus Football Club (; from , ), commonly known as Juventus or colloquially as Juve (), is an Italian professional Association football, football List of football clubs in Italy, club based in Turin, Piedmont, who compete in Serie A, the ...

in which he conceded two goals to

Cristiano Ronaldo Cristiano Ronaldo dos Santos Aveiro (; born 5 February 1985) is a Portuguese professional Association football, footballer who plays as a Forward (association football), forward for and Captain (association football), captains both Saudi Pr ...

APOEL

On 30 August 2021, Scuffet signed a two-year contract with

Cypriot First Division The Cypriot First Division (), also known as the Cyprus League by Stoiximan for sponsorship reasons, is a professional association football league in Cyprus and the highest level of the Cypriot football league system. Operated by the Cyprus Fo ...

club APOEL.

CFR Cluj

On 17 July 2022, Scuffet joined Romanian

Liga I Liga I (; ''First League''), also spelled as Liga 1 and officially known as SuperLiga for sponsorship reasons, is a professional association football league in Romania and the highest level of the Romanian football league system. Contested by 1 ...

champions

CFR Cluj Fotbal Club CFR 1907 Cluj, commonly known as CFR Cluj ( or ) or simply CFR, is a Romanian professional association football, football club based in the city of Cluj-Napoca, Cluj County, that competes in the Liga I. Founded as ''Kolozsvári Vasut ...

on a free transfer.

Cagliari

On 14 July 2023, Scuffet joined

club

on a deal for a transfer fee reportedly worth €2 million plus €1 million in bonuses.

Loan to Napoli

On 7 January 2025, Scuffet was loaned to

for the remainder of the season.

International career

Scuffet has represented Italy U-17 team at both the 2013 UEFA European Under-17 Championship – where they reached the final – and the 2013 FIFA U-17 World Cup, where they were eliminated in the round of 16 by

Mexico Mexico, officially the United Mexican States, is a country in North America. It is the northernmost country in Latin America, and borders the United States to the north, and Guatemala and Belize to the southeast; while having maritime boundar ...

. In March and in April 2014 he was called up by Italy senior coach Cesare Prandelli to join two training camps ahead of the

2014 World Cup The 2014 FIFA World Cup was the 20th FIFA World Cup, the quadrennial world championship for men's national football teams organised by FIFA. It took place in Brazil from 12 June to 13 July 2014, after the country was awarded the hosting ri ...

. He made his first appearance for the Italy U-21 team on 12 August 2015, in a friendly match against

Hungary Hungary is a landlocked country in Central Europe. Spanning much of the Pannonian Basin, Carpathian Basin, it is bordered by Slovakia to the north, Ukraine to the northeast, Romania to the east and southeast, Serbia to the south, Croatia and ...

. In June 2017, he was included in the Italy under-21 squad 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 ...

by 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 ...

Style of play

Scuffet has earned praise in the media for his reflexes, confidence, consistency, calm composure, leadership qualities, and precocious performances as a youngster, which have earned him comparisons with former

Italy national football team The Italy national football team () has represented Italy in men's international Association football, football since its first match in 1910. The national team is controlled by the Italian Football Federation (FIGC), the governing body for fo ...

goalkeeper and 2006 World Cup winner

Gianluigi Buffon Gianluigi Buffon (; born 28 January 1978) is an Italian former professional Association football, footballer who played as a Goalkeeper (association football), goalkeeper. Widely regarded as one of the greatest goalkeepers of all time, he is ...

, who also made his Serie A debut as a teenager. In 2014 '' Don Balón'' listed him as one of the top 100 young players in the world. His ability to come out off his line and his confidence when handling crosses and high balls have been cited as areas for improvement by pundits, however.

Career statistics

Club

Honours

Napoli *

: 2024–25 Italy U17 *

UEFA European Under-17 Championship The UEFA European Under-17 Championship, or simply the Euro Under-17, is an annual Association football, football competition contested by the men's under-17 national teams of the UEFA member associations. Spain national under-17 football team, ...

runner-up:

2013 2013 was the first year since 1987 to contain four unique digits (a span of 26 years). 2013 was designated as: *International Year of Water Cooperation *International Year of Quinoa Events January * January 5 – 2013 Craig, Alask ...

Individual * CFR Cluj Player of the Year: 2022–23

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Scuffet, Simone Living people 1996 births Footballers from Udine Men's association football goalkeepers Italian men's footballers Italy men's under-21 international footballers Italy men's youth international footballers Italian expatriate men's footballers Udinese Calcio players Como 1907 players Kasımpaşa S.K. footballers Spezia Calcio players APOEL FC players CFR Cluj players Cagliari Calcio players SSC Napoli players Serie A players Serie B players Süper Lig players Liga I players Cypriot First Division players Expatriate men's footballers in Turkey Expatriate men's footballers in Cyprus Italian expatriate sportspeople in Turkey Italian expatriate sportspeople in Cyprus Italian expatriate sportspeople in Romania 21st-century Italian sportsmen