Alessandro Martinelli (born 30 May 1993) is a Swiss 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 ...

, currently playing as

midfielder In the sport of association football, a midfielder takes an Glossary of association football terms#O, outfield position primarily in the middle of the pitch. Midfielders may play an exclusively defensive role, breaking up attacks, and are in t ...

for

FC Mendrisio FC Mendrisio is a football club from Mendrisio Mendrisio (; ) is a Municipalities of Switzerland, municipality in the district of Mendrisio (district), Mendrisio in the Cantons of Switzerland, canton of Ticino in Switzerland. Mendrisio is th ...

in Seconda Lega, the sixth tier of

Swiss football league system The Swiss football league system, is a series of interconnected leagues for association football clubs in Switzerland, with seven teams from Liechtenstein, and one each from exclaves of Germany and Italy, also competing. The system has a hierarchi ...

Club career

Sampdoria

Born in

Mendrisio Mendrisio (; ) is a Municipalities of Switzerland, municipality in the district of Mendrisio (district), Mendrisio in the Cantons of Switzerland, canton of Ticino in Switzerland. Mendrisio is the seat of the Accademia di Architettura di Mendris ...

Ticino Ticino ( ), sometimes Tessin (), officially the Republic and Canton of Ticino or less formally the Canton of Ticino, is one of the Canton of Switzerland, 26 cantons forming the Switzerland, Swiss Confederation. It is composed of eight districts ...

, an Italian-speaking canton, Switzerland, Martinelli moved south to

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 ...

to start his professional career. He left the reserve team of

U.C. Sampdoria Unione Calcio Sampdoria, commonly referred to as Sampdoria (), is an Italian professional Football club (association football), football club based in Genoa, Liguria. Sampdoria was formed in 1946 from the List of football club mergers, merg ...

in 2012 for

Calcio Portogruaro Summaga Associazione Sportiva Dilettantistica Portogruaro Calcio (usually referred to as Portogruaro) is an Italian association football club, based in Portogruaro, Veneto. Currently, it plays in Serie D. History Calcio Portogruaro-Summaga Founda ...

. Martinelli returned to Sampdoria in June 2013; he signed a new five-year contract with the Genoese club. On 2 September 2013, he was signed by

Venezia Venice ( ; ; , formerly ) is a city in northeastern Italy and the capital of the Veneto Regions of Italy, region. It is built on a group of 118 islands that are separated by expanses of open water and by canals; portions of the city are li ...

. On 7 July 2014, he was signed by

Modena Modena (, ; ; ; ; ) is a city and ''comune'' (municipality) on the south side of the Po Valley, in the Province of Modena, in the Emilia-Romagna region of northern Italy. It has 184,739 inhabitants as of 2025. A town, and seat of an archbis ...

in a temporary deal, with an option to purchase.

Brescia

He left for

Brescia Brescia (, ; ; or ; ) is a city and (municipality) in the region of Lombardy, in Italy. It is situated at the foot of the Alps, a few kilometers from the lakes Lake Garda, Garda and Lake Iseo, Iseo. With a population of 199,949, it is the se ...

in the same formula on 9 July 2015. On 25 July 2016, the loan was renewed, and in August 2017 Martinelli signed for Brescia on a permanent basis.

Palermo

In August 2019, he was signed by

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

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 ...

. As a regular, and also captaining the team in Mario Santana's absence, he won promotion to Serie C on his debut season with the ''Rosanero''. On 7 September 2020, Palermo announced Martinelli was forced to retire from active football due to cardiac issues.

International career

Martinelli played every game in

2010 UEFA European Under-17 Championship The 2010 UEFA European Under-17 Championship was the ninth edition of UEFA's European Under-17 Football Championship, held in Liechtenstein from 18 to 30 May 2010. The hosts decided not to field a team, fearing it would not be competitive enough ...

. He also played for Swiss U18 team against Belgium and against Spain. He also received call-up against Austria and France but did not play. He only played once for Swiss U19 team in competitive match in

2012 UEFA European Under-19 Football Championship elite qualification 2012 UEFA European Under-19 Championship (Elite Round) was the second round of qualifications for the final tournament of 2012 UEFA European Under-19 Championship. The 25 teams that advanced from the qualifying round plus three teams who received ...

. He received call-up against

Northern Ireland Northern Ireland ( ; ) is a Countries of the United Kingdom, part of the United Kingdom in the north-east of the island of Ireland. It has been #Descriptions, variously described as a country, province or region. Northern Ireland shares Repub ...

(he played once),

Finland Finland, officially the Republic of Finland, is a Nordic country in Northern Europe. It borders Sweden to the northwest, Norway to the north, and Russia to the east, with the Gulf of Bothnia to the west and the Gulf of Finland to the south, ...

, (he played twice)

Netherlands , Terminology of the Low Countries, informally Holland, is a country in Northwestern Europe, with Caribbean Netherlands, overseas territories in the Caribbean. It is the largest of the four constituent countries of the Kingdom of the Nether ...

(once) and Estonia (once) in friendlies. In October 2013 he received his first U21 call-up. He made his debut as one of the starting XI.

Career statistics

Club

References

External links

AIC profile (data by football.it)

Lega Serie B profile
{{DEFAULTSORT:Martinelli, Alessandro 1993 births Living people Sportspeople from Mendrisio Men's association football midfielders Swiss men's footballers Grasshopper Club Zurich players UC Sampdoria players Portogruaro Calcio ASD players Venezia FC players Modena FC 2018 players Brescia Calcio players Palermo FC players FC Mendrisio players Serie B players Serie C players Switzerland men's under-21 international footballers Switzerland men's youth international footballers Swiss expatriate men's footballers Expatriate men's footballers in Italy Swiss people of Italian descent Footballers from Ticino 21st-century Swiss sportsmen