Alessandro Potenza (born 8 March 1984) is an Italian

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kick (football), kicking a football (ball), ball to score a goal (sports), goal. Unqualified, football (word), the word ''football'' generally means the form of football t ...

coach and a former player who played as a defender.

Club career

Inter Milan

Potenza came from the youth system of

Inter Milan Football Club Internazionale Milano, commonly referred to as Internazionale () or simply Inter, and colloquially known as Inter Milan in English-speaking countries, is an Italian professional Association football, football List of football ...

, and was called up to the first team squad for the

2002–03 Serie A The 2002–03 Serie A (known as the Serie A TIM for sponsorship reasons) was the 101st season of top-tier Italian football, the 71st in a round-robin tournament. It was composed by 18 teams, for the 15th consecutive time from season 1988–89. ...

season. He only made one appearance for Inter's first team in a

Coppa Italia 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

Bari Bari ( ; ; ; ) is the capital city of the Metropolitan City of Bari and of the Apulia Regions of Italy, region, on the Adriatic Sea in southern Italy. It is the first most important economic centre of mainland Southern Italy. It is a port and ...

, 4 December 2002.

Loan Spells

In 2003, he was loaned out 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

Ancona Ancona (, also ; ) is a city and a seaport in the Marche region of central Italy, with a population of around 101,997 . Ancona is the capital of the province of Ancona, homonymous province and of the region. The city is located northeast of Ro ...

, to gain experience. After finding playing time limited at

, he was loaned out to

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 ...

outfit

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, ...

. With Parma, he found more success and plenty of first team action. In 2005 Inter loaned him out to another Serie A side. This time it was

Chievo Chievo (4,500 inhabitants) is a frazione of Verona located to the west of the city, around from the historic city centre, on the shores of the river Adige. It is best known for its football team, A.C. ChievoVerona. History The name came from t ...

. After another decent campaign, Spanish side

Mallorca Mallorca, or Majorca, is the largest of the Balearic Islands, which are part of Spain, and the List of islands in the Mediterranean#By area, seventh largest island in the Mediterranean Sea. The capital of the island, Palma, Majorca, Palma, i ...

wanted to bring Potenza out to

La Liga The Campeonato Nacional de Liga de Primera División, commonly known as the Primera División or La Liga, and officially known as LaLiga EA Sports for sponsorship reasons, is a professional association football league in Spain and the highest ...

. Again, Inter opted to loan him out. After yet another fairly impressive season, he caught the eye of Serie A side

Fiorentina ACF Fiorentina, commonly referred to as Fiorentina (), is an Italian professional Association football, football List of football clubs in Italy, club based in Florence, Tuscany. The original team was founded by a merger in August 1926, while ...

, who wanted to bring the player back to Italy.

Fiorentina and Genoa

In 2006,

made a bid for the player, and Inter decided to sell the young talent, for €1.25 million. In his early stages with the Tuscan team, he found plenty of playing time, and even some first team action. During the

2007–08 Serie A The 2007–08 Serie A (known as the Serie A TIM for sponsorship reasons) was the 106th season of top-tier Italian football, the 76th in a round-robin tournament. It started on 25 August 2007 and ended on 18 May 2008. Internazionale Milano succe ...

season, Potenza found playing time very hard to find, and was seldom used in the starting XI. In the summer of 2008, Fiorentina decided to sell the player 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 ...

. In the first half of the

2008–09 Serie A The 2008–09 Serie A (known as the Serie A TIM for sponsorship reasons) was the 107th season of top-tier Italian football, the 77th in a round-robin tournament. It began on 30 August 2008 and ended on 31 May 2009, with the announcement of the ...

season, Potenza also found playing time hard to come by.

Catania

During the 2009 winter transfer market, Potenza was seeking a transfer away from

Liguria Liguria (; ; , ) is a Regions of Italy, region of north-western Italy; its Capital city, capital is Genoa. Its territory is crossed by the Alps and the Apennine Mountains, Apennines Mountain chain, mountain range and is roughly coextensive with ...

, and on 31 January 2009, it was confirmed that Potenza had joined

Catania Catania (, , , Sicilian and ) is the second-largest municipality on Sicily, after Palermo, both by area and by population. Despite being the second city of the island, Catania is the center of the most densely populated Sicilian conurbation, wh ...

, in a co-ownership deal. He was brought in to strengthen the defensive line of the southern team who were pushing for

UEFA Cup The asterisk ( ), from Late Latin , from Ancient Greek , , "little star", is a Typography, typographical symbol. It is so called because it resembles a conventional image of a star (heraldry), heraldic star. Computer scientists and Mathematici ...

football. As a result of his arrival, Gennaro Sardo was sent out on loan from Catania to relegation battlers

. Potenza instantly earned his starting place under then-coach

Walter Zenga Walter Zenga (; born 28 April 1960) is an Italian professional football manager and former player, currently club manager at Serie C club Siracusa. He is regarded as one of the greatest goalkeepers of his generation, and one of Italy's best ...

, and began the new season as a starter under

Gianluca Atzori Gianluca Atzori (born 6 March 1971) is an Italian football in Italy, football manager and former player, currently in charge of Serie D club Scafatese Calcio 1922, Scafatese. Career Playing Atzori started his professional playing career with R ...

, but after a mid-season injury, the right back failed to obtain regular first team action in the team under coach

Siniša Mihajlović Siniša Mihajlović ( sr-Cyrl, Синиша Михајловић, ; 20 February 1969 – 16 December 2022) was a Serbian football manager and professional footballer who played as a defender. Mihajlović had an illustrious playing career, winni ...

, who led Catania from 20th to 12th in the

league table in his first five months in charge. In August 2011, Catania signed the full ownership of the right back, and he would go on to make 20 league appearances for the club that season. During the

2011–12 Serie A The 2011–12 Serie A (known as the Serie A TIM after its headline sponsors) was the 110th season of top-tier Italian football, the 80th in a round-robin tournament, and the second since its organization under a league committee separate from S ...

season, under

Vincenzo Montella Vincenzo Montella (; born 18 June 1974) is an Italian association football, football manager and former striker (association football), striker. He is the current head coach of the Turkey national football team. Montella's nickname during his p ...

, and the

2012–13 Serie A The 2012–13 Serie A (known as the Serie A TIM for sponsorship reasons) was the 111th season of top-tier Italian football, the 81st in a round-robin tournament, and the 3rd since its organization under a league committee separate from Serie B. ...

campaign, under

Rolando Maran Rolando Maran (born 14 July 1963) is an Italian football manager. His playing career as a defender was spent mostly with Chievo. He then managed several Serie B clubs, and after losing the promotion play-off final with Varese in 2012, had his f ...

, Potenza struggled for game time, appearing just eleven times in league competition over the course of those two seasons. Catania broke the club's all-time points record total in the five consecutive seasons that Potenza had been with the team.

International career

Potenza earned nine caps with the Italy U19 national team, as well as two caps for the Italy U20. His international career took off with the Italy U21, where he made a total of 27 appearances, and scored one goal.

Coaching career

In August 2018, he was hired as head coach of

Fidelis Andria Fidelis Andria 2018 or simply Fidelis Andria is an Italian football club based in Andria, Apulia. The club was founded in 1971 and re-founded in 2005, 2013 and 2018. The team competes in . Fidelis Andria play their home matches at Stadio Degl ...

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 ...

. On 29 July 2019, he moved to Audace Cerignola, also in

. On 26 August 2020, he was hired by

Serie C The Serie C (), officially known as Serie C NOW for sponsorship purposes, is the third-highest division in the Italian football league system after the Serie B and Serie A. The Lega Italiana Calcio Professionistico (Lega Pro) is the governing ...

club

Arezzo Arezzo ( , ; ) is a city and ''comune'' in Italy and the capital of the Province of Arezzo, province of the same name located in Tuscany. Arezzo is about southeast of Florence at an elevation of Above mean sea level, above sea level. As of 2 ...

. On 19 October 2020, he was dismissed by Arezzo after the club only gained 1 point in the first five league games of the season.

Honours

Chennaiyin *

Indian Super League The Indian Super League (ISL) is a professional association football league in India and the highest level of the Indian football league system. Administered by the All India Football Federation (AIFF) and its commercial partner Football Sport ...

2015 2015 was designated by the United Nations as: * International Year of Light * International Year of Soil __TOC__ Events January * January 1 – Lithuania officially adopts the euro as its currency, replacing the litas, and becomes ...

Awards

* 2003 UEFA U-19 Championship * 2004 UEFA U-21 Championship

References

External links

archivio.inter.it
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Potenza, Alessandro 1984 births Living people People from San Severo Italian men's footballers Inter Milan players AC Ancona players Parma Calcio 1913 players AC ChievoVerona players RCD Mallorca players ACF Fiorentina players Genoa CFC players Catania FC players Modena FC 2018 players Calcio Foggia 1920 players Chennaiyin FC players Casertana FC players Serie A players La Liga players Serie B players Serie C players Indian Super League players Italy men's youth international footballers Italy men's under-21 international footballers Italian expatriate men's footballers Expatriate men's footballers in Spain Expatriate men's footballers in India Italian expatriate sportspeople in Spain Italian expatriate sportspeople in India Men's association football central defenders Italian football managers Fidelis Andria 2018 managers SS Arezzo managers Serie C managers Footballers from the Province of Foggia 21st-century Italian sportsmen