Andrea Esposito (born 17 May 1986) is an Italian former

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 as a defender.

Club career

As a young boy, Esposito started his career in the local Lecce Primavera youth squad before being sent to Sambenedettese on loan for the 2006–07 season. He also played five Serie A games before he left on loan, the first of which was on 25 January 2004, against

Lazio Lazio ( , ; ) or Latium ( , ; from Latium, the original Latin name, ) is one of the 20 Regions of Italy, administrative regions of Italy. Situated in the Central Italy, central peninsular section of the country, it has 5,714,882 inhabitants an ...

. After returning to the Lecce side in 2007, he scored his first professional goal in a 3–2 win over

Rimini Rimini ( , ; or ; ) is a city in the Emilia-Romagna region of Northern Italy. Sprawling along the Adriatic Sea, Rimini is situated at a strategically-important north-south passage along the coast at the southern tip of the Po Valley. It is ...

and helped the club win promotion from

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 ...

. In the following season 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 ...

he scored a goal in a 1–1 home draw against

A.C. Milan (), commonly referred to as Milan or AC Milan () mainly outside of Italy, is an Italian professional Football club (association football), football club based in Milan, Lombardy. Founded in 1899, the club competes in the Serie A, the top tie ...

and impressed enough to force his way into the senior

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 ...

squad at the end 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. In July 2009, he was signed by

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 co-ownership deal. On 19 January 2010

Livorno Livorno () is a port city on the Ligurian Sea on the western coast of the Tuscany region of Italy. It is the capital of the Province of Livorno, having a population of 152,916 residents as of 2025. It is traditionally known in English as Leghorn ...

signed the defender on loan from Genoa until June 2010. He rejoined Lecce for the

2012–13 Lega Pro Prima Divisione The 2012–13 Lega Pro Prima Divisione season was the thirty-fifth football league season of Italian Lega Pro Prima Divisione since its establishment in 1978, and the fifth since the renaming from Serie C to Lega Pro. It was divided into two phas ...

season after the club's relegation from

in 2011–12 and subsequent expulsion from the

for their part in the Calcio Scommesse scandal. On 4 September 2018, following the bankruptcy of

Cesena Cesena (; ) is a city and ''comune'' (municipality) in the Emilia-Romagna region of Italy; and - with Forlì - is the capital of the Province of Forlì-Cesena. Served by Autostrada A14 (Italy), Autostrada A14, and located near the Apennine M ...

, he signed with the

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

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 ...

International career

Esposito has represented Italy at Under-17 level. Despite being uncapped for the Under-21 side, he was named in Pierluigi Casiraghi's preliminary squad for the 2009 Under-21 European Championships but did not make the final 23. He was called up to the senior

squad for the first time in June 2009 and was an unused substitute for the friendly 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 ...

Career statistics

References

External links

Player Profile
''at bolognafc.it''
Player Profile
''at tuttocalciatori.net'' {{DEFAULTSORT:Esposito, Andrea 1986 births Living people Footballers from the Province of Lecce Italian men's footballers Men's association football defenders Serie A players Serie B players Serie C players Serie D players US Lecce players US Sambenedettese players Genoa CFC players US Livorno 1915 players Bologna FC 1909 players Latina Calcio 1932 players LR Vicenza players AC Cesena players Catania FC players Italy men's youth international footballers 21st-century Italian sportsmen