Cristian Volpato (born 15 November 2003) is a 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 an

attacking midfielder 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. ...

or winger for club

Sassuolo Sassuolo (; ) is an Italian town, ''comune'', and industrial centre of the Province of Modena in Emilia-Romagna. Standing on the right bank of the river Secchia some southwest of Modena, the town is best known for being the centre of the Ita ...

. Born and raised in Australia, Volpato has represented Italy internationally at youth level since 2022.

Early life

Volpato was born in Camperdown, an inner western suburb of

Sydney Sydney is the capital city of the States and territories of Australia, state of New South Wales and the List of cities in Australia by population, most populous city in Australia. Located on Australia's east coast, the metropolis surrounds Syd ...

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country comprising mainland Australia, the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania and list of islands of Australia, numerous smaller isl ...

. He attended the prestigious rugby school St Joseph's College Hunters Hill. Volpato is of Italian descent, both his parents are second generation Italians.

Club career

Youth career

Volpato first started playing football in Abbotsford, in

suburbs A suburb (more broadly suburban area) is an area within a metropolitan area. They are oftentimes where most of a metropolitan areas jobs are located with some being predominantly residential. They can either be denser or less densely populated ...

, where he was a prolific goalscorer. This allowed him to take his first steps into professional football, at Andrea Icardi's

AC 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 ...

Soccer School,

Sydney FC Sydney Football Club, commonly known as Sydney FC, is a professional association football, soccer club based in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. They compete in the top-tier men's league in Australia, the A-League Men. Established in 2004, ...

and the

Western Sydney Wanderers Western Sydney Wanderers Football Club (colloquially known as Western Sydney, Wanderers, or simply as WSW) is an Australian professional association football club based in the Western Sydney region of Sydney, New South Wales. It competes in t ...

academy. He soon earned a trial in the

AS Roma Youth Sector AS Roma Youth Sector is the youth set-up of Italian club AS Roma Associazione Sportiva Roma (''Rome Sport Association''; Italian pronunciation: Help:IPA/Italian, ) is a professional Association football, football club based in Rome, Italy. F ...

through Fabrizio Piccareta. After a few months in

Rome Rome (Italian language, Italian and , ) is the capital city and most populated (municipality) of Italy. It is also the administrative centre of the Lazio Regions of Italy, region and of the Metropolitan City of Rome. A special named with 2, ...

where he was able to demonstrate his attacking abilities, the young footballer signed a three-year contract with the club from the Italian capital in January 2020. A month later he also joined

Francesco Totti Francesco Totti (; born 27 September 1976) is an Italian former professional Association football, footballer who played solely for AS Roma, Roma and the Italy national football team, Italy national team. He was a technically gifted and creati ...

's agency, while he had already taken the number 10 shirt with Roma's Youth. A year later, Volpato signed his first professional contract with Roma, a new three-year deal tying him to the club until 2024. As the youth competitions due to the

COVID-19 pandemic in Italy The COVID-19 pandemic in Italy was part of the COVID-19 pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 () caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The virus was first confirmed to have spread to Italy on 31 January 2 ...

, he then became a regular with the under-18, scoring five goals during the 2020–21 season, soon earning a place in the under-19s squad.

Roma

Volpato made his professional debut for

Roma Roma or ROMA may refer to: People, characters, figures, names * Roma or Romani people, an ethnic group living mostly in Europe and the Americas. * Roma called Roy, ancient Egyptian High Priest of Amun * Roma (footballer, born 1979), born ''Paul ...

on 4 December 2021, aged 18, 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 lost 3–0 against

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 ...

. On 19 February 2022, Volpato scored his first Serie A goal in a match drawn 2–2 against

Hellas Verona Hellas Verona Football Club, commonly referred to as simply Hellas Verona (), is an Italian professional Association football, football List of football clubs in Italy, club based in Verona, Veneto, that currently plays in Serie A. The team won ...

. In the following season, after making his debut in the

UEFA Europa League The UEFA Europa League (UEL), usually known simply as the Europa League, is an annual association football, football club competition organised since 1971 by the UEFA, Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) for eligible European footb ...

with Roma, he made his first league appearance on 31 October 2022, coming on as a substitute for

Nicolò Zaniolo Nicolò Zaniolo (; born 2 July 1999) is an Italian professional footballer who plays as an attacking midfielder or right winger for club Fiorentina, on loan from Süper Lig club Galatasaray, and the Italy national team. Club career Early ca ...

at the 57th minute of the match against Hellas Verona. In the occasion, he scored a goal and assisted

Stephan El Shaarawy Stephan Kareem El Shaarawy (; born 27 October 1992) is an Italian professional footballer who plays as a left winger for club Roma and the Italy national team. He is nicknamed Il Faraone (The Pharaoh), as his father is Egyptian. El Shaarawy ...

for another one, thus helping Roma obtain a 3–1 win.

Sassuolo

After stalling for much of negotiation, on 29 June 2023, Volpato signed a contract to

, after completing a €7.5 million

transfer Transfer may refer to: Arts and media * ''Transfer'' (2010 film), a German science-fiction movie directed by Damir Lukacevic and starring Zana Marjanović * ''Transfer'' (1966 film), a short film * ''Transfer'' (journal), in management studies * ...

which included a 15% future resale fee. The transfer is the third-highest fee for an Australian player. Volpato scored his first goal for Sassuolo against Bologna on 3 February 2024.

International career

Despite being born in Australia, Volpato is a dual citizen of both Australia and Italy, Volpato is eligible to represent either

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 ...

internationally. In early August 2021, Volpato was called by

Carmine Nunziata Carmine Nunziata (born 22 July 1967) is an Italian football manager and former player who played as a midfielder. He is the current manager of the Italy national under-21 team. Playing career Born in San Gennaro Vesuviano, Nunziata played youth ...

to the Italy national under-19 team, being however forced to forfeit a few days later. He took part in the

2022 UEFA European Under-19 Championship The 2022 UEFA European Under-19 Championship (also known as UEFA Under-19 Euro 2022) was the 19th edition of the UEFA European Under-19 Championship (69th edition if the Under-18 and Junior eras are included), the annual international youth associa ...

with Italy U19, scoring two goals in the tournament. On 12 December 2021, it was reported that Australia national team manager

Graham Arnold Graham James Arnold (born 3 August 1963) is an Australian association football, professional football manager and former player who is currently the head coach of the Iraq national football team, Iraq national team. Arnold was first appointed ...

was considering calling up Volpato for the upcoming 2022 FIFA World Cup qualifiers against

Vietnam Vietnam, officially the Socialist Republic of Vietnam (SRV), is a country at the eastern edge of mainland Southeast Asia, with an area of about and a population of over 100 million, making it the world's List of countries and depende ...

and

Oman Oman, officially the Sultanate of Oman, is a country located on the southeastern coast of the Arabian Peninsula in West Asia and the Middle East. It shares land borders with Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, and Yemen. Oman’s coastline ...

. He was also called up to the Australia U23 side; however, he was withdrawn from the squad by Roma. In March 2022, following Australia's 2–0 loss to

Japan Japan is an island country in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean off the northeast coast of the Asia, Asian mainland, it is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan and extends from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea ...

, Volpato posted an image on his

Snapchat Snapchat is an American multimedia social media and instant messaging app and service developed by Snap Inc., originally Snapchat Inc. One of the principal features of the app are that pictures and messages, known as "snaps", are usually availa ...

story poking fun at the team. This led to many fans labeling him as "childish" and "immature". With Australia announcing their World Cup squad on 8 November, Graham Arnold disclosed that Volpato had been offered a spot in the 26 man squad, but declined the opportunity. On 19 November 2022, he made his debut for the Italy U21 squad in a friendly match lost 4–2 against

Germany Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It lies between the Baltic Sea and the North Sea to the north and the Alps to the south. Its sixteen States of Germany, constituent states have a total popu ...

. In June 2024, he took part in the

Maurice Revello Tournament The Maurice Revello Tournament (officially French: the ''Festival International "Espoirs" – Tournoi Maurice Revello''), previously known as the Toulon Tournament, is a football tournament, which traditionally features invited national teams comp ...

in France. with Italy.

Style of play

Volpato is able to play both as a ''

trequartista 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. ...

'' or a winger. Seen as a ''regista'' or

deep-lying playmaker 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. ...

in his early career, he is often compared to Totti, his model as a number 10 and his direct mentor in his first year at

Career statistics

Honours

Roma *

runner-up:

2022–23 The dash is a punctuation mark consisting of a long horizontal line. It is similar in appearance to the hyphen but is longer and sometimes higher from the baseline. The most common versions are the endash , generally longer than the hyphen ...

Sassuolo *

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 ...

: 2024–25

References

External links

*
AS Roma profile
*

National Premier Leagues The National Premier Leagues (NPL) is a men's national association football competition in Australia which acts as the second tier of the sport in the country below the A-League. The NPL consists of the highest level state league in each state- ...

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profiles {{DEFAULTSORT:Volpato, Cristian 2003 births Living people People from the Inner West (Sydney) Italian men's footballers Italy men's youth international footballers Australian men's soccer players Australian people of Italian descent Sportspeople of Italian descent Men's association football forwards Sydney United 58 FC players Sydney FC players Western Sydney Wanderers FC players AS Roma players Serie A players Soccer players from Sydney People educated at St Joseph's College, Hunters Hill 21st-century Italian sportsmen 21st-century Australian sportsmen