Damiano Zenoni (; born 23 April 1977) 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 ...

manager Management (or managing) is the administration of organizations, whether businesses, nonprofit organizations, or a government bodies through business administration, nonprofit management, or the political science sub-field of public administra ...

and former player, who played as a

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 ...

or defender. He was capable of playing anywhere in midfield or defence, although he usually played on the right flank as a winger, wing-back, or

right-back In the sport of association football, a defender is an outfield player whose primary role is to stop attacks during the game and prevent the opposition from scoring. Defenders fall into four main categories: centre-backs, full-backs, sweepers ...

; he also occasionally played on the left. He is the twin brother of former footballer

Cristian Zenoni Cristian Zenoni (; born 23 April 1977) is an Italian former professional footballer who played as a full-back. He is the twin brother of former footballer Damiano Zenoni. Club career Zenoni started his career at his native club Atalanta BC, joi ...

Club career

Early career

Damiano Zenoni began his career with the

Atalanta Atalanta (; ) is a heroine in Greek mythology. There are two versions of the huntress Atalanta: one from Arcadia (region), Arcadia, whose parents were Iasus and Clymene (mythology), Clymene and who is primarily known from the tales of the Caly ...

youth side, and was later promoted to the club's senior side. He was initially sent on loan to

Pistoiese Football Club Pistoiese SSD, commonly known as Pistoiese, is an Italian association football club, based in Pistoia, Tuscany. Currently, Pistoiese plays in Serie D. Originally founded on 21 April 1921, the club has also played Serie A on a num ...

and

Alzano Virescit Virtus CiseranoBergamo 1909 is an Italian association football club from Ciserano, Lombardy. It was born in 2019 as a merger of ''Ciserano Calcio'' and ''Virtus Bergamo'', itself a direct heir of ''Alzano Virescit'', a club that also played Ser ...

for the 1996–97 and 1997–98 seasons in order to gain experience and playing time. After helping Atalanta back to the top Italian division, Zenoni made his

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 ...

debut with Atalanta on 1 October 2000, against

S.S. Lazio (; ; ''Lazio Sport Club'') is an Italian professional sports club based in Rome, most known for its football activity. The society, founded in 1900, plays in the Serie A and have spent most of their history in the top tier of Italian footba ...

, and along with his brother, Cristian, established himself as one of the most promising young full-backs in the league throughout the 2000–01 season. In 2005, he joined

Udinese Udinese Calcio (; "Udinese Football") is a professional football club based in Udine, Friuli-Venezia Giulia, Italy. The team currently competes in the Serie A, the first tier of Italian football. It was founded on 30 November 1896 as a sport ...

under the

Bosman ruling ''Union Royale Belge des Sociétés de Football Association ASBL v Jean-Marc Bosman'' (1995) C-415/93 (known as the Bosman ruling) is a 1995 European Court of Justice decision concerning freedom of movement for workers, freedom of associati ...

, leaving Atalanta five months before his contract had ended. He signed a four-year deal which would keep him at his new club until 2009. Atalanta promoted

Marco Motta Marco Motta (; born 14 May 1986) is an Italian former professional footballer who plays as a right back. Motta is a former Italy international and made his senior international appearance in 2010; at youth level, he participated in the 2008 Su ...

from the youth team to the first team to play Zenoni's position.

Parma

In the summer of 2007, Parma signed Zenoni for €3 million in a three-year deal, while

Damiano Ferronetti Damiano Ferronetti (born 1 November 1984) is an Italian former footballer who played as a left back. He could also play as a defensive midfielder. Club career Ferronetti started his football career with A.S. Roma. He was loaned to Serie B team U ...

moved to Udinese for €2 million.

Piacenza

In January 2011, Zenoni joined

Piacenza Calcio Piacenza Calcio 1919, commonly referred to as Piacenza, is an Italian football club based in Piacenza, Emilia-Romagna. The club currently plays in Serie D. Re-founded in 2012, Piacenza Calcio 1919 acquired the rights to use the brand of the ...

for the remainder of the 2010–11 season.

International career

Zenoni made his only appearance for the Italian senior team in a 1–0 friendly home win against

England England is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is located on the island of Great Britain, of which it covers about 62%, and List of islands of England, more than 100 smaller adjacent islands. It ...

on 15 November 2000, under manager

Giovanni Trapattoni Giovanni Trapattoni (; born 17 March 1939), popularly nicknamed "Trap" or "Il Trap", is an Italian former Association football, football manager and former player, considered the most successful club coach of Football in Italy, Italian football ...

Coaching career

On 7 May 2019, Zenoni was appointed the head coach of

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 Feralpisalò, where he already worked with the youth team. On 25 September 2019, he was fired by the club following a 3–1 loss to

Fano Fano () is a city and ''comune'' of the province of Pesaro and Urbino in the Marche region of Italy. It is a beach resort southeast of Pesaro, located where the ''Via Flaminia'' reaches the Adriatic Sea. It is the third city in the region by pop ...

Personal life

Zenoni is the twin brother of former footballer

References

External links

uefa.com

Profile at La Gazzetta dello Sport (2007–08)
1977 births Living people Footballers from Trescore Balneario Italian men's footballers Men's association football fullbacks Italy men's international footballers Italy men's under-21 international footballers Atalanta BC players FC Pistoiese SSD players Udinese Calcio players Parma Calcio 1913 players Piacenza Calcio 1919 players SSD Virtus CiseranoBergamo 1909 players Serie A players Serie B players Serie C players Italian twins Italian football managers Serie C managers Feralpisalò managers 20th-century Italian sportsmen {{Italy-footy-defender-1970s-stub