Diego Falcinelli (born 26 June 1991) is an Italian 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 a striker for club

Spezia La Spezia (, or ; ; , in the local ) is the capital city of the province of La Spezia and is located at the head of the Gulf of La Spezia in the southern part of the Liguria region of Italy. La Spezia is the second-largest city in the Liguri ...

Club career

Pontevecchio

Born in Marsciano, in the

Province of Perugia The province of Perugia () is the larger of the two provinces in the Umbria region of Italy, comprising two-thirds of both the area and population of the region. Its capital is the city of Perugia. The province covered all of Umbria until 1927, w ...

, Falcinelli started his career at Ponte San Giovanni (a ''

frazione A ''frazione'' (: ''frazioni'') is a type of subdivision of a ''comune'' ('municipality') in Italy, often a small village or hamlet outside the main town. Most ''frazioni'' were created during the Fascist era (1922–1943) as a way to consolidat ...

'' of

Perugia Perugia ( , ; ; ) is the capital city of Umbria in central Italy, crossed by the River Tiber. The city is located about north of Rome and southeast of Florence. It covers a high hilltop and part of the valleys around the area. It has 162,467 ...

) based club Pontevecchio. He was loaned to

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 ...

in June 2007. He played one friendly for the first team in February 2008. He also won the Campionato Nazionale Allievi with Inter U17 youth team. On 1 July 2008, he returned to Perugia, making his

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 ...

debut.

Sassuolo

On 2 July 2009, Falcinelli was signed by

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 ...

for the youth team. He also awarded no.26 shirt of the first team, which he made his Serie B debut on 28 November 2009, replacing Gianluigi Bianco in the 82nd minute and assisting Alessandro Noselli for the equalising goal a minute later as Sassuolo drew 2–2 with

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 ...

Foligno

On 26 July 2010, Falcinelli left for

Lega Pro Prima Divisione Serie C1 was the third highest football league in 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 ...

club

Foligno Foligno (; Central Italian, Southern Umbrian: ''Fuligno'') is an ancient town of Italy in the province of Perugia in east central Umbria, on the Topino river where it leaves the Apennine Mountains, Apennines and enters the wide plain of the Clit ...

in a co-ownership deal, for a peppercorn fee of one hundred euro. He made his debut on 8 August 2010, in 2010–11 Coppa Italia first round. Since the cup second round, he partnered with Matteo Cavagna and Stefano Giacomelli in a 4–3–3 formation, only missing rounds 6 and 7 of the league.

Return to Sassuolo

In June 2011 Sassuolo re-signed Falcinelli on a three-year contract, for a transfer fee of €25,000. In January 2012 he was signed by

Juve Stabia Società Sportiva Juve Stabia is an Italian professional football club based in Castellammare di Stabia, Campania. Juve Stabia plays in Serie B, the second tier of Italian football system, following their promotion ahead of the 2024–25 seas ...

in a temporary deal.

Lanciano and Perugia loans

Falcinelli spent two seasons on loan 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 ...

club

Lanciano Lanciano (; ) is a town and ''comune'' in the province of Chieti, part of the Abruzzo region of central Italy. It has 33,944 inhabitants as of 2023. The town is known for the first recorded Catholic Church, Catholic Miracle of Lanciano, Eucharis ...

, scoring nine goals from 2012 to 2014. During the 2014 summer transfer window, he joined newly promoted Serie B club

. He scored a career high of 14 goals for the hometown club in

2014–15 Serie B The 2014–15 Serie B was the 83rd season since its establishment in 1929. A total of 22 teams contested the league: 14 of which returning from the 2013–14 season, 5 of which promoted from Prima Divisione, and three relegated from Serie A. Th ...

, making him secure a place for Sassuolo in 2015–16 Serie A season.

2015–16 season at Sassuolo

Falcinelli picked no.9 shirt in 2015–16 season. On 14 January 2016, he signed a -year contract.

Crotone (loan)

On 31 August 2016, Falcinelli left for Serie A newcomer

Crotone Crotone (; ; or ) is a city and ''comune'' in Calabria, Italy. Founded as the Achaean colony of Kroton ( or ; ), it became a great Greek city, home of the renowned mathematician-philosopher Pythagoras amongst other famous citizens, and one ...

on loan. He scored three goals against Empoli on 29 January 2017. He also scored once on 28 May (round 38), a 3–1 win 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 ...

; Crotone secured three points to survive from relegation as well as ranked higher than

Empoli Empoli () is a town and ''comune'' in the Metropolitan City of Florence, Tuscany, Italy, about southwest of Florence, to the south of the Arno River, Arno in a plain formed by the river. The plain has been usable for agriculture since Ancient Ro ...

for the second time of the season (the team ranked higher than Empoli in round 2; from round 2 to 37 Crotone was in the relegation zone) Falcinelli signed a new five-year contract with Sassuolo on 25 August 2017.

Fiorentina (loan)

In January 2018, Falcinelli joined

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 ...

on loan until 30 June 2018 as part of swap deal, in which Khouma Babacar moved the other way. Fiorentina also secured an option to sign Falcinelli permanently from Sassuolo.

Bologna

On 4 July 2018, Falcinelli joined

Bologna Bologna ( , , ; ; ) is the capital and largest city of the Emilia-Romagna region in northern Italy. It is the List of cities in Italy, seventh most populous city in Italy, with about 400,000 inhabitants and 150 different nationalities. Its M ...

on a four-year contract.

Return to Perugia

On 2 September 2019, he returned to

on a season-long loan.

Loan to Red Star Belgrade

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 ...

, was aware that his former club,

Red Star Belgrade Fudbalski klub Crvena zvezda ( sr-cyrl, Фудбалски клуб Црвена звезда, lit=Red Star Football Club), commonly referred to as Crvena zvezda () and colloquially referred to as Red Star Belgrade in anglophone media, is a ...

, were searching for an experienced striker.

Dejan Stanković Dejan Stanković ( sr-Cyrl, Дејан Станковић, , born 11 September 1978) is a Serbian professional football manager and former player. He captained the Serbia national team from 2007 until 2011, when he announced his retirement from ...

, having been recently promoted to coach, accepted Mihajlović's suggestion on Falcinelli. Falcinelli and Red Star signed a year-long loan agreement.

Modena

On 6 July 2022, Falcinelli joined

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 ...

on a two-year contract, with an option for a third year.

Spezia

On 24 January 2024, Falcinelli signed a contract with

club

until 30 June 2025.

International career

Falcinelli received a call-up to Italy under-20 Lega Pro representative team in September 2010. He also received a call-up to Italy Amateur U18 team and Italy U19 team. He played once for Italy under-21 Serie B representative team in 2011–12 season. On 31 May 2017, he debuted for the Italy national team in a non-FIFA sanctioned friendly game against

San Marino San Marino, officially the Republic of San Marino, is a landlocked country in Southern Europe, completely surrounded by Italy. Located on the northeastern slopes of the Apennine Mountains, it is the larger of two European microstates, microsta ...

, which ended in a 8–0 win for Italy.Diego Falcinelli
at National-Football-Teams.com

Career statistics

Club

Honours

Red Star Belgrade *

Serbian SuperLiga The Serbian Super League (), also known as Mozzart SuperLiga for sponsorship reasons, is a professional association football league in Serbia and the highest level of the Serbian football league system. Contested by 16 clubs, it operates on a sys ...

: 2020–21 *

Serbian Cup The Serbian Cup ( Serbian: Куп Србије / Kup Srbije), also known as Mozzart Serbian Cup for sponsorship reasons, is the national football cup of Serbia. The winner of the competition gets a spot in the UEFA Europa League qualifying round. ...

: 2020–21

References

External links

*
Football.it Profile
{{DEFAULTSORT:Falcinelli, Diego 1991 births Living people People from Marsciano Men's association football forwards Italian men's footballers Serie A players Serie B players Serie C players Serie D players Inter Milan players US Sassuolo Calcio players ASD Città di Foligno 1928 players SS Juve Stabia players SS Virtus Lanciano 1924 players AC Perugia Calcio players FC Crotone players ACF Fiorentina players Bologna FC 1909 players Modena FC 2018 players Spezia Calcio players Serbian SuperLiga players Red Star Belgrade footballers Expatriate men's footballers in Serbia Italian expatriate men's footballers Italian expatriate sportspeople in Serbia Footballers from the Province of Perugia 21st-century Italian sportsmen