Francesco Bardi (born 18 January 1992) 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

goalkeeper In many team sports that involve scoring goal (sport), goals, the goalkeeper (sometimes termed goaltender, netminder, GK, goalie, or keeper) is a designated player charged with directly preventing the opposing team from scoring by blocking or i ...

Club career

Livorno

Bardi is a product of

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 ...

's youth system. He made his professional and

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 on 16 May 2010, aged 18, starting the home game versus

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 the latter coming off 1–4 winners, when Livorno had already been relegated.

Inter Milan

In January 2011 he was signed by

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 loan with an option to purchase half of the registration rights and he played for Inter's U-19 youth team until the end of the 2010–11 season. He replaced injured

Raffaele Di Gennaro Raffaele Di Gennaro (born 3 October 1993) is an Italian professional footballer who plays as a goalkeeper for Serie A club Inter Milan. Club career Inter Milan Di Gennaro was the starting goalkeeper for Inter U19, who ended up winning the Ne ...

as first choice, winning 2011 Torneo di Viareggio. Inter excised the rights for €1.35 million in a 4-year contract (with part of transfer credit turned to the purchase of

Simone Dell'Agnello Simone Dell'Agnello (born 22 April 1992) is an Italian footballer who plays as a forward for Serie D club Budoni. Club career Youth career Born in Livorno, Tuscany, Dell'Agnello joined Lombard club Inter Milan in 2007. He was the club's third ...

for €500,000 and

Luca Siligardi Luca Siligardi (born 26 January 1988) is an Italian professional footballer who plays as an attacking midfielder. Club career A native from the province of Reggio Emilia, he started his career at regional team likes Campagnola and Riese, and Dor ...

for €150,000) but on 3 August 2011 returned Bardi on loan to Livorno for the 2011–12 season, in order to gain first team experience. On 27 August 2011 he made his

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 ...

debut playing as the first choice goalkeeper in the away match won 2–1 against

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 ...

. In the whole season Bardi was ahead original starter

Alfonso De Lucia Alfonso De Lucia (born 12 November 1983) is an Italian football coach and a former player who played as a goalkeeper. Career Parma De Lucia was signed by Parma A.C. from S.S.C. Napoli, as part of the deal of Paolo Cannavaro. De Lucia made his ...

. In June 2012, Inter bought Bardi outright for another €4 million (€1.5 million cash plus Dell'Agnello and Siligardi to Livorno for €1.25 million each) and on 14 July 2012, let him join

team

Novara Calcio Novara Football Club, commonly referred to as Novara, is an Football in Italy, Italian football club based in Novara, Piedmont. The club was founded in 2021 by the Novara, City of Novara to replace old Novara Calcio that lost its professional s ...

on a loan deal. At Novara he was the first choice goalkeeper for the duration of the season and generated significant hype around himself with his good performances, making 35 appearances. After the expiration of the loan, Internazionale again loaned him out, this time back to newly promoted Serie A side Livorno Calcio.

Loan to ChievoVerona

On 27 June 2014, Bardi was loaned out to Serie A side A.C. Chievo Verona for the 2014–15 season. On 22 August he made his debut for Chievo Verona in the third round of

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 ...

in a 1–0 away defeat against

Pescara Pescara (; ; ) is the capital city of the province of Pescara, in the Abruzzo Regions of Italy, region of Italy. It is the most populated city in Abruzzo, with 118,657 (January 1, 2023) residents (and approximately 350,000 including the surround ...

. On 30 August, Bardi made his

debut in a 1–0 home defeat against

Juventus Juventus Football Club (; from , ), commonly known as Juventus or colloquially as Juve (), is an Italian professional Association football, football List of football clubs in Italy, club based in Turin, Piedmont, who compete in Serie A, the ...

. On 14 September he save a penalty from

Gonzalo Higuain Gonzalo may refer to: * Gonzalo (name) * Gonzalo, Dominican Republic, a small town * Isla Gonzalo, a subantarctic island operated by the Chilean Navy * Hurricane Gonzalo, 2014 See also * Gonzalez (disambiguation) * Gonzales (disambiguation) * ...

in a 1–0 away win over

Napoli Naples ( ; ; ) is the regional capital of Campania and the third-largest city of Italy, after Rome and Milan, with a population of 908,082 within the city's administrative limits as of 2025, while its province-level municipality is the thir ...

. On 26 October he save another penalty in a 2–1 home defeat against

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 ...

. Bardi play the first 9

match, but he became the second goalkeeper after the arrive of

Albano Bizzarri Albano Benjamín Bizzarri (born 9 November 1977) is an Argentine former professional footballer who played as a goalkeeper. He spent the vast majority of his professional career in Spain and Italy, starting out at Real Madrid in 1999. Club care ...

. On 17 May he made the last appearances in a 2–0 away defeat against

Torino Turin ( , ; ; , then ) is a city and an important business and cultural centre in northern Italy. It is the capital city of Piedmont and of the Metropolitan City of Turin, and was the first Italian capital from 1861 to 1865. The city is main ...

. Bardi ended his loan to Chievo Verona with 11 appearances, kept 1 clean sheet and conceding 18 goals.

Loan to Espanyol

On 26 July 2015, he was signed by

Espanyol Reial Club Deportiu Espanyol de Barcelona (; "Royal Spanish Sports Club of Barcelona"), commonly known as RCD Espanyol, is a Spanish professional sports club based in Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain. The club competes in La Liga, the top tier of Spa ...

with a season-long loan with option to buy, for replacing

Kiko Casilla Francisco "Kiko" Casilla Cortés (; born 2 October 1986) is a Spanish professional footballer who plays as a goalkeeper. He started playing for Real Madrid, but only represented the reserve teams in the early stage of his career. He went on to ...

. On 3 December he made his debut for Espanyol in the round of 32 of the

Copa del Rey The , commonly known as , or (in English) the Spanish Cup or King's Cup, and formerly known as Copa del Presidente de la República (1932–1936) and Copa del Generalísimo (1939–1976), is an annual knockout football competition in Spanis ...

in a 1–1 away draw against Levante. On 13 January, Bardi played in the round of 16 of the

in a 2–0 home defeat against

Barcelona Barcelona ( ; ; ) is a city on the northeastern coast of Spain. It is the capital and largest city of the autonomous community of Catalonia, as well as the second-most populous municipality of Spain. With a population of 1.6 million within c ...

. At the end of January, Bardi was recall to

Inter Inter may refer to: Association football clubs * Inter Milan, an Italian club * SC Internacional, a Brazilian club * Inter Miami CF, an American club * Inter Playa del Carmen, a Mexican club * FC Inter Sibiu, a Romanian club * FC Inter Turku, ...

and he finish his loan to Espanyol with only 2 appearances.

Loan to Frosinone

On 28 January 2016, Bardi was signed with a 6-month loan from

club

Frosinone Frosinone (; local dialect: ) is a ''comune'' (municipality) in the Italian region of Lazio, administrative seat of the province of Frosinone. It is about southeast of Rome, close to the Rome-Naples A1 Motorway. The city is the main city of th ...

. He is the second goalkeeper after Nicola Leali. On 1 May, Bardi made his debut for

in a 3–3 away draw against

Milan Milan ( , , ; ) is a city in northern Italy, regional capital of Lombardy, the largest city in Italy by urban area and the List of cities in Italy, second-most-populous city proper in Italy after Rome. The city proper has a population of nea ...

, in this match he save a penalty from

Mario Balotelli Mario Balotelli Barwuah (; ''Birth name, né'' Barwuah; born 12 August 1990) is an Italian professional Association football, footballer who plays as a Striker (association football), striker for club Genoa CFC, Genoa. Balotelli started his ...

. One week later he play in the last match of

in 1–0 home defeat against

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 ...

. He followed the club relegated to Serie B, which Frosinone borrowed him for another season, with an option to sign outright. On 13 August he made played his first game of the season in the third round of Coppa Italia in a 2–0 away defeat against Pescara. On 27 August, Bardi played his first Serie B match for Frosinone in a 2–0 home win over

Virtus Entella Virtus Entella, commonly referred to as Entella, is an Italian professional Association football, football club based in Chiavari, Liguria. Founded in 1914, the club currently competes in the . Entella will play in Serie B 2025/26 after winning ...

. The loan was renewed again on 13 July 2017.

Bologna

On 17 July 2021, he signed with

club

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 ...

International career

With the Italy U17 team he took part, as the backup goalkeeper, at both the 2009 European U17 Championship and the 2009 U17 World Cup. On 24 March 2011 he made his debut with the Italy U21 squad in a friendly game against

Sweden Sweden, formally the Kingdom of Sweden, is a Nordic countries, Nordic country located on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. It borders Norway to the west and north, and Finland to the east. At , Sweden is the largest Nordic count ...

. Bardi finished as the runner-up of

2013 UEFA European Under-21 Championship 2013 UEFA European Under-21 Championship, or simply the 2013 Euro Under-21, was the 19th staging of UEFA's UEFA European Under-21 Championship, European Under-21 Championship. The final tournament was hosted by Israel from 5–18 June 2013. The Is ...

. The coach also stated that the exclusion of

Mattia Perin Mattia Perin (; born 10 November 1992) is an Italian professional Association football, footballer who plays as a Goalkeeper (association football), goalkeeper for club Juventus FC, Juventus. Perin began his career with Genoa in 2010, and, asi ...

from the U21 squad was to avoid competition between first choice and backup keeper. Bardi took part, as a starter, also at the

2015 UEFA European Under-21 Championship The 2015 UEFA European Under-21 Championship was the 20th edition of the UEFA European Under-21 Championship, a biennial international association football, football competition for men's under-21 national teams organised by UEFA. The final tourn ...

Career statistics

Club

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Bardi, Francesco 1992 births Footballers from Livorno Living people Italian men's footballers Men's association football goalkeepers Serie A players Serie B players La Liga players US Livorno 1915 players Inter Milan players Novara FC players AC ChievoVerona players Frosinone Calcio players RCD Espanyol footballers Bologna FC 1909 players AC Reggiana 1919 players Italian expatriate men's footballers Italian expatriate sportspeople in Spain Expatriate men's footballers in Spain Italy men's youth international footballers Italy men's under-21 international footballers 21st-century Italian sportsmen