Francesco Di Gennaro (born 5 December 1982) is an Italian footballer who plays as a

forward Forward is a relative direction, the opposite of backward. Forward may also refer to: People *Forward (surname) Sports * Forward (association football) * Forward (basketball), including: ** Point forward ** Power forward (basketball) ** Smal ...

for Metapontino.

Career

Early life

Born in Naples, Campania, Di Gennaro started his senior career at Serie D (Italian fifth division until 2014) club

Terracina Terracina is an Italian city and ''comune'' of the province of Latina, located on the coast southeast of Rome on the Via Appia ( by rail). The site has been continuously occupied since antiquity. History Ancient times Terracina appears in anci ...

and

Eccellenza Lazio Eccellenza Lazio is the regional Eccellenza football division for clubs in Lazio, Italy. It is competed amongst 36 teams, in two different groups (A and B). The winners of the Groups are promoted to Serie D. The club who finishes second also have ...

(Italian sixth division) club

Formia Formia (ancient Formiae) is a city and ''comune'' in the province of Latina, on the Mediterranean , Italy. It is located halfway between Rome and Naples, and lies on the Roman-era Appian Way. Mythology According to the mythology the city was f ...

. He also played for Abruzzo club

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 ...

in reserve league in 2001–02 and hometown club

SSC Napoli Società Sportiva Calcio Napoli (), commonly known as SSC Napoli or simply Napoli, is an Italian professional football club based in Naples, Campania that currently competes in the Serie A, the highest league of Italian football. Napoli are am ...

in 2000–01 season.

Professional career

In May 2004 he signed a pre-contract with his first fully professional club SS Lanciano from Abruzzo region but loaned back to Serie D club

Ferentino Ferentino is a town and ''comune'' in Italy, in the province of Frosinone, Lazio, southeast of Rome. It is situated on a hill above sea level, in the Monti Ernici area. History ''Ferentinum'' was a town of the Hernici; it was captured from them ...

(D for amateur (), in fact semi-pro), also from the region of Lazio. On 30 December 2004 he returned to Lanciano but FIGC void the pre-contract with Lanciano on 31 January 2005, confirming the relationship with Ferentino. He finally played for Lanciano in 2005–06 season. However, in January 2006 he was signed by

Lucchese Lucchese may refer to: * A.S. Lucchese Libertas 1905, a football team based in Lucca, Tuscany * Lucchese crime family, one of the "Five Families" of New York City's Mafia * Lucchese School, an art school in Tuscany, Italy that flourished in the 11 ...

. He scored 17 goals combined in

2005–06 Serie C1 The 2005–06 Serie C1 was the twenty-eighth edition of Serie C1, the third highest league in the Italian football league system. It was divided into two phases: the regular season, played from 28 August 2005 to 7 May 2006, and the playoff phase ...

, as second-top-scorer behind Emanuele Calaiò. However, in the next season he only scored 3 goals for Lucchese. In July 2007 he left for fellow third division club

Gallipoli The Gallipoli Peninsula (; ; ) is located in the southern part of East Thrace, the European part of Turkey, with the Aegean Sea to the west and the Dardanelles strait to the east. Gallipoli is the Italian form of the Greek name (), meaning ' ...

along with Alessandro Monticciolo. He was suspended once in

2007–08 Serie C1 The 2007–08 Serie C1 season was the thirtieth football league season of Italian Serie C1 since its establishment in 1978. It was divided into two phases: the regular season, played from September 2007 to May 2008, and the playoff phase from Ma ...

. He won the champion with the club in 2009, as group B winner, which now called

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 ...

. He also won

Supercoppa di Lega di Prima Divisione The Supercoppa di Serie C, formerly named Supercoppa di Lega Pro, is an Italian football competition played by the three group winners of Serie C. The competition was inaugurated in 2000. Forerunners The FIGC introduced a third-level national foo ...

with club, winning group A winner

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 ...

. However the club faced financial difficulties and only a few first team players remained, one of them was Di Gennaro. The difficulties solved by a takeover from Udine investor in August 2009. Di Gennaro scored 4 goals in his first Serie B seasons before left the club in mid-season. In January 2010 third division club

Verona Verona ( ; ; or ) is a city on the Adige, River Adige in Veneto, Italy, with 255,131 inhabitants. It is one of the seven provincial capitals of the region, and is the largest city Comune, municipality in the region and in Northeast Italy, nor ...

signed him. However, he only scored twice in

2009–10 Lega Pro Prima Divisione The 2009–10 Lega Pro Prima Divisione season was the thirty-second football league season of Italian Lega Pro Prima Divisione since its establishment in 1978, and the second since the renaming from Serie C to Lega Pro. It was divided into two ph ...

. His contract was terminated in mutual consent in July 2010. Di Gennaro re-joined Lanciano in September 2010, now run as SS Virtus Lanciano 1924 Srl since the bankruptcy of previous entity. He only scored 6 goals in

2010–11 Lega Pro Prima Divisione The 2010–11 Lega Pro Prima Divisione season was the thirty-third football league season of Italian Lega Pro Prima Divisione since its establishment in 1978, and the third since the renaming from Serie C to Lega Pro. It will be divided into two ...

. In July 2011 he was signed by his fifth third division club

Barletta Barletta (; Salentino: ''Varrétte'' or ''Barlétte'') is a city and ''comune'' in Apulia, in southeastern Italy. Barletta is the '' capoluogo'', together with Andria and Trani, of the Province of Barletta-Andria-Trani. It has a population of a ...

. In September 2012 his contract was terminated again in mutual consent.

Serie D

In September 2012 he joined Serie D team

Matera Calcio Football Club Matera, more commonly known as Matera, is an Italian football club society based in the town of Matera. They play in Serie D. The first city club, named U.S. Matera, was founded in 1933. During its history, the team went through ...

which newly relocated from

Irsina Irsina, until 1895 called Montepeloso (in local dialect: or ), is a town, ''comune'' (municipality) and former Latin bishopric in the province of Matera, in the Southern Italian region of Basilicata. It is one of I Borghi più belli d'Italia ("T ...

Matera Matera (, ; Neapolitan language, Materano: ) is a city and the capital of the Province of Matera in the regions of Italy, region of Basilicata, in Southern Italy. With a history of continuous occupation dating back to the Palaeolithic (10th mi ...

, which the club succeed FC Matera to represent the city but yet to acquire the sports title won by the old club. He scored 10 goals in

2012–13 Serie D The 2012–13 Serie D was the sixty-fifth edition of the top level Italian non-professional football championship. It represented the fifth tier in the Italian football league system. It consisted of 162 teams divided into nine 18-team divisions. ...

. However, he only played 4 times in

2013–14 Serie D The 2013–14 Serie D was the sixty-sixth edition of the top level Italian non-professional football championship. It represented the fifth tier in the Italian football league system. It consisted of 161 teams, after the exclusion of Nardò and ...

for Matera without a goal. In December 2013 he left for Metapontino, joining namesake Biagio Di Gennaro.

Honours

;Gallipoli *

: 2009 **

: 2009

References

External links

AIC profile (data by football.it)
{{DEFAULTSORT:Di Gennaro, Francesco Italian men's footballers SSC Napoli players Delfino Pescara 1936 players SS Virtus Lanciano 1924 players Lucchese 1905 players ASD Città di Gallipoli players Hellas Verona FC players ASD Barletta 1922 players FC Matera players Serie B players Men's association football forwards Footballers from Naples 1982 births Living people 21st-century Italian sportsmen