Franco Zuculini (born 5 September 1990) is an Argentine

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 ...

who plays as a

defensive midfielder A midfielder is an outfield position in association football. Midfielders may play an exclusively defensive role, breaking up attacks, and are in that case known as defensive midfielders. As central midfielders often go across boundarie ...

Club career

Racing Club

Born in

La Rioja La Rioja () is an autonomous community and province in Spain, in the north of the Iberian Peninsula. Its capital is Logroño. Other cities and towns in the province include Calahorra, Arnedo, Alfaro, Haro, Santo Domingo de la Calzada, a ...

, Zuculini made his professional debut with

Racing Club de Avellaneda Racing Club de Avellaneda, officially known as Racing Club or shortened to just Racing, is an Argentina, Argentine professional sports club based in Avellaneda, a city of the Buenos Aires Province. Founded in 1903, Racing has been historically c ...

on 13 April 2008 at not yet 18, starting in a 1–0 home win against

Arsenal de Sarandí An arsenal is a place where arms and ammunition are made, maintained and repaired, stored, or issued, in any combination, whether privately or publicly owned. Arsenal and armoury (British English) or armory (American English) are mostly ...

for the Primera División championship. He appeared in 29 league matches and scored two goals in his first full season, helping his team narrowly avoid relegation.

Hoffenheim

On 26 June 2009, Zuculini signed with

TSG 1899 Hoffenheim Turn- und Sportgemeinschaft 1899 Hoffenheim e.V., or simply TSG 1899 Hoffenheim or just Hoffenheim () is a German professional football club based in Hoffenheim, a village of Sinsheim municipality, Baden-Württemberg. Originally founded in 1 ...

in Germany. He appeared in only seven

Bundesliga The Bundesliga (; ), sometimes referred to as the Fußball-Bundesliga () or 1. Bundesliga (), is a professional association football league in Germany. At the top of the German football league system, the Bundesliga is Germany's primary footbal ...

games during his short spell, scoring on 24 October in a 3–0 home victory over

1. FC Nürnberg 1. Fußball-Club Nürnberg Verein für Leibesübungen e. V., often called 1. FC Nürnberg (, en, 1. Football Club Nuremberg) or simply Nürnberg, is a German association football club in Nuremberg, Bavaria, who currently compete in the 2. Bunde ...

after coming on as a second half substitute. Subsequently, Zuculini began a series of loans which saw him appear for Genoa C.F.C. in Italy, former club Racing and Spain's

Real Zaragoza Real Zaragoza, S.A.D. (), commonly referred to as Zaragoza, is a football club based in Zaragoza, Aragon, Spain, that currently competes in the Segunda División, the second tier of the Spanish league system. Zaragoza holds its home games at La ...

Real Zaragoza

On 12 August 2011, Zaragoza announced the signing of Zuculini on a

season A season is a division of the year based on changes in weather, ecology, and the number of daylight hours in a given region. On Earth, seasons are the result of the axial parallelism of Earth's tilted orbit around the Sun. In temperate and po ...

-long loan, with a view to a permanent transfer later in the year. He made his

La Liga The Campeonato Nacional de Liga de Primera División, commonly known simply as Primera División in Spain, and as La Liga in English-speaking countries and officially as LaLiga Santander for sponsorship reasons, stylized as LaLiga, is the men' ...

debut 16 days later, starting and featuring 52 minutes in a 0–6 home loss to

Real Madrid Real Madrid Club de Fútbol (, meaning ''Royal Madrid Football Club''), commonly referred to as Real Madrid, is a Spanish professional football club based in Madrid. Founded in 1902 as Madrid Football Club, the club has traditionally wor ...

. Zuculini agreed to a three-year deal with the

Aragon Aragon ( , ; Spanish and an, Aragón ; ca, Aragó ) is an autonomous community in Spain, coextensive with the medieval Kingdom of Aragon. In northeastern Spain, the Aragonese autonomous community comprises three provinces (from north to so ...

ese in the subsequent off-season, He opened his scoring account (two in all competitions) for the side on 10 December 2012 in a 2–0 away defeat of

Rayo Vallecano Rayo Vallecano de Madrid, S.A.D. (), often abbreviated to Rayo (Spanish for "thunderbolt"), is a Spanish professional football club based in Madrid, in the neighbourhood of Vallecas. Rayo was founded on 29 May 1924, and currently compete in La ...

which was also the 5,000 goal in their history, being released at the end of the campaign after it ended in relegation.

Arsenal de Sarandí

In February 2013, Zuculini suffered a knee ligament injury that ended his season. While recovering from the operation,

allowed him to get into exercise programs and train along with the team players; in January 2014, after a nearly one-year period of inactivity, he signed for six months with the club.

Return to Italy

On 8 July 2014, Zuculini joined Italian side

Bologna F.C. 1909 Bologna Football Club 1909, commonly referred to as Bologna (), is an Italian professional football club based in Bologna, Emilia-Romagna that plays in Serie A, the top flight of Italian football. The club have won seven top-flight titles, t ...

on a two-year contract. He scored three times from 28 appearances in his first season, helping to promotion to

Serie A The Serie A (), also called Serie A TIM for national sponsorship with TIM, is a professional league competition for football clubs located at the top of the Italian football league system and the winner is awarded the Scudetto and the Copp ...

. Exactly two years after arriving at the

Stadio Renato Dall'Ara Stadio Renato Dall'Ara is a multi-purpose stadium in Bologna, Italy. It is currently used mostly for football matches and the home of Bologna F.C. 1909. The stadium was built in 1927 and holds 38,279. It has also been named Stadio Littoriale ...

, Zuculini returned to the

Serie B The Serie B (), currently named 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 been ...

when he signed for Hellas Verona F.C. as a

free agent In professional sports, a free agent is a player who is eligible to sign with other clubs or franchises; i.e., not under contract to any specific team. The term is also used in reference to a player who is under contract at present but who is a ...

on a reported one-year contract, with an option for another year. On 12 July 2017, he agreed to a new two-year deal.

Later years

Zuculini returned to his homeland after four years on 27 July 2018, joining

Club Atlético Colón Club Atlético Colón de Santa Fe (), commonly referred to as Colón de Santa Fe , is a sports club from Santa Fe, Argentina. The football team plays in the First Division of the Argentine football league system, the Argentine Primera Divisi ...

for free. He went back to the Italian second division one year later, agreeing to a one-year deal at

Venezia F.C. Venezia Football Club, commonly referred to as Venezia, is a professional Association football club, football club based in Venice, Italy, that currently plays in Serie B. Originally founded as Venezia Foot Ball Club in 1907, the club have spen ...

with an option for a second one. On 26 August 2021, he returned to Italy once again and signed a two-year contract with

SPAL Società Polisportiva Ars et Labor, commonly known as S.P.A.L. (), is a professional football club based in Ferrara, Emilia-Romagna, Italy. The team plays in Serie B, the second tier of the Italian football league system. Founded in 1907, since ...

International career

In January 2009, Zuculini was selected for the Argentina under-20 team for the 2009 South American Youth Championship in

Venezuela Venezuela (; ), officially the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela ( es, link=no, República Bolivariana de Venezuela), is a country on the northern coast of South America, consisting of a continental landmass and many islands and islets in ...

. He was named by full side manager

Diego Maradona Diego Armando Maradona (; 30 October 196025 November 2020) was an Argentine professional football player and manager. Widely regarded as one of the greatest players in the history of the sport, he was one of the two joint winners of the FI ...

in a squad of 14 local players in late May of that year, and made his debut on the 20th – aged just 18 – in a friendly with

Panama Panama ( , ; es, link=no, Panamá ), officially the Republic of Panama ( es, República de Panamá), is a transcontinental country spanning the southern part of North America and the northern part of South America. It is bordered by Co ...

(3–1 win in Santa Fe).

Personal life

Zuculini's younger brother,

Bruno Bruno may refer to: People and fictional characters *Bruno (name), including lists of people and fictional characters with either the given name or surname * Bruno, Duke of Saxony (died 880) * Bruno the Great (925–965), Archbishop of Cologne, ...

, is also a footballer and a midfielder. He too represented Racing de Avellaneda.

References

External links

Argentine League statistics
* * * * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Zuculini, Franco 1990 births Living people Sportspeople from La Rioja Province, Argentina Argentine men's footballers Men's association football midfielders Argentine Primera División players Uruguayan Primera División players Serie A players Serie B players La Liga players Bundesliga players Racing Club de Avellaneda footballers Arsenal de Sarandí footballers Club Atlético Colón footballers TSG 1899 Hoffenheim players Genoa CFC players Bologna FC 1909 players Hellas Verona FC players Venezia FC players Real Zaragoza players Defensor Sporting players SPAL players Argentina men's youth international footballers Argentina men's under-20 international footballers Argentina men's international footballers Argentine expatriate men's footballers Expatriate men's footballers in Germany Expatriate men's footballers in Italy Expatriate men's footballers in Spain Expatriate men's footballers in Uruguay Argentine expatriate sportspeople in Germany Argentine expatriate sportspeople in Italy Argentine expatriate sportspeople in Spain Argentine expatriate sportspeople in Uruguay Argentine sportspeople of Italian descent