Gennaro Delvecchio (; born 25 March 1978) 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 ...

official and a 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 ...

. He works as the head of youth development at

Bari Bari ( ; ; ; ) is the capital city of the Metropolitan City of Bari and of the Apulia Regions of Italy, region, on the Adriatic Sea in southern Italy. It is the first most important economic centre of mainland Southern Italy. It is a port and ...

Club career

Early career

Delvecchio started his career with amateur club A.S.D. Barletta in 1994. The following season, he joined A.S. Melfi. He would remain at the club until 1998. With

Melfi Melfi ( Lucano: ) is a town and ''comune'' in the Vulture area of the province of Potenza, in the Southern Italian region of Basilicata. Geographically, it is midway between Naples and Bari. In 2015 it had a population of 17,768. Geography On a ...

, Delvecchio managed 15 goals in a total of 83 appearances. Following that impressive spell, he was bought by Serie C1 side

Giulianova Calcio Giulianova Calcio is an Italian association football club based in Giulianova, Abruzzo. The team failed to renew its license for professional football in 2012. After 4 years' dormancy, the new owner of the club applied to play in 2016–17 5- ...

. Although he would only appear once for the club. The following season (1999), he joined U.S. Castrovillari Calcio. He again picked up form and scored 3 goals in 29 appearances for the club at Serie C2.

Catania and Perugia

In 2000, he joined

Serie C1 Serie C1 was the third highest football league in Italy. It consisted of 36 teams, divided geographically into two divisions. History Before the 1978–79 season, there were only three professional football leagues in Italy, the third being Se ...

side

Calcio Catania Catania Football Club, commonly known as Catania, is an Football in Italy, Italian football club based in the city of Catania, Sicily, that plays in Serie C. Originally founded in 1908 as ''Associazione Sportiva pro Educazione Fisica'', the clu ...

, but he was loaned to F.C. Catanzaro in October. With Catanzaro he appeared in 26 games and added two goals to his credit. He then joined S.S. Sambenedettese Calcio on loan and again would pick up form, scoring 7 goals in 52 league matches. Delvecchio also reached into the promotion playoffs, in although lost to

Pescara Calcio Delfino Pescara 1936, commonly referred to as Pescara, is a professional football in Italy, Italian football club based in Pescara, Abruzzo. The club was formed in 1936 and currently plays in Serie C, but will play in Serie B in the 2025–26 s ...

in the semi-final. Delvecchio returned to Catania in 2003–04 season. With Catania, he made 27 appearances in Serie B. At the end of season, he joined

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 ...

. Although Perugia went bankrupt in 2005, his performance made

U.C. Sampdoria Unione Calcio Sampdoria, commonly referred to as Sampdoria (), is an Italian professional Football club (association football), football club based in Genoa, Liguria. Sampdoria was formed in 1946 from the List of football club mergers, merg ...

of Serie A offer him a contract. Without experience in Italian top division, he was loaned to

U.S. Lecce Unione Sportiva Lecce () is a Football in Italy, professional Italian football club based in Lecce, Apulia. The club play in Serie A in the 2023–24 Serie A, 2023–24 season, the top level of the Italian football league system, Italian footb ...

, also in Serie A.

Sampdoria

In Lecce, he acquired 29 Serie A appearances with 4 goals. He would then return to

for the following season. He appeared 85 times for the

Liguria Liguria (; ; , ) is a Regions of Italy, region of north-western Italy; its Capital city, capital is Genoa. Its territory is crossed by the Alps and the Apennine Mountains, Apennines Mountain chain, mountain range and is roughly coextensive with ...

based club in

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 ...

and scored 13 times. It was by far his best spell at one club and the best period of his career.

Return to Catania

On 30 June 2009, he was re-signed by Catania; the contract lasted until June 2012. However, after a decent start to the campaign, Delvecchio was forced out by injury, and eventually needed surgery, before a 2010 return. Following his injury, Delvecchio never regained a starting position, and in January 2011 he was loaned out 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 ...

outfit,

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 ...

. In his six-month spell with the Bergamasca side, Delvecchio scored 1 goal in 15 appearances, helping Atalanta win the Serie B championship and hence, gain promotion to the

. On 30 June 2011, Delvecchio returned to

Catania Catania (, , , Sicilian and ) is the second-largest municipality on Sicily, after Palermo, both by area and by population. Despite being the second city of the island, Catania is the center of the most densely populated Sicilian conurbation, wh ...

International career

Delvecchio was first capped by Italy national team head coach

Roberto Donadoni Roberto Donadoni (; born 9 September 1963) is an Italian football manager and former midfielder. A skilful and versatile winger, Donadoni was capable of playing on either flank, or in the centre. He began his career with Atalanta, and late ...

for a friendly match against

Croatia Croatia, officially the Republic of Croatia, is a country in Central Europe, Central and Southeast Europe, on the coast of the Adriatic Sea. It borders Slovenia to the northwest, Hungary to the northeast, Serbia to the east, Bosnia and Herze ...

, which was lost 2–0 at home, on 16 August 2006. Sampdoria teammates Giulio Falcone, Angelo Palombo and Christian Terlizzi also made their debut on the same match. He was also selected for Euro 2008 qualification matches against

Lithuania Lithuania, officially the Republic of Lithuania, is a country in the Baltic region of Europe. It is one of three Baltic states and lies on the eastern shore of the Baltic Sea, bordered by Latvia to the north, Belarus to the east and south, P ...

and

France France, officially the French Republic, is a country located primarily in Western Europe. Overseas France, Its overseas regions and territories include French Guiana in South America, Saint Pierre and Miquelon in the Atlantic Ocean#North Atlan ...

in September and matches against

Ukraine Ukraine is a country in Eastern Europe. It is the List of European countries by area, second-largest country in Europe after Russia, which Russia–Ukraine border, borders it to the east and northeast. Ukraine also borders Belarus to the nor ...

and

Georgia Georgia most commonly refers to: * Georgia (country), a country in the South Caucasus * Georgia (U.S. state), a state in the southeastern United States Georgia may also refer to: People and fictional characters * Georgia (name), a list of pe ...

in October, but did not make any appearances.

Honours

Sambenedettese * Serie C2 Promotion Playoffs: 2002

References

External links

*
FIGC National Team Stats
{{DEFAULTSORT:Delvecchio, Gennaro Italian men's footballers Italy men's international footballers Giulianova Calcio players Catania FC players US Sambenedettese players US Catanzaro 1929 players AC Perugia Calcio players UC Sampdoria players US Lecce players Atalanta BC players US Grosseto 1912 players SSC Bari players Serie A players Serie B players Serie C players Men's association football midfielders People from Barletta 1978 births Living people US Castrovillari Calcio players Footballers from the Province of Barletta-Andria-Trani