Gianluca Curci (; born 12 July 1985) is an Italian professional footballer who plays as a goalkeeper, most recently for Hammarby IF in the Swedish

Allsvenskan Allsvenskan (; en, the All-Swedish, also known as Fotbollsallsvenskan, en, the Football All-Swedish) is a Swedish professional league for men's association football clubs. It was founded in 1924 and is the top tier of the Swedish football le ...

. Curci has previously played for

Roma Roma or ROMA may refer to: Places Australia * Roma, Queensland, a town ** Roma Airport ** Roma Courthouse ** Electoral district of Roma, defunct ** Town of Roma, defunct town, now part of the Maranoa Regional Council * Roma Street, Brisbane, a ...

, Siena,

Sampdoria Unione Calcio Sampdoria, commonly referred to as Sampdoria (), is an Italian professional football club based in Genoa. The club was formed in 1946 from the merger of two existing sports clubs whose roots can be traced back to the 1890s ...

Bologna Bologna (, , ; egl, label=Emilian language, Emilian, Bulåggna ; lat, Bononia) is the capital and largest city of the Emilia-Romagna region in Northern Italy. It is the seventh most populous city in Italy with about 400,000 inhabitants and 1 ...

1. FSV Mainz 05 1. Fußball- und Sportverein Mainz 05 e. V., usually shortened to 1. FSV Mainz 05, Mainz 05 () or simply Mainz (), is a German sports club, founded in 1905 and based in Mainz, Rhineland-Palatinate. 1. FSV Mainz 05 play in the Bundesliga, the top ...

and AFC Eskilstuna.

Club career

Roma

Born in Rome, Curci is a product of the A.S. Roma youth academy. At only 19, he became the club's first choice goalkeeper for the second half of the 2004–05 season after injuries to fellow goalkeepers Ivan Pelizzoli and

Carlo Zotti Carlo Zotti (born 3 September 1982) is an Italian former professional footballer who played as a goalkeeper. Club career Zotti was born in Foglianise, Benevento. He started his career at A.S. Roma, but his first-team experience was limited due t ...

. He was replaced in the 2005–06 season by new Brazilian keeper Doni. Curci signed a new four-year contract on 16 July 2007.

Siena

On 25 June 2008, Siena confirmed they signed Curci in a co-ownership deal from

for €1.75 million and signed the remaining 50% rights of

Daniele Galloppa Daniele Galloppa (; born 15 May 1985) is an Italian football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kicking a ball to score a goal. Unqualified, the word ''football'' normally means the form of football t ...

for another €1.75M. In exchange, Roma signed keeper Artur for €750,000 and defender Simone Loria for €2.8M. Curci impressed in all his matches, notably his last two Serie A matches, helping Siena overcome

1–0, and preventing

Genoa Genoa ( ; it, Genova ; lij, Zêna ). is the capital of the Regions of Italy, Italian region of Liguria and the List of cities in Italy, sixth-largest city in Italy. In 2015, 594,733 people lived within the city's administrative limits. As of t ...

from scoring more than they did. Curci then impressed in the ''Tuscan Derby'' against Fiorentina, performing 3 incredible reaction saves to help Siena win 1–0.

Sampdoria

On 1 July 2010,

bought Siena's half for €2.25 million. Roma retained their half. Curci played for Sampdoria in a match for qualification to the Champions League, against Werder Bremen, but his team lost. Curci was a key player for Sampdoria during the 2010–11 season and he made some crucial saves for the club. He was an ever-present and the club's undisputed first choice goalkeeper.

Roma return

On 24 June 2011,

bought back Curci and

Stefano Guberti Stefano Guberti (born 6 November 1984) is an Italian former professional footballer who played as a midfielder. Career Guberti started his career at Sardinian club Alghero of Serie D. He then played for Sassari Torres in Serie C1. On 30 June 20 ...

from

for a nominal fee of €1,000 on two-year (Guberti) and three-year deals (Curci) respectively. On 22 April 2012, Curci made a substitute appearance in a Serie A match against Juventus after Roma's starting goalkeeper Maarten Stekelenburg received a red card.

Bologna

On 16 July 2012, Curci was signed by

in a temporary deal with an option to purchase for €1 million. On 8 July 2013, the loan was extended for another season, with an option to purchase for €1.2 million. Curci also extended his contract with Roma to last until 30 June 2015.

Roma return

On 2 September 2014, Curci was included in Roma's squad for the 2014–15 UEFA Champions League as one of the four club trained players required under

UEFA Union of European Football Associations (UEFA ; french: Union des associations européennes de football; german: Union der europäischen Fußballverbände) is one of six continental bodies of governance in association football. It governs foo ...

rules.

Mainz 05

On 15 August 2015, Curci was signed by Bundesliga side

Mainz Mainz () is the capital and largest city of Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany. Mainz is on the left bank of the Rhine, opposite to the place that the Main joins the Rhine. Downstream of the confluence, the Rhine flows to the north-west, with Ma ...

on a two-year contract as a free agent. In January 2017, Curci had an unsuccessful trial with Bristol Rovers. He left the club on 30 January 2017, after failing to make a single league appearance.

AFC Eskilstuna

On 18 January 2018, Curci signed a two-year deal with Swedish Superettan side AFC Eskilstuna. He kept 18 clean sheets in 27 league appearances, a new club record, as Eskilstuna won a promotion to

through qualifiers. Curci terminated his contract with AFC by mutual consent on 21 January 2019, with the club citing "personal reasons" for his departure. However, according to Curci himself, he sought to leave Eskilstuna due to differences with the club's management.

Hammarby IF

On 24 January 2019, Curci signed a six-month contract with fellow Swedish club Hammarby IF, replacing the injured starting goalkeeper

Johan Wiland Johan Kristoffer Sellberg-Wiland (born 24 January 1981) is a Swedish former professional footballer who played as a goalkeeper. Starting off his career in Sweden with IF Elfsborg in the early 2000s, he went on to represent F.C. Copenhagen an ...

, with an extension option of a further one-and-a-half year. Curci confirmed his departure from the club on 8 July 2019 as his contract had expired.

International career

Curci has represented Italy multiple times at youth level. He received his first call-up to the Azzurri squad for a friendly against

Hungary Hungary ( hu, Magyarország ) is a landlocked country in Central Europe. Spanning of the Carpathian Basin, it is bordered by Slovakia to the north, Ukraine to the northeast, Romania to the east and southeast, Serbia to the south, Croa ...

. He has not been called up since November 2008.

Career statistics

Honours

Club

Roma *

Coppa Italia The ("Italy Cup") is an annual knockout cup competition in Italian football organized by the FIGC until the 2009–10 season and the Lega Serie A ever since. History The beginning of the tournament was turbulent, due to the complexity ...

: 2006–07, 2007–08 * Supercoppa Italiana:

2007 File:2007 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: Steve Jobs unveils Apple's first iPhone; TAM Airlines Flight 3054 overruns a runway and crashes into a gas station, killing almost 200 people; Former Pakistani Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto ...

References

External links

FIGC
{{DEFAULTSORT:Curci, Gianluca 1985 births Footballers from Rome Living people Association football goalkeepers Italian footballers A.S. Roma players A.C.R. Siena 1904 players U.C. Sampdoria players Bologna F.C. 1909 players 1. FSV Mainz 05 players AFC Eskilstuna players Hammarby Fotboll players Serie A players Allsvenskan players Superettan players Italy under-21 international footballers Italy youth international footballers Italian expatriate footballers Expatriate footballers in Germany Italian expatriate sportspeople in Germany Expatriate footballers in Sweden Italian expatriate sportspeople in Sweden