Gianluca Savoldi (born 20 September 1975 in

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 ...

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 the Mediterranean Sea, with the Alps on its northern land b ...

), is a retired Italian

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 played as a striker.

Career

The son of once

World record A world record is usually the best global and most important performance that is ever recorded and officially verified in a specific skill, sport, or other kind of activity. The book ''Guinness World Records'' and other world records organizatio ...

transferred player

Giuseppe Savoldi Giuseppe Savoldi (; born 21 January 1947) is an Italian former professional football player and coach, who played during the sixties, seventies and eighties, as a forward. A versatile attacker, he played club football in Italy for Atalanta, Bo ...

, the young Gianluca decided to walk in his father's footsteps. Albeit a decent striker on semi-professional level, Savoldi could not step ut to the plate when joining Ascoli in the late 1990s, but played good enough at

Cosenza Cosenza (; Languages of Calabria#Northern Calabrian (Cosentian), Cosentian: ''Cusenza'', ) is a city located in Calabria, Italy. The city centre has a population of approximately 70,000, while the urban area counts more than 200,000 inhabitants. ...

to be discovered by nearby Reggina, the club looking for a striker, having been relegated 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 ...

and lost Massimo Marazzina. Savoldi's first season with Reggina was the most successful of his career, the 25-year-old propelling Reggina to

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 ...

with 15 goals. His partnership with

Davide Dionigi Davide Dionigi (born 10 January 1974) is an Italian football coach and a former player. He is the manager of Serie B club Reggiana. Playing career Dionigi started his career at Modena and played 20 games in Serie B. He then signed by AC Milan ...

played its part in the success, as Reggina was among the highest-scoring teams in the league. Savoldi did only play one season in Serie A, however, with his performance at the highest level not considered as good enough by Reggina's management, prompting a sale to Serie B club

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 ...

, where he rejoined Dionigi. Napoli was the club that paid the World record-fee for his father, and therefore the expectations were high on Savoldi, who once again failed to deliver. Napoli was closer to relegation than promotion, and Savoldi was sold to

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 ...

, which was the beginning of the end of his career in the big time. Savoldi spent the following six seasons in smaller clubs, some professional, others in a semi-professional mode. He also moved north of the border to try his wings in second division

Swiss Swiss most commonly refers to: * the adjectival form of Switzerland * Swiss people Swiss may also refer to: Places * Swiss, Missouri * Swiss, North Carolina * Swiss, West Virginia * Swiss, Wisconsin Other uses * Swiss Café, an old café located ...

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 ...

, but his time with

Chiasso Chiasso (; ) is a Municipalities of Switzerland, municipality in the district of Mendrisio (district), Mendrisio in the Cantons of Switzerland, canton of Ticino in Switzerland. As Extreme points of Switzerland, the southernmost of Switzerland's ...

was not a successful one.

Sources

Gianluca Savoldi - Tuttocalciatori.net (Italian)
{{DEFAULTSORT:Savoldi, Gianluca 1975 births Italian men's footballers Men's association football forwards Serie A players Serie B players Italian expatriate men's footballers Ascoli Calcio 1898 FC players US Avellino 1912 players FC Chiasso players Cosenza Calcio 1914 players FC Crotone players Calcio Lecco 1912 players AC Monza players SSC Napoli players Pisa SC players AS Reggina 1914 players SSD Varese Calcio players Venezia FC players ASD Olimpia Colligiana players Expatriate men's footballers in Switzerland Italian expatriate sportspeople in Switzerland Living people Footballers from Bologna