Gianluca Scamacca (born 1 January 1999) is an Italian professional

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 plays as a striker for club

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 ...

and the Italy national team. Scamacca previously played for

Jong PSV Jong PSV is a Dutch football team based in Eindhoven. It is the reserve team of PSV Eindhoven and plays in the Eerste Divisie since the 2013–14 season. History Until 2013, Jong PSV played in the Beloften Eredivisie, a league exclusively fo ...

Sassuolo Sassuolo (; ) is an Italian town, ''comune'', and industrial centre of the Province of Modena in Emilia-Romagna. Standing on the right bank of the river Secchia some southwest of Modena, the town is best known for being the centre of the Ita ...

and

West Ham United West Ham United Football Club is a professional Association football, football club based in Stratford, London, Stratford, East London, England. The club competes in the Premier League, the top tier of English football league system, English f ...

, with loans at

Cremonese Cremona ( , , ; ; ) is a city and (municipality) in northern Italy, situated in Lombardy, on the left bank of the Po (river), Po river in the middle of the Po Valley. It is the capital of the province of Cremona and the seat of the local city a ...

PEC Zwolle Prins Hendrik Ende Desespereert Nimmer Combinatie Zwolle, commonly known as PEC Zwolle, is a Dutch professional football club based in Zwolle, Netherlands. They play in the Eredivisie, the top tier of Dutch football. They have played in the Ered ...

, Ascoli and

Genoa Genoa ( ; ; ) is a city in and the capital of the Italian region of Liguria, and the sixth-largest city in Italy. As of 2025, 563,947 people live within the city's administrative limits. While its metropolitan city has 818,651 inhabitan ...

. He made his senior international debut for Italy in 2021.

Club career

Early career

A product of the youth academies of

Lazio Lazio ( , ; ) or Latium ( , ; from Latium, the original Latin name, ) is one of the 20 Regions of Italy, administrative regions of Italy. Situated in the Central Italy, central peninsular section of the country, it has 5,714,882 inhabitants an ...

and

Roma Roma or ROMA may refer to: People, characters, figures, names * Roma or Romani people, an ethnic group living mostly in Europe and the Americas. * Roma called Roy, ancient Egyptian High Priest of Amun * Roma (footballer, born 1979), born ''Paul ...

, Scamacca joined

PSV Eindhoven Philips Sport Vereniging (; ), abbreviated as PSV and internationally known as PSV Eindhoven (), is a Dutch sports club from Eindhoven, Netherlands. It is best known for its professional association football, football department, which has pla ...

in January 2015. He made his professional debut in

Eerste Divisie The Eerste Divisie (; ) is the second-highest tier of football in the Netherlands. It is linked with the top-level Eredivisie via promotion/relegation systems. It is also known as the Keuken Kampioen Divisie due to sponsorship reasons, while ...

as a

player on 22 January 2016, aged 17, in a 2–1 away win against

VVV-Venlo VVV-Venlo (, ''VVV'' stands for ''Venlose Voetbal Vereniging'' meaning "Venlo Football Club") is a Dutch association football, football club from Venlo, a city on the border with Germany. They play in the Eerste Divisie, the second tier of Dutc ...

, replacing

Steven Bergwijn Steven Charles Bergwijn (born 8 October 1997) is a Dutch professional association football, footballer who plays as a Forward (association football)#Winger, left winger or a Forward (association football)#Inside forward, forward for Saudi Pro Le ...

after 61 minutes.

Sassuolo

In January 2017, he was signed by Italian club

on a four-and-a-half-year deal. On 29 October, at age 18, he made his

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 ...

debut in a 3–1 loss against

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 ...

at the

Stadio San Paolo Stadio Diego Armando Maradona, formerly known as Stadio San Paolo, is an all-seater football stadium in Naples, Italy. Completed in 1959, it is the fourth largest football stadium in Italy after Milan's San Siro, Rome's Stadio Olimpico and ...

, coming on as a substitute for

Diego Falcinelli Diego Falcinelli (born 26 June 1991) is an Italian professional footballer who plays as a striker for club Spezia. Club career Pontevecchio Born in Marsciano, in the Province of Perugia, Falcinelli started his career at Ponte San Giovanni (a ...

in the 85th minute.

Loans to Cremonese, PEC Zwolle, Ascoli and Genoa

In January 2018, Scamacca joined

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 ...

club

on loan. He scored his first professional goal on 14 April 2018, in the league match against

Palermo Palermo ( ; ; , locally also or ) is a city in southern Italy, the capital (political), capital of both the autonomous area, autonomous region of Sicily and the Metropolitan City of Palermo, the city's surrounding metropolitan province. The ...

. On 31 August 2018, Scamacca joined

Eredivisie The Eredivisie (; "Honour Division" or "Premier Division") is a professional association football league in the Netherlands and the highest level of the Dutch football league system. The league was founded in 1956, two years after the start o ...

club

on loan. He made his debut on 2 September 2018 in the away league match won 1–0 against

Groningen Groningen ( , ; ; or ) is the capital city and main municipality of Groningen (province), Groningen province in the Netherlands. Dubbed the "capital of the north", Groningen is the largest place as well as the economic and cultural centre of ...

. On 13 July 2019, he joined

club Ascoli on loan. On 2 October 2020, Scamacca joined

in the Serie A 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 axial tilt, tilted orbit around the Sun. In temperat ...

-long loan.

Return to Sassuolo

In summer 2021, Scamacca returned to Sassuolo, coached by Alessio Dionisi. On 17 October, he scored his first goals with the ''neroverdi'', scoring a

brace Brace (formerly known as ''Brace For War'') was an Australian mixed martial arts (MMA) promotion. Brace was founded in 2005 by Kya Pate. In an interview with MMA Kanvas Kya Pate detailed what it is like to be the promoter of Australian MMA. Si ...

in an away game against his former team, Genoa, helping his side draw 2–2. During the 2021–22 season, he played as a starter alongside

Domenico Berardi Domenico Berardi (; born 1 August 1994) is an Italian professional footballer who plays as a forward or right winger for club Sassuolo and the Italy national team. Berardi began his club career with Sassuolo in 2012, helping the team win th ...

and

Giacomo Raspadori Giacomo Raspadori (born 18 February 2000) is an Italian professional footballer who plays as a forward for club Napoli and the Italy national team. Club career Sassuolo Raspadori joined the youth academy of Sassuolo in 2009, after a year wi ...

in attack, and ended the season with 16 league goals. He made his last appearance to the club on 22 May 2022 in a 3–0 loss to

AC Milan (), commonly referred to as Milan or AC Milan () mainly outside of Italy, is an Italian professional Football club (association football), football club based in Milan, Lombardy. Founded in 1899, the club competes in the Serie A, the top tie ...

West Ham United

On 26 July 2022, Scamacca signed for

Premier League The Premier League is a professional association football league in England and the highest level of the English football league system. Contested by 20 clubs, it operates on a system of promotion and relegation with the English Football Lea ...

club

on a five-year contract with an option for a further year. The transfer fee paid to Sassuolo was reportedly of £30.5 million, with an additional £5 million in add-ons. A 10% sell-on clause for the Italian team was also reportedly included in the deal. Scamacca made his West Ham and Premier League debut coming on as a second-half substitute for

Michail Antonio Michail Gregory Antonio (born 28 March 1990) is a professional association football, footballer who plays as a Forward (association football), forward for club West Ham United F.C., West Ham United and the Jamaica national football team, Jamai ...

in a 2–0 home defeat to

Manchester City Manchester City Football Club is a professional association football, football club based in Manchester, England, that competes in the Premier League, the English football league system, top flight of Football in England, English footbal ...

on 7 August 2022. His first goal for West Ham came in his third game, on 18 August, in the

play-off round The playoffs, play-offs, postseason or finals of a sports league are a competition played after the regular season by the top competitors to determine the league champion or a similar accolade. Depending on the league, the playoffs may be eithe ...

of the

UEFA Conference League The UEFA Conference League (UECL), usually known simply as the Conference League, is an annual football competition organised since 2021 by the Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) for eligible European football clubs. It is the thir ...

against Viborg; he scored the first goal of an eventual 3–1 win. He scored his first league goal for the club in a 2–0 home win over

Wolverhampton Wanderers Wolverhampton Wanderers Football Club ( ), commonly referred to as Wolves, is a professional association football, football club based in Wolverhampton, England. The club competes in the Premier League, the top tier of English football league s ...

on 1 October 2022. He scored only three Premier League goals and, due to a knee injury which required surgery, did not feature for the club after March 2023, thus missing their

2023 UEFA Europa Conference League final The 2023 UEFA Europa Conference League final was the final match of the 2022–23 UEFA Europa Conference League, the second season of Europe's tertiary club association football, football tournament organised by UEFA. The match was played at the F ...

win. He spent only a single season at West Ham, scoring eight goals in 27 appearances, including five in West Ham's run to win the UEFA Europa Conference League.

Atalanta

Scamacca joined

on a permanent deal on 7 August 2023. The reported fee was an initial £22.5 million plus a further £4.3 million in add-ons. On 2 September, he scored a brace in a 3–0 victory over

Monza Monza (, ; ; , locally ; ) is a city and ''comune'' (municipality) on the Lambro, River Lambro, a tributary of the Po (river), River Po, in the Lombardy region of Italy, about north-northeast of Milan. It is the capital of the province of Mo ...

, his first goals for the club. On 11 April 2024, in Atlanta's 3–0 Europa League quarter-final first leg victory, Scamacca became the first Italian to score a brace against

Liverpool Liverpool is a port City status in the United Kingdom, city and metropolitan borough in Merseyside, England. It is situated on the eastern side of the River Mersey, Mersey Estuary, near the Irish Sea, north-west of London. With a population ...

Anfield Anfield is a Association football, football stadium in the area of Anfield (suburb), Anfield, Liverpool, England, which has been the home of Liverpool F.C. since its formation in 1892. The stadium has a seating capacity of 61,276, making it the ...

. On 24 April, Scamacca scored a goal and set-up another (in addition to having a second goal disallowed) to help overturn a 1–0 deficit from the first leg of the

Coppa Italia Coppa Italia () is the annual domestic cup of Italian football. The knockout competition was organized by the DDS and the Lega Calcio until the 2009–10 season and by Lega Serie A ever since. Juventus is the competition's most successf ...

semi-finals, eventually beating out

Fiorentina ACF Fiorentina, commonly referred to as Fiorentina (), is an Italian professional Association football, football List of football clubs in Italy, club based in Florence, Tuscany. The original team was founded by a merger in August 1926, while ...

4–2 on aggregate to advance to the

final Final, Finals or The Final may refer to: *Final examination or finals, a test given at the end of a course of study or training *Final (competition), the last or championship round of a sporting competition, match, game, or other contest which d ...

against

Juventus Juventus Football Club (; from , ), commonly known as Juventus or colloquially as Juve (), is an Italian professional Association football, football List of football clubs in Italy, club based in Turin, Piedmont, who compete in Serie A, the ...

. On 2 May, he scored the opening goal in a 1–1 away draw against

Marseille Marseille (; ; see #Name, below) is a city in southern France, the Prefectures in France, prefecture of the Departments of France, department of Bouches-du-Rhône and of the Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur Regions of France, region. Situated in the ...

in the first leg of the Europa League semi-finals. On 22 May, Scamacca started in Atalanta's 3–0 victory over

Bayer Leverkusen Bayer 04 Leverkusen, officially known as Bayer 04 Leverkusen Fußball GmbH () and commonly known as Bayer Leverkusen or simply Leverkusen, is a German professional football club based in Leverkusen, North Rhine-Westphalia. It competes in the B ...

in the 2024 Europa League final at the Dublin Arena, setting up

Ademola Lookman Ademola Lookman Olajade Alade Aylola Lookman (born 20 October 1997) is a professional footballer who plays as a forward for club Atalanta. Born in England, he plays for the Nigeria national team. Lookman made his senior debut in 2015, playi ...

's third goal of the match. In early August 2024, he sustained a serious ACL injury which would sideline him for months.

International career

Youth

As a member of the Italy U17 side, Scamacca took part at the

2015 2015 was designated by the United Nations as: * International Year of Light * International Year of Soil __TOC__ Events January * January 1 – Lithuania officially adopts the euro as its currency, replacing the litas, and becomes ...

and

2016 2016 was designated as: * International Year of Pulses by the sixty-eighth session of the United Nations General Assembly. * International Year of Global Understanding (IYGU) by the International Council for Science (ICSU), the Internationa ...

editions of the

UEFA European Under-17 Championship The UEFA European Under-17 Championship, or simply the Euro Under-17, is an annual Association football, football competition contested by the men's under-17 national teams of the UEFA member associations. Spain national under-17 football team, ...

. With Italy U19, Scamacca took part in the

2018 UEFA European Under-19 Championship The 2018 UEFA European Under-19 Championship (also known as UEFA Under-19 Euro 2018) was the 17th edition of the UEFA European Under-19 Championship (67th edition if the Under-18 and Junior eras are included), the annual international youth foot ...

, and scored two goals in the tournament, including one in the 4–3 final loss against

Portugal Portugal, officially the Portuguese Republic, is a country on the Iberian Peninsula in Southwestern Europe. Featuring Cabo da Roca, the westernmost point in continental Europe, Portugal borders Spain to its north and east, with which it share ...

after extra time. The following year he took part at the

2019 FIFA U-20 World Cup The 2019 FIFA U-20 World Cup was the 22nd edition of the FIFA U-20 World Cup, the biennial international men's youth football championship contested by the under-20 national teams of the member associations of FIFA, since its inception in 1977 a ...

with the Italy U20 squad, finishing in fourth place. On 25 May 2018, Scamacca made his debut with the Italy U21 team in a

friendly match An exhibition game (also known as a friendly, scrimmage, demonstration, training match, pre-season game, warmup match, or preparation match, depending at least in part on the sport) is a sport, sporting event whose prize money and impact on th ...

lost 3–2 against

. He scored his first goal with the Italy U21 team on 6 September 2019, in a friendly match won 4–0 against

Moldova Moldova, officially the Republic of Moldova, is a Landlocked country, landlocked country in Eastern Europe, with an area of and population of 2.42 million. Moldova is bordered by Romania to the west and Ukraine to the north, east, and south. ...

. He took part in the

2021 UEFA European Under-21 Championship The 2021 UEFA European Under-21 Championship (also known as UEFA Under-21 Euro 2021) was the 23rd edition of the UEFA European Under-21 Championship (26th edition if the Under-23 era is also included), the biennial international youth Association ...

, where he scored two goals.

Senior

He received his first call up to the senior

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 ...

squad for the team's 2022 FIFA World Cup qualifiers in September 2021. He made his senior debut on 8 September, in a 5–0 home win over

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 ...

, coming on as a second–half substitute for

Federico Bernardeschi Federico Bernardeschi (; born 16 February 1994) is an Italian professional footballer who plays as a winger or attacking midfielder for Major League Soccer club Toronto FC. His nickname is "Brunelleschi", after the famous Florentine architect, ...

. Scamacca scored his first senior international goal on 17 October 2023, in Italy's 3–1

UEFA Euro 2024 qualifying The UEFA Euro 2024 qualifying tournament was a football competition that was played from March 2023 to March 2024 to determine the 23 UEFA member men's national teams that would join the automatically qualified host team Germany in the UEFA Eur ...

loss to

England England is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is located on the island of Great Britain, of which it covers about 62%, and List of islands of England, more than 100 smaller adjacent islands. It ...

Wembley Stadium Wembley Stadium, currently branded as Wembley Stadium connected by EE Limited, EE for sponsorship reasons, is an association football stadium in Wembley, London. It opened in 2007 on the site of the Wembley Stadium (1923), original Wembley Sta ...

Style of play

Scamacca is a tall, right-footed

centre-forward In the sport of association football, a forward (attacker or striker) is an Glossary of association football terms#O, outfield position which primarily plays further up the pitch than Midfielder, midfielders and Defender (association football), d ...

, with an eye for goal, who is known for his explosive physical strength, and powerful shot, which allows him to score goals from both inside and outside the penalty area, even from acrobatic first–time shots. Despite his size, he is a technical player, who possesses flair and a good first touch, and is known for his tendency to drop deep, move freely about the attacking third, and link-up with his teammates, which sees him operate almost as a

second striker In the sport of association football, a forward (attacker or striker) is an outfield position which primarily plays further up the pitch than midfielders and defenders. As with any attacking player, the role of the forward relies heavily on bein ...

at times, rather than as a traditional striker who mainly operates inside the box. As such, he has occasionally been used in a role which is known as the ''centravanti di manovra'' in Italian football jargon, which is comparable to the modern

false nine In the sport of association football, a forward (attacker or striker) is an outfield position which primarily plays further up the pitch than midfielders and defenders. As with any attacking player, the role of the forward relies heavily on bein ...

role, with Scamacca seemingly playing as a lone striker, but often dropping deep to participate in the build-up of attacking plays. While effective in the air and at holding up the ball, due to his height and powerful physique, his aerial game has been cited as being in need of improvement by pundits, something which Scamacca himself has admitted, as he prefers to play the ball on the ground; he was able to improve his aerial game during his time at Atalanta under manager

Gian Piero Gasperini Gian Piero Gasperini (born 26 January 1958) is an Italian professional football manager and former professional footballer who is currently the head coach of Serie A club Roma. After starting his managerial career at Crotone, he had spells in ch ...

. Although he is not gifted with significant pace, he is mobile for a player of his size. Scamacca has cited former strikers

Zlatan Ibrahimović Zlatan Ibrahimović (born 3 October 1981) is a Swedish former professional Association football, footballer who played as a Striker (association football), striker. Ibrahimović is known for his acrobatic strikes and Volley (association footba ...

and

Gabriel Batistuta Gabriel Omar Batistuta (; born 1 February 1969) is an Argentine former professional Association football, footballer. During his playing career, Batistuta was nicknamed Batigol () as well as El Ángel Gabriel (; Spanish for ''Archangel Gabriel, A ...

as some of his inspirations, and has even been compared to the former player by pundits due to his physique and playing style. Once considered to be a promising player in the media, in 2016, he was named one of the "60 of the best young talents in world football" by ''

The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in Manchester in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'' and changed its name in 1959, followed by a move to London. Along with its sister paper, ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardi ...

'' in 2016.

Career statistics

Club

International

:''Italy score listed first, score column indicates score after each Scamacca goal.''

Honours

West Ham United *

UEFA Europa Conference League The UEFA Conference League (UECL), usually known simply as the Conference League, is an annual association football, football competition organised since 2021 by the UEFA, Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) for eligible European foot ...

2022–23 The dash is a punctuation mark consisting of a long horizontal line. It is similar in appearance to the hyphen but is longer and sometimes higher from the baseline. The most common versions are the endash , generally longer than the hyphen ...

Atalanta *

UEFA Europa League The UEFA Europa League (UEL), usually known simply as the Europa League, is an annual association football, football club competition organised since 1971 by the UEFA, Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) for eligible European footb ...

: 2023–24 Italy U19 *

UEFA European Under-19 Championship The UEFA European Under-19 Championship, or simply the Euro Under-19, is an annual football competition, contested by the European men's under-19 national teams of the UEFA member associations. Spain is the most successful team in this competit ...

runner-up:

2018 Events January * January 1 – Bulgaria takes over the Presidency of the Council of the European Union, after the Estonian presidency. * January 4 – SPLM-IO rebels loyal to Chan Garang Lual start a raid against Juba, capital of ...

Individual *

top goalscorer: 2019–20 (4 goals, shared with

Michele Vano Michele Vano (born 5 October 1991) is an Italian professional footballer who plays as a forward for club Casertana. Club career Vano spent the first eight seasons of his career in the fourth and fifth tier teams (Serie D and Eccellenza). On ...

2020–21 The dash is a punctuation mark consisting of a long horizontal line. It is similar in appearance to the hyphen but is longer and sometimes higher from the baseline. The most common versions are the endash , generally longer than the hyphen ...

(4 goals) *

Serie A Goal of the Month The Serie A Goal of the Month, officially known as the Iliad Goal of the Month for sponsorship reasons, is an association football award that recognises the player who is deemed to have scored the best Serie A goal each month of the season. The ...

: October 2023

References

External links

Profile
at the Atalanta BC website * {{DEFAULTSORT:Scamacca, Gianluca 1999 births Living people Footballers from Rome Men's association football forwards Italian men's footballers PSV Eindhoven players US Sassuolo Calcio players US Cremonese players PEC Zwolle players Ascoli Calcio 1898 FC players Genoa CFC players West Ham United F.C. players Atalanta BC players Serie A players Serie B players Eredivisie players Eerste Divisie players Premier League players Italy men's youth international footballers Italy men's under-21 international footballers Italy men's under-20 international footballers Italy men's international footballers UEFA Euro 2024 players Italian expatriate men's footballers Expatriate men's footballers in the Netherlands Italian expatriate sportspeople in the Netherlands Expatriate men's footballers in England Italian expatriate sportspeople in England UEFA Conference League–winning players UEFA Europa League–winning players 21st-century Italian sportsmen