Gianmarco Zigoni (born 10 May 1991) 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 forward for club Union Clodiense Chioggia.

Club career

Early career

Raised in

Oderzo Oderzo (; ) is a ''comune'', with a population of 20,003, in the province of Treviso, in the Italian region of Veneto. It lies in the heart of the Venetian plain, about to the northeast of Venice. Oderzo is crossed by the Monticano river, a tri ...

, Zigoni started playing football with local team Opitergina, before joining

Treviso Treviso ( ; ; ) is a city and (municipality) in the Veneto region of northern Italy. It is the capital of the province of Treviso and the municipality has 87.322 inhabitants (as of December 2024). Some 3,000 live within the Venetian wall ...

's youth system, where he scored more than one hundred goals. He made his professional debut with the club in a

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 ...

game against

Ancona Ancona (, also ; ) is a city and a seaport in the Marche region of central Italy, with a population of around 101,997 . Ancona is the capital of the province of Ancona, homonymous province and of the region. The city is located northeast of Ro ...

on 26 January 2009, aged 17. The match ended in a 2–1 loss for Treviso, with Zigoni scoring their lone goal. He scored his second goal only four days later, in a 3–2 win against

Brescia Brescia (, ; ; or ; ) is a city and (municipality) in the region of Lombardy, in Italy. It is situated at the foot of the Alps, a few kilometers from the lakes Lake Garda, Garda and Lake Iseo, Iseo. With a population of 199,949, it is the se ...

. The young striker went on to make a total of 18 appearances for Treviso in the 2008–09 season, being included 8 times in the starting line-up.

AC Milan

Coming to the attention of several

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 ...

clubs, such

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 ...

Inter Milan Football Club Internazionale Milano, commonly referred to as Internazionale () or simply Inter, and colloquially known as Inter Milan in English-speaking countries, is an Italian professional Association football, football List of football ...

and

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 ...

, Zigoni was eventually signed by

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 ...

at the beginning of the 2009–10 season, for €1.3 million. He became a regular of their

youth team In sporting terminology, a youth system (or youth academy) is a youth investment program within a particular team or Sports league, league, which develops and nurtures young talent in farm teams, with the vision of using them in the first team (a ...

, scoring a total of 19 goals in league and cup games. In particular, he scored in both legs of the Coppa Italia Primavera final, as Milan defeated

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 ...

3–1 on aggregate to lift the trophy 25 years after the club's last success in the competition. As for the first team, Zigoni made only one appearance during the season. He came off the bench in the final minutes of a league game against

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 ...

, which ended in 1–1 draw, on 28 March 2010.

Genoa

In July 2010, Zigoni was transferred to

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 ...

in co-ownership for €3.75 million, as part of the deal that saw defender

Sokratis Papastathopoulos Sokratis Papastathopoulos (; born 9 June 1988), also known mononymously as Sokratis, is a Greek former professional Association football, footballer who played as a centre-back. Club career AEK Athens Papastathopoulos joined AEK Athens from Apo ...

join Milan. With the youth team of his new club Zigoni scored two goals in the Supercoppa Primavera, as Genoa defeated 5–0 his former Milan teammates to secure the trophy. However, he failed to get any first-team appearances in his first months at the club. Subsequently, on 29 January 2011, Zigoni was sent out on

loan In finance, a loan is the tender of money by one party to another with an agreement to pay it back. The recipient, or borrower, incurs a debt and is usually required to pay interest for the use of the money. The document evidencing the deb ...

club

Frosinone Frosinone (; local dialect: ) is a ''comune'' (municipality) in the Italian region of Lazio, administrative seat of the province of Frosinone. It is about southeast of Rome, close to the Rome-Naples A1 Motorway. The city is the main city of th ...

. In his short stint with the club, he made a mere six appearances with a single goal, and Frosinone ended being relegated to the third tier at the end of the season.

AC Milan return and loans

On 24 May 2011, AC Milan re-acquired the second half of Zigoni from Genoa for the same fee, before being sent on loan to

Avellino Avellino () is a city and ''comune'', capital of the province of Avellino in the Campania region of southern Italy. It is situated in a plain surrounded by mountains east of Naples and is an important hub on the road from Salerno to Benevento. ...

for the season. Next season he was sent on another loan spell to

club

Pro Vercelli Football Club Pro Vercelli 1892, commonly referred to as Pro Vercelli, is an Football in Italy, Italian football club based in Vercelli, Piedmont. The club is mostly renowned as one of the most successful teams in the early football era of Ital ...

. However, during the January transfer window he was called back and sent on a second loan spell to Avellino. Avellino promoted to Serie B at the end of season. On 29 July 2013, he was signed by Italian third division club U.S. Lecce, re-joining teammate Giacomo Beretta and Marcus Diniz. Next season, he moved to

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 ...

, once again on loan. On 8 January 2015, Zigoni was released by Monza. He was signed by SPAL on loan. The loan was extended on 13 July 2015, and again on 15 July 2016.

Venezia

On 10 August 2017, Zigoni was signed by

side

Venezia Venice ( ; ; , formerly ) is a city in northeastern Italy and the capital of the Veneto Regions of Italy, region. It is built on a group of 118 islands that are separated by expanses of open water and by canals; portions of the city are li ...

, on a season-long loan deal with an obligation to buy.

Serie C

On 19 September 2020, he joined

Novara Novara (; Novarese Lombard, Novarese: ) is the capital city of the province of Novara in the Piedmont (Italy), Piedmont region in northwest Italy, to the west of Milan. With 101,916 inhabitants (on 1 January 2021), it is the second most populous ...

on loan. On 30 January 2021, he was sub-loaned to Mantova. On 31 January 2022, Zigoni was sold to

Serie C The Serie C (), officially known as Serie C NOW for sponsorship purposes, is the third-highest division in the Italian football league system after the Serie B and Serie A. The Lega Italiana Calcio Professionistico (Lega Pro) is the governing ...

club Virtus Verona on a permanent transfer. On 9 September 2022, Zigoni moved to Juve Stabia on a one-season contract. On 24 August 2023, Zigoni returned to Virtus Verona for one year. On 26 August 2024, Zigoni joined

Taranto Taranto (; ; previously called Tarent in English) is a coastal city in Apulia, Southern Italy. It is the capital of the province of Taranto, serving as an important commercial port as well as the main Italian naval base. Founded by Spartans ...

International career

Zigoni won his first international cap in February 2009, shortly after his debut in

with

, being called up by Italy U-20 for a game against

Austria Austria, formally the Republic of Austria, is a landlocked country in Central Europe, lying in the Eastern Alps. It is a federation of nine Federal states of Austria, states, of which the capital Vienna is the List of largest cities in Aust ...

. Italy lost 2–1, with Zigoni himself scoring their lone goal. Zigoni went on to be selected also at under-18 and under-19 level, being capped a total of 10 times and scoring 5 goals. Among the 5 goals, 3 of them was from 3 substitute appearances in 2010 UEFA European Under-19 Football Championship qualification. However Zigoni was dropped out from the squad for the elite round and the final tournament as the team already had Mattia Destro, Fabio Borini and

Nicolao Dumitru Nicolao Manuel Dumitru Cardoso (born 12 October 1991) is an Italian professional Association football, footballer who plays for Liga 1 (Indonesia), Liga 1 club PSS Sleman, on loan from Malaysia Super League club Johor Darul Ta'zim F.C., Johor Da ...

as centre forwards.

Personal life

Zigoni was born in

Verona Verona ( ; ; or ) is a city on the Adige, River Adige in Veneto, Italy, with 255,131 inhabitants. It is one of the seven provincial capitals of the region, and is the largest city Comune, municipality in the region and in Northeast Italy, nor ...

, the son of former

, Roma, and

Hellas Verona Hellas Verona Football Club, commonly referred to as simply Hellas Verona (), is an Italian professional Association football, football List of football clubs in Italy, club based in Verona, Veneto, that currently plays in Serie A. The team won ...

striker Gianfranco Zigoni and grandnephew of former

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 ...

midfielder Pierluigi Ronzon.

Career statistics

References

External links

Profile
at Assocalciatori.it
International caps
at FIGC.it * {{DEFAULTSORT:Zigoni, Gianfranco 1991 births Living people Footballers from Verona Italian men's footballers Italy men's youth international footballers Treviso FBC 1993 players AC Milan players Genoa CFC players Frosinone Calcio players US Avellino 1912 players US Lecce players FC Pro Vercelli 1892 players AC Monza players SPAL players Venezia FC players Novara FC players Mantova 1911 players Virtus Verona players SS Juve Stabia players Taranto FC 1927 players Union Clodiense Chioggia FC players Men's association football forwards Serie A players Serie B players Serie C players 21st-century Italian sportsmen