Gianni Bruno (born 19 August 1991) is a Belgian 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 Forward is a relative direction, the opposite of backward. Forward may also refer to: People *Forward (surname) Sports * Forward (association football) * Forward (basketball), including: ** Point forward ** Power forward (basketball) ** Smal ...

for Turkish club

Iğdır Iğdır (; or ; ; or ) is a city in the Eastern Anatolia Region of Turkey. It is the seat of Iğdır Province and Iğdır District.

Club career

Early career

Bruno was born in Rocourt, a local town in the city of

Liège Liège ( ; ; ; ; ) is a City status in Belgium, city and Municipalities in Belgium, municipality of Wallonia, and the capital of the Liège Province, province of Liège, Belgium. The city is situated in the valley of the Meuse, in the east o ...

, to Italian parents. As a result, he possesses

dual-nationality Multiple citizenship (or multiple nationality) is a person's legal status in which a person is at the same time recognized by more than one country under its nationality and citizenship law as a national or citizen of that country. There is no ...

. He began his career playing for hometown club FC Liège where his father was a coach. After seven years at the club, after Liège endured financial difficulties, Bruno moved to one of the biggest clubs in the country

Standard Liège Royal Standard de Liège, commonly referred to as Standard Liège ( ; ; ) or simply Standard in Belgium, is a Belgian professional football club based in the city of Liège. They are one of the most successful clubs in Belgium, having won t ...

. He spent seven years at Standard and was a two-time national champion at under-12 and under-17 level with the club. Towards the end of his tenure at Standard, Bruno featured with the club's reserve team in a match against

Anderlecht Anderlecht (; ) is one of the List of municipalities of the Brussels-Capital Region, 19 municipalities of the Brussels-Capital Region, Belgium. Located in the south-western part of the region, it is bordered by the City of Brussels, Forest, B ...

. Despite receiving a professional contract offer from Standard, Bruno departed the club to join

Lille Lille (, ; ; ; ; ) is a city in the northern part of France, within French Flanders. Positioned along the Deûle river, near France's border with Belgium, it is the capital of the Hauts-de-France Regions of France, region, the Prefectures in F ...

in France. He justified departing the club citing France's better training methods and Lille's close proximity to his home in Belgium.

Lille

Bruno began his career at Lille in the club's youth academy in Luchin. After two years in the club's academy, during the 2008–09 season, he began playing on the club's reserve team in the

Championnat de France amateur The Championnat National 2, commonly known as National 2 and formerly known as Championnat de France Amateur (CFA), is a football league competition. The league serves as the fourth tier of French football league system behind Ligue 1, Ligue 2 ...

, the fourth level of French football. Bruno was promoted to the reserve team full-time in the following season. He appeared in 27 matches scoring a team-high 11 goals. After playing the 2010–11 season with the reserve team, on 8 June 2011, Bruno signed his first professional contract agreeing to a one-year deal with Lille. He was, subsequently, promoted to the senior team by manager

Rudi Garcia Rudi José Garcia (; ; born 20 February 1964) is a French professional football manager and former player who is currently the head coach of the Belgium national team. Garcia began his professional career with Lille, and went on to have stints ...

and assigned the number 19 shirt. Bruno made his professional debut on 11 January 2012 appearing as a substitute in a 2–1 defeat to

Lyon Lyon (Franco-Provençal: ''Liyon'') is a city in France. It is located at the confluence of the rivers Rhône and Saône, to the northwest of the French Alps, southeast of Paris, north of Marseille, southwest of Geneva, Switzerland, north ...

in the

Coupe de la Ligue The Coupe de la Ligue (), known outside France as the French League Cup, was a knockout cup competition in French football organized by the Ligue de Football Professionnel. The tournament was established in 1993 and, unlike the Coupe de France ...

. Fours days later, he made his league debut appearing as a substitute in another defeat, this time to

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 ...

. Bruno was sent on loan to

Bastia Bastia ( , , , ; ) is a communes of France, commune in the Departments of France, department of Haute-Corse, Corsica, France. It is located in the northeast of the island of Corsica at the base of Cap Corse. It also has the second-highest popu ...

for the 2013–14 season.

Evian

At the beginning of the 2014–15 season, Bruno joined Evian Thonon Gaillard on a five-year contract. A few months later, he was loaned to fellow

Ligue 1 Ligue 1 (; ), officially known as Ligue 1 McDonald's France, McDonald's for sponsorship reasons, is a professional association football league in France and the highest level of the French football league system. Administered by the Ligue de ...

team

FC Lorient Football Club Lorient Bretagne Sud (;), commonly referred to as FC Lorient (), is a French professional association football club based in Lorient, Brittany. The club was founded in 1926 and currently competes in Ligue 2, having been relegated f ...

Cercle Brugge

On 3 July 2017,

Cercle Brugge Cercle Brugge Koninklijke Sportvereniging () is a Belgian professional football club based in Bruges. They compete in the Belgian Pro League, the top flight of Belgian football. Their matricule number is 12. The club plays home games at the 29 ...

announced the transfer of Gianni to the organization. He signed a contract for one season.

Gent and STVV

On 11 June 2021, after scoring 20 goals in the previous season for Zulte Waregem, Bruno joined

Gent Gent is a shortened form of the word gentleman. It may also refer to: * Ghent ( Dutch: Gent), a Belgian city ** K.A.A. Gent, a football club from Ghent ** K.R.C. Gent, a football club from Ghent ** Gent RFC, a rugby club in Ghent ** .gent, ...

on a three-year contract, but only scored one league goal in his first season at the Buffalos. On 11 July 2022, Bruno moved on a season-long loan to

Sint-Truiden Sint-Truiden (; ; ) is a City status in Belgium, city and Municipalities in Belgium, municipality located in the Provinces of Belgium, province of Limburg (Belgium), Limburg, Flemish Region, Belgium. With more than 41,500 inhabitants, it is on ...

, scoring 18 league goals in his debut season with the Canaries, a new one-season club record, surpassing Désiré Mbonabucya, Yuma Suzuki and Eddy Koens.

Eyüpspor

On 14 August 2023, Bruno moved to

Eyüpspor Eyüpspor Kulübü, known as ikas Eyüpspor due to sponsorship reasons, is a Turkish professional association football, football club located in the Eyüpsultan district of Istanbul. Their colours are lavender and yellow. Their home ground is Eyü ...

in the second-tier

TFF First League The TFF 1. Lig (), currently referred to as Trendyol 1. Lig for sponsorship reasons, is the second level of the Turkish football league system. The league was founded in 2001 as the ''Turkish Second League Category A'' after the reorganization ...

International career

Bruno is a Belgian youth international and has played for all levels for which he has been eligible. In total with the Belgian youth international teams, he has attained 59 caps and scored 33 goals.

Career statistics

References

External links

Club profile
* * * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Bruno, Gianni 1991 births Living people Footballers from Liège Men's association football forwards Belgian men's footballers Belgian people of Italian descent Italian men's footballers Belgian expatriate men's footballers Belgium men's under-21 international footballers Ligue 1 players Belgian Pro League players Challenger Pro League players Russian Premier League players TFF 1. Lig players Lille OSC players SC Bastia players Thonon Evian Grand Genève FC players PFC Krylia Sovetov Samara players Cercle Brugge K.S.V. players S.V. Zulte Waregem players K.A.A. Gent players Sint-Truidense V.V. players Eyüpspor footballers Expatriate men's footballers in France Expatriate men's footballers in Russia Expatriate men's footballers in Turkey Belgian expatriate sportspeople in France Belgian expatriate sportspeople in Russia Belgian expatriate sportspeople in Turkey 21st-century Italian sportsmen 21st-century Belgian sportsmen