Gionatha Spinesi (born 9 March 1978) is an Italian former 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 played 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 ...

Career

Born in

Pisa Pisa ( ; ) is a city and ''comune'' (municipality) in Tuscany, Central Italy, straddling the Arno just before it empties into the Ligurian Sea. It is the capital city of the Province of Pisa. Although Pisa is known worldwide for the Leaning Tow ...

, Spinesi started playing for

Pisa Calcio Pisa Sporting Club, commonly referred to as Pisa, is an Italian professional Association football, football List of football clubs in Italy, club based in Pisa, Tuscany. The club will compete in Serie A in the 2025–26 season. The club was fou ...

. In November 1995 he signed for

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 ...

, however, he was not able to make appearance in the first team. Sold in January 1997 to

Castel di Sangro Castel di Sangro (locally ''Caštiéllë'') is a city and ''comune'' of 6,461 people (as of 2013) in the Province of L'Aquila, in Abruzzo, central Italy. It is the main city of the Alto Sangro e Altopiano delle Cinque Miglia area. Geography Caste ...

, he played two unimpressive

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 ...

seasons for the small Serie B team. In June 1997 he joined A.S. Bari, where 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 and played six seasons. In February 2004, he was released for free by Bari following clashes with the board about his contract renewal. In 2004–05, Spinesi played for newly promoted Serie B team

Arezzo Arezzo ( , ; ) is a city and ''comune'' in Italy and the capital of the Province of Arezzo, province of the same name located in Tuscany. Arezzo is about southeast of Florence at an elevation of Above mean sea level, above sea level. As of 2 ...

, where he scored 22 goals and won the league top scorer title. In 2005–06, Spinesi followed Siena coach

Pasquale Marino Pasquale Marino (born 13 July 1962) is an Italian football manager and former player, currently in charge of club Salernitana. Playing career A midfielder, Marino started for his home team, Marsala. Marino never played in divisions higher than ...

in joining

Catania Catania (, , , Sicilian and ) is the second-largest municipality on Sicily, after Palermo, both by area and by population. Despite being the second city of the island, Catania is the center of the most densely populated Sicilian conurbation, wh ...

, where he scored 23 goals and helped the team to promote to Serie A. In 2006–07 Spinesi kept his excellent top flight record up by notching 17 goals and ensuring Catania remained in Serie A. During the 2007–08 season, however, Spinesi scored only seven goals in the league, but was still an influential part of the first team, as Catania again managed to avoid relegation. However, from 2008 onwards he failed to get back into the first team due to recurrent injuries, and he was released in June 2009. Spinesi successively announced his retirement from football, thus turning down an agreement he had previously found with

Lega Pro Prima Divisione Serie C1 was the third highest football league in 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 ...

club Valle del Giovenco.

References

1978 births Living people Footballers from the Province of Pisa Italian men's footballers Men's association football forwards Italy men's under-21 international footballers Serie A players Serie B players Serie D players Pisa SC players Inter Milan players ACD Castel di Sangro Cep 1953 players SSC Bari players SS Arezzo players Catania FC players {{Italy-footy-forward-1970s-stub