Leonardo Benedetti (born 6 June 2000) 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

defensive midfielder In the sport of association football, a midfielder takes an outfield position primarily in the middle of the pitch. Midfielders may play an exclusively defensive role, breaking up attacks, and are in that case known as defensive midfielders. ...

for club

Sampdoria Unione Calcio Sampdoria, commonly referred to as Sampdoria (), is an Italian professional football club based in Genoa, Liguria. Sampdoria was formed in 1946 from the merger of two existing sports clubs whose roots can be traced back to the ...

Club career

Spezia

Benedetti was raised in

Spezia La Spezia (, or ; ; , in the local ) is the capital city of the province of La Spezia and is located at the head of the Gulf of La Spezia in the southern part of the Liguria region of Italy. La Spezia is the second-largest city in the Liguri ...

youth teams and started playing for their Under-19 squad in the 2017–18 season. He was called up to the senior squad during the

2017–18 Serie B The 2017–18 Serie B (known as the Serie B ConTe.it for sponsorship reasons) was the 86th season since its establishment in 1929. A total of 22 teams contested the league: 15 returning from the 2016–17 Serie B season, 4 promoted from 2016� ...

season, but did not make any appearances.

Loan to Sampdoria

On 31 July 2018, Benedetti joined

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 ...

club

on a two-year loan. He spent the 2018–19 season with their Under-19 squad.

Sampdoria

Loan to Spezia

On 19 July 2019, his rights were bought out by

who immediately loaned him back to

for the 2019–20 season. He made his professional

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 ...

debut for Spezia on 21 September 2019 in a game against

Perugia Perugia ( , ; ; ) is the capital city of Umbria in central Italy, crossed by the River Tiber. The city is located about north of Rome and southeast of Florence. It covers a high hilltop and part of the valleys around the area. It has 162,467 ...

. He substituted

Matteo Ricci Matteo Ricci (; ; 6 October 1552 – 11 May 1610) was an Italian Jesuit priest and one of the founding figures of the Jesuit China missions. He created the , a 1602 map of the world written in Chinese characters. In 2022, the Apostolic See decl ...

in the 81st minute. That remained his only appearance for Spezia.

Loan to Vis Pesaro

On 17 January 2020, Benedetti joined

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

Vis Pesaro Vis Pesaro dal 1898 S.r.l., commonly referred to as Vis Pesaro, is an Italian association football club located in Pesaro, Marche. The club currently plays in Serie C. The team is the largest in the city and among the oldest in Italy. Vis Pesa ...

until the end of the 2019–20 season. On 28 August 2020, the loan has been extended.

Loan to Imolese

On 3 August 2021, Benedetti moved to Imolese on loan.

Loan to Bari

On 12 July 2022, Benedetti moved to

Bari Bari ( ; ; ; ) is the capital city of the Metropolitan City of Bari and of the Apulia Regions of Italy, region, on the Adriatic Sea in southern Italy. It is the first most important economic centre of mainland Southern Italy. It is a port and ...

on loan.

International career

Benedetti made his first appearance representing his country on 9 August 2017 in an

Italy national under-18 football team The Italian national under-18 football team represents Italy in international football at an under-18 age level and is controlled by the Italian Football Federation (''Federazione Italiana Gioco Calcio''), the governing body for football in Italy ...

friendly against Slovenia.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Benedetti, Leonardo 2000 births Living people Footballers from La Spezia Italian men's footballers Men's association football midfielders Serie B players Serie C players Spezia Calcio players UC Sampdoria players Vis Pesaro dal 1898 players Imolese Calcio 1919 players SSC Bari players Italy men's youth international footballers 21st-century Italian sportsmen