Lorenzo Ariaudo (born 11 June 1989) 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

centre back In the sport of association football, a defender is an Glossary of association football terms#O, outfield player whose primary role is to stop attacks during the game and prevent the opposition from scoring. Defenders fall into four main categ ...

, currently he is the team manager of

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

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 ...

Playing career

A defender, Ariaudo joined Juventus as a nine-year-old and was part of the 2009

Torneo di Viareggio The Torneo di Viareggio (), officially named the Viareggio Cup World Football Tournament Coppa Carnevale, is a youth association football tournament held annually in the commune of Viareggio, Italy and its surrounding areas. Established in 1949, t ...

-winning team. He made his first team debut in Juventus's 1–1 draw with

Artmedia Petržalka Artmedia was one of the first scientific projects concerning the relationship between art, technology, philosophy and aesthetics. It was founded in 1985 at the University of Salerno. For over two decades, until 2009, dozens of projects, studies, e ...

in the second leg of the

2008–09 UEFA Champions League The 2008–09 UEFA Champions League was the 54th edition of Europe's premier club football tournament and the 17th edition under the current UEFA Champions League format. The final was played at the Stadio Olimpico in Rome, Italy, on 27 May 2009. ...

third qualifying round, in which Juventus won 5–1 on aggregate to advance to the group stages, and was awarded a five-year professional contract. He made

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 on 18 January 2009 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 ...

in Rome in a match that ended with a 1–1 draw. Although he could not permanently break into the first team that season, then-manager

Ciro Ferrara Ciro Ferrara (; born 11 February 1967) is an Italian former footballer and manager. Ferrara spent his playing career as a defender, initially at Napoli and later on at Juventus, winning seven total Serie A titles as well as other domestic and ...

described Ariaudo as a future prospect. After being included in pre-season friendlies, Ariaudo was promoted to the first team permanently. On 2 January 2010, he was loaned to

Cagliari Cagliari (, , ; ; ; Latin: ''Caralis'') is an Comune, Italian municipality and the capital and largest city of the island of Sardinia, an Regions of Italy#Autonomous regions with special statute, autonomous region of Italy. It has about 146,62 ...

for €500,000. After being on the bench for a string of games, he finally made his debut for the Sardinian club on 21 February as a starter and helped keep a clean sheet in a 2–0 win over

Parma Parma (; ) is a city in the northern Italian region of Emilia-Romagna known for its architecture, Giuseppe Verdi, music, art, prosciutto (ham), Parmesan, cheese and surrounding countryside. With a population of 198,986 inhabitants as of 2025, ...

. In June 2010, Cagliari excised the rights to purchase him in co-ownership deal for €1.3million. On 31 January 2011, the club purchased him outright, as part of the deal of

Alessandro Matri Alessandro Matri (; born 19 August 1984) is an Italian former professional footballer who played as a striker. Club career Early career Born in Sant'Angelo Lodigiano, Lombardy, a ''comune'' 30 km away from the city of Milan, Matri started ...

's €2.5million loan. On 4 January 2014, Ariaudo left Cagliari for Serie A side

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 ...

for €800,000 transfer fee, signing a -year contract. On 30 January 2015 Ariaudo signed a loan deal with

Genoa C.F.C. Genoa Cricket and Football Club () is an Italian professional Association football, football club based in Genoa, Liguria. The team competes in the Serie A, the top division of the Italian football league system. Established in 1893, Genoa is ...

In January 2016 he was signed by

Empoli Empoli () is a town and ''comune'' in the Metropolitan City of Florence, Tuscany, Italy, about southwest of Florence, to the south of the Arno River, Arno in a plain formed by the river. The plain has been usable for agriculture since Ancient Ro ...

. On 25 February 2022, Ariaudo signed with

Alessandria Alessandria (; ) is a city and commune in Piedmont, Italy, and the capital of the Province of Alessandria. It is also the largest municipality of the region. The city is sited on the alluvial plain between the Tanaro and the Bormida rivers, ...

until the end of the season. On 13 January 2023, Ariaudo 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 ...

International career

On 25 March 2009 Ariaudo made his debut for the Italy Under-21 squad and marked it with a goal in the friendly 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 ...

that ended with a 2–2 draw. He was named in the preliminary squad for the 2009 European Championships but did not make the final 23-man squad. Since then, he has become a regular starter for the ''Azzurrini'' in their 2011 European Championship qualifying campaign, playing the full 90 minutes in four of the last five matches since March.

Post-playing career

On 8 August 2023,

announced the appointment of Ariaudo as the club's new team manager.

Career statistics

References

External links

*
National Team Statistics
on

FIGC The Italian Football Federation (, ; FIGC ), known colloquially as (), is the governing body of football in Italy. It is based in Rome and the technical department is in Coverciano, Florence. It manages and coordinates the Italian football l ...

official website
Profile
on

Lega Serie A The Lega Nazionale Professionisti Serie A (Italian for ''National Professionals League Serie A''), commonly known as LNPA or Lega Serie A (Serie A League), is the governing body that runs the major professional Association football, football com ...

website * {{DEFAULTSORT:Ariaudo, Lorenzo 1989 births Living people Footballers from Turin Italian men's footballers Italy men's under-21 international footballers Men's association football defenders Juventus FC players Cagliari Calcio players US Sassuolo Calcio players Genoa CFC players Empoli FC players Frosinone Calcio players US Alessandria Calcio 1912 players Novara FC players Serie A players Serie B players Serie C players UC Sampdoria non-playing staff Italian sports executives and administrators 21st-century Italian sportsmen