Lorenzo Lucca (born 10 September 2000) is an Italian professional

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kick (football), kicking a football (ball), ball to score a goal (sports), goal. Unqualified, football (word), the word ''football'' generally means the form of football t ...

er who plays as a striker for club

Udinese Udinese Calcio (; "Udinese Football") is a professional football club based in Udine, Friuli-Venezia Giulia, Italy. The team currently competes in the Serie A, the first tier of Italian football. It was founded on 30 November 1896 as a sport ...

and the Italy national team.

Club career

Early career

Born in

Moncalieri Moncalieri (; ) is a ''comune'' (municipality) of 56,134 inhabitants (31 January 2022) about directly south of downtown Turin (to whose Metropolitan City of Turin, Metropolitan City it belongs), in Piedmont, Italy. It is the most populous suburb ...

, Lucca began playing youth football as a kid for CBS Scuola Calcio, a local team in

Turin Turin ( , ; ; , then ) is a city and an important business and cultural centre in northern Italy. It is the capital city of Piedmont and of the Metropolitan City of Turin, and was the first Italian capital from 1861 to 1865. The city is main ...

, and then moved to the

Torino FC Torino Football Club (), colloquially referred to as Toro, is an Italian professional football club based in Turin, Piedmont that currently plays in the Serie A, the highest football league of Italy. Founded in 1906 as ''Foot-Ball Club Torin ...

youth academy at age eight. He later moved to

Chieri Chieri (; ) is a town and ''comune'' in the Metropolitan City of Turin, Piedmont (Italy), located about southeast of Turin, by rail and by road. It borders the following municipalities: Baldissero Torinese, Pavarolo, Montaldo Torinese, Pino ...

, a club in the province of Turin, but was discarded and allowed to join Atletico Torino. With Atletico Torino, he made his senior debut at age 16 in the Italian sixth-tier (

Promozione The Promozione (, "promotion") is the sixth level in the Italian football league system. Each individual league winner within the Promozione level progresses to their closest regional league in the Eccellenza level. Depending on each league's ...

), scoring two goals. The following season Lucca was signed by

Vicenza Vicenza ( , ; or , archaically ) is a city in northeastern Italy. It is in the Veneto region, at the northern base of the Monte Berico, where it straddles the Bacchiglione, River Bacchiglione. Vicenza is approximately west of Venice and e ...

, with whom he made his professional debut in 2018 at the age of 17 during a

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 ...

league game against Sambenedettese. Lucca was recalled by Torino in 2018 and loaned to

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 ...

. After scoring 16 goals in 18 games for the Brescia primavera youth side, he was called back at Torino in 2019 and played for the ''Toro'' primavera side for the first half of the 2019–20 season.

Palermo

On 31 January 2020, Lucca left Torino to join

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 ...

Serie D The Serie D () is the highest level of semi-professional football in Italy, and the fourth tier of the Italian national league system. It sits beneath the third and lowest fully professional league, Serie C, and feeds in to it through promotion ...

on a free transfer. He only played three games for the ''Rosanero'' as part of the

2019–20 Serie D The 2019–20 Serie D was the seventy-second edition of the top level Italian non-professional football championship. It represents the fourth tier in the Italian football league system. The season was ended in advance by the Italian Football Fed ...

season which ended in promotion to

for the club, also due to the league halt following the COVID-19 outbreak in the country. In July 2020, Lucca signed his first professional contract, penning a four-year deal with the ''Rosanero''. For the

2020–21 Serie C The 2020–21 Serie C was the 62nd season of the Serie C, the third tier of the Italian football league system, organized by the Lega Pro. Teams The league was initially to be contested by 60 teams, but was reduced to 59 following the exclusion ...

season, Lucca started as a understudy to Andrea Saraniti, but soon broke into the first team and became the team topscorer by February, breaking the ten-goal threshold after scoring a brace against

Turris ''Turris'' is a genus of sea snails, marine gastropod mollusks in the family Turridae, the turrids. Description The generally large shells are variegated with spots. The fusiform shell is turriculated with a long, sharp spire. The aperture is o ...

Pisa

On 21 July 2021, Lucca joined

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

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 ...

, penning a five-year deal with the ''Neroazzurri''. He made his debut for Pisa against

SPAL Società Polisportiva Ars et Labor, commonly referred to by the acronym SPAL (), is a professional football club based in Ferrara, Emilia-Romagna, Italy. During the 2024–25 season the team played in Serie C, the third tier of the Italian foot ...

and scored his first two goals for the club in a 2–0 victory against

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, ...

. After bagging six goals in the first seven matches of the season, he stopped scoring, marking his season tally at six goals in 34

matches.

Loan to Ajax

On 5 August 2022,

Eredivisie The Eredivisie (; "Honour Division" or "Premier Division") is a professional association football league in the Netherlands and the highest level of the Dutch football league system. The league was founded in 1956, two years after the start o ...

champions

Ajax Ajax may refer to: Greek mythology and tragedy * Ajax the Great, a Greek mythological hero, son of King Telamon and Periboea * Ajax the Lesser, a Greek mythological hero, son of Oileus, the king of Locris * Ajax (play), ''Ajax'' (play), by the an ...

announced to have signed Lucca from Pisa, on a loan deal with an option to buy. He became the first Italian player in Ajax's history. He scored his first goal for the club on 6 November 2022, scoring against

PSV Eindhoven Philips Sport Vereniging (; ), abbreviated as PSV and internationally known as PSV Eindhoven (), is a Dutch sports club from Eindhoven, Netherlands. It is best known for its professional association football, football department, which has pla ...

in a 2–1 loss in the Eredivisie. After the loan with the Dutch club expired, he returned to Pisa.

Udinese

On 7 July 2023, Lucca joined fellow Italian side

Udinese Calcio Udinese Calcio (; "Udinese Football") is a professional association football, football club based in Udine, Friuli-Venezia Giulia, Italy. The team currently competes in the Serie A, the first tier of Italian football league system, Italian fo ...

on a one-year loan. After a season as a regular for Udinese, on 13 June 2024, the club announced it had signed the player permanently. On 21 February 2025, he scored his tenth Serie A goal of the 2024–25 season in a 1–0 away win over

Lecce Lecce (; ) is a city in southern Italy and capital of the province of Lecce. It is on the Salentine Peninsula, at the heel of the Italian Peninsula, and is over two thousand years old. Because of its rich Baroque architecture, Lecce is n ...

. However, he sparked controversy by taking the penalty from the team's captain,

Florian Thauvin Florian Tristan Mariano Thauvin (born 26 January 1993) is a French professional association football, footballer who plays as a winger (association football), right winger or forward (association football), forward and Captain (association footba ...

, without his teammates' consent. Shortly after, he was substituted in the first half by coach Kosta Runjaić.

International career

On 7 September 2021, Lucca made his debut with the Italy U21 squad, playing as a substitute in the

qualifying Qualification may refer to: Processes * Qualifications-Based Selection (QBS), a competitive contract procurement process established by the United States Congress * Process qualification, ensures that manufacturing and production processes can ...

match and won 1–0 against

Montenegro , image_flag = Flag of Montenegro.svg , image_coat = Coat of arms of Montenegro.svg , coa_size = 80 , national_motto = , national_anthem = () , image_map = Europe-Mont ...

. In March 2024, he was called up to the senior

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 the Mediterranean Sea, with the Alps on its northern land b ...

squad for a friendly against

Ecuador Ecuador, officially the Republic of Ecuador, is a country in northwestern South America, bordered by Colombia on the north, Peru on the east and south, and the Pacific Ocean on the west. It also includes the Galápagos Province which contain ...

, but had to withdraw through injury. On 14 October 2024, Lucca made his senior debut in a

2024–25 UEFA Nations League The 2024–25 UEFA Nations League is the fourth season of the UEFA Nations League tournament, an international association football competition involving the men's national teams of the member associations of UEFA. The competition is being held f ...

match against

Israel Israel, officially the State of Israel, is a country in West Asia. It Borders of Israel, shares borders with Lebanon to the north, Syria to the north-east, Jordan to the east, Egypt to the south-west, and the Mediterranean Sea to the west. Isr ...

, which ended in a 4–1 victory for the Italians.

Career statistics

Club

International

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Lucca, Lorenzo 2000 births Living people Sportspeople from Moncalieri Italian men's footballers Footballers from Piedmont Men's association football forwards LR Vicenza players Palermo FC players Pisa SC players AFC Ajax players Udinese Calcio players Serie A players Serie B players Serie C players Serie D players Eredivisie players Eerste Divisie players Italy men's under-21 international footballers Italy men's international footballers Italian expatriate men's footballers Italian expatriate sportspeople in the Netherlands Expatriate men's footballers in the Netherlands 21st-century Italian sportsmen