Luca Antonelli (; born 11 February 1987) 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

left-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 ...

Early life

Antonelli was born in

Monza Monza (, ; ; , locally ; ) is a city and ''comune'' (municipality) on the Lambro, River Lambro, a tributary of the Po (river), River Po, in the Lombardy region of Italy, about north-northeast of Milan. It is the capital of the province of Mo ...

. He is the son of

Roberto Antonelli Roberto Antonelli (born 29 May 1953) is a former Italian football manager and player who played as a striker or as an attacking midfielder. Club career A highly talented yet humble player, throughout his career, Antonelli played for Italian ...

, a former footballer who played for

A.C. Milan (), commonly referred to as Milan or AC Milan () mainly outside of Italy, is an Italian professional Football club (association football), football club based in Milan, Lombardy. Founded in 1899, the club competes in the Serie A, the top tie ...

from 1977 until 1982 as a striker.

Club career

After spending a few seasons in the A.C. Milan youth teams, Antonelli made his first team debut in a

Coppa Italia Coppa Italia () is the annual domestic cup of Italian football. The knockout competition was organized by the DDS and the Lega Calcio until the 2009–10 season and by Lega Serie A ever since. Juventus is the competition's most successf ...

game against

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 ...

on 8 November 2006. On 23 December, he made also 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, in a match against

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 ...

. In the summer of 2007 Antonelli was loaned out to

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

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 ...

, but he impressed so much that during the January transfer window

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, ...

secured him on loan from

for the rest of the Serie A season. He made his first appearance for the ''Gialloblu'' against

Livorno Livorno () is a port city on the Ligurian Sea on the western coast of the Tuscany region of Italy. It is the capital of the Province of Livorno, having a population of 152,916 residents as of 2025. It is traditionally known in English as Leghorn ...

on 16 March 2008.

Parma

In June 2008, Parma had acquired half of the contractual rights from Milan, for €750,000. While the following summer, he was fully transferred for another €2.5 million, which Milan made a financial income of €1.75 million as the value of the retained half had increased from €0.75 million to €2.5 million.

Genoa

In January 2011, Antonelli was transferred to Genoa for €7 million. Genoa also signed

Alberto Paloschi Alberto Paloschi (; born 4 January 1990) is an Italian professional footballer who plays as a striker for Serie D club Calcio Desenzano. Club career Milan Paloschi won the National Under-17s Championship with Milan in the 2006–07 season. He s ...

for €4.35 million and sold

Raffaele Palladino Raffaele Palladino (; born 17 April 1984) is an Italian professional football coach and former player who was most recently the head coach of club Fiorentina. Club career Palladino started his senior career at Sporting Benevento, before joinin ...

(€3 million) and

Francesco Modesto Francesco Modesto (born 16 February 1982) is an Italian football coach and a former player. As a player, he was a wing-back or winger on the left flank. Playing career Cosenza Modesto began his career at fellow Calabrian club Cosenza. Palerm ...

(€2.5 million) to Parma. The club soon sold

Domenico Criscito Domenico "Mimmo" Criscito (; born 30 December 1986) is an Italian former professional footballer who played as a left-back. A versatile player, Criscito was effective both offensively and defensively and was also capable of playing as a wing-bac ...

as Antonelli had succeeded Criscito as full back.

Return to A.C. Milan

In February 2015, Antonelli moved back to his debut club

, for a fee of €4.5 million signing a three-and-a-half-year contract. On his debut for his return to Milan on 7 February 2015, Antonelli scored a goal from a corner kick off a header to tie the match with

Juventus Juventus Football Club (; from , ), commonly known as Juventus or colloquially as Juve (), is an Italian professional Association football, football List of football clubs in Italy, club based in Turin, Piedmont, who compete in Serie A, the ...

at 1–1, which did not prove decisive, as Milan eventually lost the match 3–1.

Empoli

On 11 August 2018, Antonelli transferred to

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 5 October 2020, his contract with Empoli was terminated by mutual consent.

Miami FC

On 17 February 2021, Antonelli was signed by

USL Championship The USL Championship (USLC) is a men's professional association football, soccer league in the second tier of the United States soccer league system#Men's leagues, United States league system. It is organized by the United Soccer League (USL) a ...

side

Miami FC Miami FC is an American professional association football, soccer team based in Miami, Florida that competes in the USL Championship, the second tier of the American soccer pyramid. The club began play in the North American Soccer League (201 ...

. On 10 November 2022, after two seasons with Miami, Antonelli announced his retirement from professional football.

International career

Antonelli made his senior international debut with the Italy national team on 3 September 2010 against

Estonia Estonia, officially the Republic of Estonia, is a country in Northern Europe. It is bordered to the north by the Gulf of Finland across from Finland, to the west by the Baltic Sea across from Sweden, to the south by Latvia, and to the east by Ru ...

Tallinn Tallinn is the capital city, capital and List of cities in Estonia, most populous city of Estonia. Situated on a Tallinn Bay, bay in north Estonia, on the shore of the Gulf of Finland of the Baltic Sea, it has a population of (as of 2025) and ...

Career statistics

Club

International

Honours

Milan *

UEFA Champions League The UEFA Champions League (UCL) is an annual club association football competition organised by the UEFA, Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) that is contested by List of top-division football clubs in UEFA countries, top-divisio ...

: 2006–07 *

Supercoppa Italiana The Supercoppa Italiana, also known as the Italian Super Cup, is an annual super cup tournament in Italian football. Founded in 1988 as a two-team competition, it has featured four teams since 2023 (the winners and runners-up of the previous ...

2016 2016 was designated as: * International Year of Pulses by the sixty-eighth session of the United Nations General Assembly. * International Year of Global Understanding (IYGU) by the International Council for Science (ICSU), the Internationa ...

References

External links

*
AIC Profile

FIGC Profile
{{DEFAULTSORT:Antonelli, Luca Living people 1987 births Footballers from Monza Italian men's footballers Men's association football defenders Italy men's international footballers Italy men's youth international footballers AC Milan players SSC Bari players Parma Calcio 1913 players Genoa CFC players Empoli FC players Miami FC players Serie A players Serie B players USL Championship players Italian expatriate men's footballers Italian expatriate sportspeople in the United States Expatriate men's soccer players in the United States 21st-century Italian sportsmen