Michele Paolucci (born 6 February 1986) is an

Italian Italian(s) may refer to: * Anything of, from, or related to the people of Italy over the centuries ** Italians, a Romance ethnic group related to or simply a citizen of the Italian Republic or Italian Kingdom ** Italian language, a Romance languag ...

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 forward for Canadian club

FC Manitoba FC Manitoba is a Canadian soccer team based in Winnipeg, Manitoba. The club was founded in 2010 as WSA Winnipeg. In 2020, the club was acquired by a new ownership group and re-organized and branded as FC Manitoba. The team played in USL League Tw ...

Club career

Juventus and loans

Paolucci came through the ranks at

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 ...

. After graduating from their ''Primavera'' youth team. However, despite being called up to the first team he never made an official Serie A appearance for the ''Old Lady''. He played with Sebastian Giovinco and Claudio Marchisio. In 2006–07 season he was loaned to Ascoli, made his team and Serie A debut on 10 September 2006, against

Atalanta Atalanta (; ) is a heroine in Greek mythology. There are two versions of the huntress Atalanta: one from Arcadia (region), Arcadia, whose parents were Iasus and Clymene (mythology), Clymene and who is primarily known from the tales of the Caly ...

. After his successful spell at Ascoli where he would go on to score 6 goals in 32 Serie A appearances, he returned shortly to Juventus.

Udinese and loans

In mid-2007, he moved to

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 ...

on a co-ownership deal, as part of the

's deal to sign

Vincenzo Iaquinta Vincenzo Iaquinta (; born 21 November 1979) is an Italian former professional footballer who played as a striker. Prior to joining Juventus in 2007, he initially played for several smaller Italian clubs, and subsequently moved to Udinese in 2 ...

. The price tag of Paolucci's 50% registration rights, was €1.355 million at that time. He made his official game debut in the

Italian Cup 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 ...

, scored two goals against

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 29 August 2007. He made just 2 appearances in 5 months at Udinese. In January 2008 Juventus and Udinese loaned him out to

, where he would play until 30 June 2008. In June 2008,

and Udinese again loaned Paolucci out, this time to Sicilian club,

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 ...

. He scored 7 goals that season, in the Serie A and had been regularly included in first team action, under coach

Walter Zenga Walter Zenga (; born 28 April 1960) is an Italian professional football manager and former player, currently club manager at Serie C club Siracusa. He is regarded as one of the greatest goalkeepers of his generation, and one of Italy's best ...

. He made a total of 28 starts for the club.

Siena and loans

In June 2009, Paolucci returned to

, but was immediately bought back fully by Juventus for €3.3 million. On 8 July 2009 he joined

Siena Siena ( , ; traditionally spelled Sienna in English; ) is a city in Tuscany, in central Italy, and the capital of the province of Siena. It is the twelfth most populated city in the region by number of inhabitants, with a population of 52,991 ...

on a co-ownership for the same price. He signed a 5-year contract. Paolucci did not manage to hold down a regular starting place at Siena, making just 10

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 ...

appearances, and scoring just twice. After not obtaining a regular starting place and also due to Juventus' striker injury crisis, he was loan back by

on 16 January 2010, by Juve paying Siena €500,000. Originally acquired as addition to an injury-ridden team, Paolucci never broke into the first team and ended his second Juve stint with only four league appearances before to return to Siena, now relegated to Serie B. After a disappointing period at Siena, with only one second-division appearance with the Tuscans, Paolucci accepted a loan move to

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 ...

on 31 January 2011, replacing the left of former Siena teammate

Massimo Maccarone Massimo Maccarone (; born 6 September 1979) is an Italian football coach and former player, who played as a striker. He was nicknamed ''Big Mac'' during his playing days. Club career Early career Maccarone started his career at A.C. Milan's y ...

. He made his debut with the Sicilians only two days later, replacing Fabrizio Miccoli in the final minutes of a home game against his former team Juventus, ended in a 2–1 win for Palermo. Siena elected to loan him out once again to

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 ...

for the 2011–12 season after the club acquired the residual 50% rights from Juve for free.

Latina

On 28 January 2014, Paolucci left Siena for

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 ...

side Latina, signed a four-and-a-half-year contract. In 2015, he was released by Latina.

Petrolul

On 9 December 2015, Paolucci signed a six-month contract with Romanian side Petrolul, with an option to extend it by a further year.

Catania and Ancona

In July 2016 he returned to Italy and moved to

; in January 2017 it was sold to

Ancona Ancona (, also ; ) is a city and a seaport in the Marche region of central Italy, with a population of around 101,997 . Ancona is the capital of the province of Ancona, homonymous province and of the region. The city is located northeast of Ro ...

Monopoli and Floriana

Paolucci joined Italian side

Monopoli Monopoli (; ) is a town and comune, municipality in Italy, in the Metropolitan City of Bari and region of Apulia. The town is roughly in area and lies on the Adriatic Sea about southeast of Bari. It has a population of 49,246 (2014), ...

in mid-2017, and then Maltese side

Floriana Floriana ( or ''Il-Floriana''), also known by its title Borgo Vilhena, is a Floriana Lines, fortified town in the Port Region, Malta, Port Region area of Malta, just outside the capital city Valletta. It has a population of 2,205 as of March 2014 ...

on 18 January 2018.

Valour FC

On 16 July 2019, Paolucci signed with

Canadian Premier League The Canadian Premier League (CPL or CanPL; ) is a professional Association football, soccer league in Canada and the highest level of the Canadian soccer league system. The league comprises eight teams, from five of provinces and territories of ...

side

Valour FC Valour FC is a Canadian professional soccer club in Winnipeg, Manitoba, which competes in the Canadian Premier League and plays their home matches at Princess Auto Stadium. The team is coached by Phillip Dos Santos and community owned throu ...

FC Manitoba

On 10 September 2020, Paolucci signed with

USL League Two USL League Two (USL2), formerly the Premier Development League (PDL), is a semi-professional soccer league sponsored by United Soccer Leagues in the United States, forming part of the United States soccer league system. The league will featu ...

side

as a player and assistant manager.

International career

Paolucci made his U-21 team debut against Luxembourg U-21, 12 December 2006, replacing Nicola Pozzi at half time.

Career statistics

References

External links

FIGC

Profile at gazzetta.it
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Paolucci, Michele Living people 1986 births Men's association football forwards Italian men's footballers People from Recanati Italian expatriate men's footballers Expatriate men's footballers in Romania Italian expatriate sportspeople in Romania Expatriate men's footballers in Malta Italian expatriate sportspeople in Malta Expatriate men's soccer players in Canada Italian expatriate sportspeople in Canada Juventus FC players Ascoli Calcio 1898 FC players Udinese Calcio players Atalanta BC players Catania FC players Siena FC SSD players Palermo FC players LR Vicenza players Latina Calcio 1932 players FC Petrolul Ploiești players SSC Ancona ASD players SS Monopoli 1966 players Floriana F.C. players Tarxien Rainbows F.C. players Valour FC players FC Manitoba players Serie A players Serie B players Liga I players Serie C players USL League Two players Maltese Premier League players Canadian Premier League players Italy men's youth international footballers Italy men's under-21 international footballers Footballers from the Province of Macerata 21st-century Italian sportsmen