Nevio Pizzolitto (born August 26, 1976) is a

Canadian Canadians () are people identified with the country of Canada. This connection may be residential, legal, historical or cultural. For most Canadians, many (or all) of these connections exist and are collectively the source of their being ''C ...

soccer Association football, more commonly known as football or soccer, is a team sport played between two teams of 11 Football player, players who almost exclusively use their feet to propel a Ball (association football), ball around a rectangular f ...

player who most recently played for Montreal Impact in the

North American Soccer League The North American Soccer League (NASL) was the top-level major professional soccer league in the United States and Canada that operated from 1968 to 1984. It is considered the first soccer league to be successful on a national scale in the ...

Career

Youth

Pizzolitto began playing youth soccer with the Sporting-Patriotes of the Quebec Elite Soccer League in 1990. He was picked several times on the LSEQ all-star teams, was also proclaimed Defender of the Year. He helped helping Sporting-Patriotes reach the national club championship in the U15 category in 1990, and later went on to win the national title at the U19 level in 1994.

Professional

Pizzolitto signed with Montreal Impact in the summer of 1995, becoming an important key to Montreal's defence. Where he has helped the Impact win the league championship in 2004, as well as the regular-season title from 1995 to 1997, and 2005 to 2006. As well as claiming the

Voyageurs Cup The Voyageurs Cup () is the domestic trophy for professional soccer in Canada, awarded to the best men's and women's clubs in the country. The Cup was conceived and commissioned by fans of the Canada men's national team, the Voyageurs, in 20 ...

six years in row. In 2005, he helped the Impact to a 15-game undefeated streak which marked a new league record. He was picked on the second All-League team from 2004 to 2006, and was named the Impact's Defensive Player of the Year in 2005. Early in his career he had a short spell in

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 ...

, with

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 ...

side

Imperia Imperia (; or ) is a coastal city and ''comune'' in the Regions of Italy, region of Liguria, Italy. It is the capital of the Province of Imperia, and historically it was capital of the ''Intemelia'' district of Liguria. Benito Mussolini create ...

. On July 16, 2006, he played his 200th career game with the Montreal club, becoming the third player in club history to reach that mark after Nick De Santis and Mauro Biello. On July 26, 2006, he climbed to third place in club history for career minutes played with the Impact, surpassing Patrick Diotte. He helped Montreal come up with 10 shutouts at home, tying a club record, and allow only four goals at home, marking a new club record in 2006. On December 2, 2008 the Montreal Impact announced the re-signing of central defenders Pizzolitto and Stefano Pesoli to a two-year contract. During the 2009 season he helped the Impact maintain the second best defense in the league, by only allowing in 28 goals in 30 games. On June 28, 2008 he reached a milestone with the club by playing his 220th career match, surpassing Nick De Santis for second spot in club history. In the Nutrilite Canadian Championship, he helped win the 2008 Nutrilite Canadian Championship for the Impact which meant the club qualified to the inaugural

CONCACAF Champions League The CONCACAF Champions Cup, formerly known as CONCACAF Champions League (2008–2023), is an international association football competition organized by CONCACAF as its top continental tournament for clubs from North America, Central America, ...

. During the Impact tenure in the Champions League, Pizzolitto played a dominant role in the defence for the Impact throughout the tournament. In total he appeared in nine out of ten matches and helped the Impact reach the quarterfinals before losing out to

Santos Laguna Club Santos Laguna S.A. de C.V., simply known as Santos Laguna or Santos, is a Mexican professional football club based in Torreón, Coahuila. The club competes in Liga MX, the top division of Mexican football. Founded in 1983 as Club Santos I ...

to 5–4 on aggregate. He was selected to the USL First Division First All-League team for the first time in his career, and was awarded by Montreal the ''Defensive Player of the Year award'' for the second time in his career. During the 2009 USL season Pizzolitto contributed by helping the Impact clinch a playoff spot under new head coach Marc Dos Santos. He recorded his first playoff goal in the quarterfinal match against

Charleston Battery The Charleston Battery are an American professional association football, soccer club based in Charleston, South Carolina, and member of the USL Championship. Founded in 1993, the Battery are the oldest continuously operating professional socc ...

. The match resulted in 2–1 victory for the Impact, and allowed the Impact to advance to the finals by winning their second match on aggregate. Montreal would advance on to the finals where their opponents would end up being the

Vancouver Whitecaps Vancouver Whitecaps Football Club is a Canadian professional soccer club based in Vancouver. The Whitecaps compete in Major League Soccer (MLS) as a member of the Western Conference. The MLS iteration of the club was established on March 18, ...

, thus marking the first time in USL history where the final match would consist of two Canadian clubs. In the final Pizzolitto helped the Impact win the series 6–3 on aggregate. The victory gave the Impact their third USL Championship and also the victory marked Pizzolitto's second USL Championship. On October 6, 2009 he received the ''Defensive Player of the Year award'', winning the award for a consecutive year. On January 25, 2010 the Montreal Impact announced the appointment of Pizzolitto as the successor to Mauro Biello as the new team captain. He played his 200th league game for Impact on June 9, 2010 against NSC Minnesota Stars. Pizzolitto failed to earn a spot on the roster when Montreal Impact joined

Major League Soccer Major League Soccer (MLS) is a professional Association football, soccer league in North America and the highest level of the United States soccer league system. It comprises 30 teams, with 27 in the United States and 3 in Canada, and is sanc ...

in 2012. He was released by Montreal on February 20, 2012.

International

Pizzolitto played at the

1993 FIFA U-17 World Championship The 1993 FIFA U-17 World Championship, the fifth edition of the FIFA U-17 World Cup, tournament, was held in the cities of Tokyo, Hiroshima, Kyoto, Kobe, Nagoya, and Gifu, Gifu, Gifu City in Japan from 21 August to 4 September 1993. Players born ...

Japan Japan is an island country in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean off the northeast coast of the Asia, Asian mainland, it is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan and extends from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea ...

, in a team alongside Paul Stalteri and Jason Bent. He made his senior debut for the Canada national soccer team on October 10, 1999, against

Haiti Haiti, officially the Republic of Haiti, is a country on the island of Hispaniola in the Caribbean Sea, east of Cuba and Jamaica, and south of the Bahamas. It occupies the western three-eighths of the island, which it shares with the Dominican ...

, in a Gold Cup qualifier. He made the 23 man roster for the

2003 CONCACAF Gold Cup The 2003 CONCACAF Gold Cup was the seventh edition of the Gold Cup, the soccer championship of North America, Central America and the Caribbean (CONCACAF). For the first time since 1993, the tournament was held in more than one country, with ga ...

and played all three games. He has represented Canada in 1

FIFA World Cup qualification The FIFA World Cup qualification is a set of competitive matches that a national association football team plays in order to qualify for one of the available berths at the final tournament of the men's FIFA World Cup. Qualifying tournaments ar ...

match.Record at FIFA Tournaments
- FIFA He also played in international friendlies against

Germany Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It lies between the Baltic Sea and the North Sea to the north and the Alps to the south. Its sixteen States of Germany, constituent states have a total popu ...

and

Barbados Barbados, officially the Republic of Barbados, is an island country in the Atlantic Ocean. It is part of the Lesser Antilles of the West Indies and the easternmost island of the Caribbean region. It lies on the boundary of the South American ...

in 2003 and 2004.

Honors

Montreal Impact

USL First Division The USL First Division (USL-1) was a professional men's soccer league in the second tier of the United States league system. It was organized by the United Soccer League as its premier league for men from 1996 to 2010, above the USL Second ...

Championship (2):

2004 2004 was designated as an International Year of Rice by the United Nations, and the International Year to Commemorate the Struggle Against Slavery and Its Abolition (by UNESCO). Events January * January 3 – Flash Airlines Flight 60 ...

2009 2009 was designated as the International Year of Astronomy by the United Nations to coincide with the 400th anniversary of Galileo Galilei's first known astronomical studies with a telescope and the publication of Astronomia Nova by Joha ...

Commissioners Cup (5):

1995 1995 was designated as: * United Nations Year for Tolerance * World Year of Peoples' Commemoration of the Victims of the Second World War This was the first year that the Internet was entirely privatized, with the United States government ...

1996 1996 was designated as: * International Year for the Eradication of Poverty Events January * January 8 – A Zairean cargo plane crashes into a crowded market in the center of the capital city of the Democratic Republic of the Congo ...

1997 Events January * January 1 – The Emergency Alert System is introduced in the United States. * January 11 – Turkey threatens Cyprus on account of a deal to buy Russian S-300 missiles, prompting the Cypriot Missile Crisis. * January 1 ...

2005 2005 was designated as the International Year for Sport and Physical Education and the International Year of Microcredit. The beginning of 2005 also marked the end of the International Decade of the World's Indigenous Peoples, Internationa ...

2006 2006 was designated as the International Year of Deserts and Desertification. Events January * January 1– 4 – Russia temporarily cuts shipment of natural gas to Ukraine during a price dispute. * January 12 – A stampede during t ...

Champions (7): 2002, 2003, 2004, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2008

Career stats

Last updated: October 18, 2010 1) Lamar Hunt U.S. Open Cup (American Based Clubs) - Nutrilite Canadian Cup (Canadian Based Clubs)
2) Concacaf Champions League

References

External links

Montreal Impact bio
* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Pizzolitto, Nevio 1976 births Living people Soccer players from Montreal Canadian sportspeople of Italian descent Men's association football defenders Canadian men's soccer players Canada men's international soccer players Canadian expatriate men's soccer players Canadian expatriate sportspeople in the United States Montreal Impact (1992–2011) players Richmond Kickers players American Professional Soccer League players USL First Division players USSF Division 2 Professional League players North American Soccer League (2011–2017) players Expatriate men's footballers in Italy Expatriate men's soccer players in the United States 2003 CONCACAF Gold Cup players Canada men's youth international soccer players