Nicola Pozzi (born 30 June 1986) is an Italian

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 ...

coach and former striker.

Playing career

Milan

Signed by

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 then-

Serie C1 Serie C1 was the third highest football league in Italy. It consisted of 36 teams, divided geographically into two divisions. History Before the 1978–79 season, there were only three professional football leagues in Italy, the third being Se ...

side

Cesena Cesena (; ) is a city and ''comune'' (municipality) in the Emilia-Romagna region of Italy; and - with Forlì - is the capital of the Province of Forlì-Cesena. Served by Autostrada A14 (Italy), Autostrada A14, and located near the Apennine M ...

in January 2004, he was successively loaned to

Napoli Naples ( ; ; ) is the regional capital of Campania and the third-largest city of Italy, after Rome and Milan, with a population of 908,082 within the city's administrative limits as of 2025, while its province-level municipality is the thir ...

and

Pescara Pescara (; ; ) is the capital city of the province of Pescara, in the Abruzzo Regions of Italy, region of Italy. It is the most populated city in Abruzzo, with 118,657 (January 1, 2023) residents (and approximately 350,000 including the surround ...

, before being sent on loan to

Empoli F.C. Empoli Football Club is an Italian professional football club based in Empoli, Tuscany. Founded in 1920, the side is part of a select group of Italian football clubs not based in a provincial capital city that have participated in Serie A. Emp ...

for two consecutive seasons ( 2005–06 and 2006–07).

Empoli

In 2007–08 season, his status was changed to co-owned by both sides, for €750,000 (that season Empoli also signed

Luca Antonini Luca Antonini (; born 4 August 1982) is an Italian former professional footballer who played as a defender. He is best known for his five seasons with AC Milan, for which he played from 2008 until 2013. During that time, he made 111 appearanc ...

(€1 million), Lino Marzoratti (€750,000) and

Ignazio Abate Ignazio Abate (; born 12 November 1986) is an Italian professional football coach and a former full-back. Although naturally a winger, he could also play as a wide midfielder, wing-back, and on rare occasions, as a centre-back. As a player, A ...

(€900,000) in co-ownership deals), and on 16 June 2008 Empoli got full ownership for €3.25 million (Pozzi) and €1.5 million (Marzoratti )Empoli FC SpA ''bilancio'' (financial report and accounts) on 30 June 2008
PDF purchased from Italian CCIAA
/ref> in exchange of Antonini (€2.75 million) and Abate (€2 million) who returned to AC Milan, effectively made Empoli pay €3.4 million in net for Pozzi and Marzoratti, as well as the special loan of Abate and Antonini. On 9 December 2007, he scored all four goals in Empoli's 4–1 victory over Cagliari. However, he suffered a season-ending knee injury after netting a brace in a 3–1 defeat of Napoli on February 17, and was sidelined for six months, effectively ruling him out of the ''Azzurrini'' squad for the

2008 Olympics The 2008 Summer Olympics (), officially the Games of the XXIX Olympiad () and officially branded as Beijing 2008 (), were an international multisport event held from 8 to 24 August 2008, in Beijing, China. A total of 10,942 athletes fr ...

. Pozzi also represented Italy at the Under-21 level.

Sampdoria

On 31 August 2009,

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 ...

announced via their website the loan signing of Pozzi for €180,000Empoli F.C. SpA ''bilancio'' (financial report and accounts) on 30 June 2010
PDF purchased from Italian CCIAA
/ref> with the option to make the signing permanent. In June 2010, Sampdoria decided to sign him outright, for €5.2 million on a five-year contract.

Parma

After playing five seasons well at Sampdoria, Pozzi moved to

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 ...

side

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, ...

on 31 January 2014, with

Stefano Okaka Stefano Chuka Okaka (; born 9 August 1989) is an Italian former Association football, footballer who plays as a Forward (association football), forward. He began his career at AS Roma, Roma, debuting shortly after his 16th birthday and being lo ...

moving in the opposite direction, The deal was a cashless swap, as both Pozzi and Okaka were valued for €2 million. On 2 February 2015, Pozzi joined A.C. Chievo Verona in a temporary deal.

Vicenza

On 31 August 2015, he 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 ...

in a two-year deal. He took no.9 shirt from Stefano Pettinari. However, on 25 August 2016 he was released.

Coaching career

On 26 June 2021, Pozzi took on his first head coaching role, being appointed at the helm of Tuscan

Eccellenza The Eccellenza (, "excellence") is the fifth level (since 2014–15) of Italian football.Official ...

amateur club Grassina. He left the club in June 2022, after suffering relegation to

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 ...

References

External links

FIGC
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Pozzi, Nicola Living people 1986 births Footballers from the Province of Rimini Men's association football forwards Italian men's footballers Empoli FC players AC Milan players AC Cesena players SSC Napoli players Delfino Pescara 1936 players UC Sampdoria players Parma Calcio 1913 players AC ChievoVerona players San Donato Tavarnelle players Italy men's under-21 international footballers Serie A players Serie B players Serie C players Serie D players Italian football managers 21st-century Italian sportsmen