Nicola Zalewski (born 23 January 2002) is a Polish 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 plays as a full-back or wing-back for

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 ...

club

Inter Milan Football Club Internazionale Milano, commonly referred to as Internazionale () or simply Inter, and colloquially known as Inter Milan in English-speaking countries, is an Italian professional Association football, football List of football ...

. Born and raised in Italy to Polish parents, he opted to play for the Poland national team at international level.

Club career

Roma

Zalewski made his professional debut for

Roma Roma or ROMA may refer to: People, characters, figures, names * Roma or Romani people, an ethnic group living mostly in Europe and the Americas. * Roma called Roy, ancient Egyptian High Priest of Amun * Roma (footballer, born 1979), born ''Paul ...

on 6 May 2021 in the

Europa League The UEFA Europa League (UEL), usually known simply as the Europa League, is an annual association football, football club competition organised since 1971 by the UEFA, Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) for eligible European footb ...

semi-final A single-elimination knockout, or sudden-death tournament is a type of elimination tournament where the loser of a match-up is immediately eliminated from the tournament. Each winner will play another in the next round, until the final match-up, w ...

against

Manchester United Manchester United Football Club, commonly referred to as Man United (often stylised as Man Utd) or simply United, is a professional association football, football club based in Old Trafford (area), Old Trafford, Greater Manchester, Engl ...

, replacing

Pedro Pedro is a masculine given name. Pedro is the Spanish, Portuguese, and Galician name for ''Peter''. Its French equivalent is Pierre while its English and Germanic form is Peter. The counterpart patronymic surname of the name Pedro, meanin ...

at the 76th minute and being instrumental to the winning goal, an own goal by

Alex Telles Alex Nicolao Telles (; born 15 December 1992) is a Brazilian professional Association football, footballer who plays as a left-back for Campeonato Brasileiro Série A club Botafogo de Futebol e Regatas, Botafogo. Telles started his career at Br ...

, seven minutes later. He made his

debut three days later, on 9 May, during a home game against

Crotone Crotone (; ; or ) is a city and ''comune'' in Calabria, Italy. Founded as the Achaean colony of Kroton ( or ; ), it became a great Greek city, home of the renowned mathematician-philosopher Pythagoras amongst other famous citizens, and one ...

. On 29 December, Roma announced his contract had been extended until 2025. On 28 February 2022, he first played as a starter for Roma in their 1–0 win against

Spezia La Spezia (, or ; ; , in the local ) is the capital city of the province of La Spezia and is located at the head of the Gulf of La Spezia in the southern part of the Liguria region of Italy. La Spezia is the second-largest city in the Liguri ...

. On 12 March 2023, he scored the first goal in his senior career in a 3–4 loss against

Sassuolo Calcio Unione Sportiva Sassuolo Calcio, commonly referred to as Sassuolo (), is an Italian professional football club based in Sassuolo, Emilia-Romagna. Their colours are black and green, hence the nickname ''Neroverdi'' (literally "black and greens", ...

. On 3 June 2023, he scored a goal in a 2–1 victory over

. On 12 December 2024, he played the full 90 minutes and registered an assist in a

group stage match against

Braga Braga (; ) is a cities of Portugal, city and a Municipalities of Portugal, municipality, capital of the northwestern Portugal, Portuguese Braga (district), district of Braga and of the historical and cultural Minho Province. Braga Municipality ...

, which concluded in Roma's 3–0 victory.

Loan to Inter Milan

On 1 February 2025, Zalewski joined fellow Serie A team

on loan, with an option to make the deal permanent at the end of the season. The initial loan was reported to be a fee of €600,000, with the buy option at €6.5m. The following day, Zalewski made his debut for the club in the Milan derby, coming on as a substitute for

Federico Dimarco Federico Dimarco (born 10 November 1997) is an Italian professional footballer who plays as a left wing-back or left back for Serie A club Inter Milan and the Italy national team. He is known for his pace, crossing, and threatening goal-scoring ...

in the 76th minute. He later assisted

Stefan de Vrij Stefan de Vrij (; born 5 February 1992) is a Dutch professional footballer who plays as a centre-back for club Inter Milan and the Netherlands national team. De Vrij began his career at his local club VV Spirit, and debuted as a professiona ...

’s equaliser in stoppage time. Zalewski scored his first goal for Inter in an away match against

Torino 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 ...

on 11 May 2025 which Inter won 2–0. Zalewski's goal was the opening goal of that match.

International career

Zalewski was born 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 ...

but he is not an Italian citizen due to the country's ''

jus sanguinis ( or , ), meaning 'right of blood', is a principle of nationality law by which nationality is determined or acquired by the nationality of one or both parents. Children at birth may be nationals of a particular state if either or both of thei ...

nationality law Nationality law is the law of a sovereign state, and of each of its jurisdictions, that defines the legal manner in which a national identity is acquired and how it may be lost. In international law, the legal means to acquire nationality and for ...

. He was first selected by the youth selections of the Poland national team after being discovered by

Zbigniew Boniek Zbigniew Kazimierz Boniek (; born 3 March 1956) is a Polish former association football, footballer and manager as well as a current UEFA vice-president. A former midfielder, who was also capable of playing mostly as a right winger and Forward ( ...

, head of the

Polish Football Association The Polish Football Association ( PZPN) is the governing body of association football in Poland. It organizes the Polish football leagues (without the ), the national cups, and manages the men's and women's national teams. It also runs the nati ...

and former Roma player. He made his debut for the senior team on 5 September 2021, in the World Cup Qualifier against

San Marino San Marino, officially the Republic of San Marino, is a landlocked country in Southern Europe, completely surrounded by Italy. Located on the northeastern slopes of the Apennine Mountains, it is the larger of two European microstates, microsta ...

where he came on in 66th minute and assisted Adam Buksa in the 94th minute who made it 7–1 for Poland. On 7 June 2024, Zalewski was called up for

UEFA Euro 2024 The 2024 UEFA European Football Championship, commonly referred to as UEFA Euro 2024 (stylised as UEFA EURO 2024) or simply Euro 2024, was the 17th UEFA European Championship, the quadrennial international Association football, football champ ...

. Three days later, he scored his first goal for Poland in a friendly against Turkey, dribbling down from the wing past two defenders and hitting a strike inside the box in the 90th minute to set the final score to 2–1. On 5 September 2024, Zalewski scored a last-gasp penalty against

Scotland Scotland is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It contains nearly one-third of the United Kingdom's land area, consisting of the northern part of the island of Great Britain and more than 790 adjac ...

in the group stage of the

UEFA Nations League The UEFA Nations League is an international European football competition played by the senior men's national teams of the member associations of UEFA, the sport's European governing body. The competition was devised to minimise friendlies a ...

to win the game 3–2 in Poland's favour. The following month, he also scored in a 3–3 draw against

Croatia Croatia, officially the Republic of Croatia, is a country in Central Europe, Central and Southeast Europe, on the coast of the Adriatic Sea. It borders Slovenia to the northwest, Hungary to the northeast, Serbia to the east, Bosnia and Herze ...

in the same competition.

Personal life

Zalewski was born in Tivoli to Polish parents and grew up in

Poli DNA polymerase iota is an enzyme that in humans is encoded by the ''POLI'' gene. It is found in higher eukaryotes, and is believed to have arisen from a gene duplication from Pol η. Pol ι, is a Y family polymerase that is involved in transl ...

. He has a sister, Jessica, born in 1992. His father, Krzysztof Zalewski, died of cancer on 24 September 2021.

Career statistics

Club

International

''Scores and results list Poland's goal tally first.''

Honours

Roma *

UEFA Europa Conference League The UEFA Conference League (UECL), usually known simply as the Conference League, is an annual association football, football competition organised since 2021 by the UEFA, Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) for eligible European foot ...

: 2021–22 Inter 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 ...

runner-up: 2024–25 *Supercoppa Italiana runner-up: 2024-2025 Individual * Polish Newcomer of the Year: 2022 * Golden Boy Web: 2022

References

External links

Nicola Zalewski
at the A.S. Roma website * * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Zalewski, Nicola 2002 births Living people Footballers from Tivoli, Lazio Polish men's footballers Poland men's international footballers Poland men's under-21 international footballers Poland men's youth international footballers Italian men's footballers Italian people of Polish descent Polish people of Italian descent Men's association football midfielders AS Roma players Inter Milan players Serie A players 2022 FIFA World Cup players UEFA Euro 2024 players UEFA Conference League–winning players 21st-century Polish sportsmen