Nikola Sekulov (; born 18 February 2002) is an Italian 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

midfielder In the sport of association football, a midfielder takes an Glossary of association football terms#O, outfield position primarily in the middle of the pitch. Midfielders may play an exclusively defensive role, breaking up attacks, and are in t ...

for club

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 ...

. Born in Italy to Macedonian parents, Sekulov represented

Macedonia Macedonia (, , , ), most commonly refers to: * North Macedonia, a country in southeastern Europe, known until 2019 as the Republic of Macedonia * Macedonia (ancient kingdom), a kingdom in Greek antiquity * Macedonia (Greece), a former administr ...

internationally at youth level, before switching to Italy in 2018.

Club career

Born in

Piacenza Piacenza (; ; ) is a city and (municipality) in the Emilia-Romagna region of Northern Italy, and the capital of the province of Piacenza, eponymous province. As of 2022, Piacenza is the ninth largest city in the region by population, with more ...

, Italy, to Macedonian parents, Sekulov began his youth career at

in 2007, remaining there until 2012 when he moved to

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, ...

. In 2015 he joined Pro Piacenza, before moving to

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 ...

in 2016. Sekulov made his

Serie C The Serie C (), officially known as Serie C NOW for sponsorship purposes, is the third-highest division in the Italian football league system after the Serie B and Serie A. The Lega Italiana Calcio Professionistico (Lega Pro) is the governing ...

debut for

Juventus U23 Juventus Next Gen (), also known as Juve Next Gen or Juve NG, is a professional football club based in Turin, Piedmont, Italy, which acts as the reserve team of club Juventus. They compete in , and play their home games at the Stadio La Marm ...

– the reserve team of Juventus – on 21 October 2020 in a 1–0 defeat to

Pro Vercelli Football Club Pro Vercelli 1892, commonly referred to as Pro Vercelli, is an Football in Italy, Italian football club based in Vercelli, Piedmont. The club is mostly renowned as one of the most successful teams in the early football era of Ital ...

. On 22 September 2021, Sekulov scored his first goal in his career in a 2–1 win against

Triestina Unione Sportiva Triestina Calcio 1918, commonly referred to US Triestina or just Triestina, is an Italian football club based in Trieste, in the northern Friuli-Venezia Giulia region. Originally established in 1918, Triestina was one of the fo ...

. On 17 October, Sekulov scored a brace in a 2–1 win against

Seregno Seregno (; ) is a town and ''comune'' of the new Province of Monza and Brianza in the Italian region of Lombardy. Seregno received the honorary title of city by a presidential decree on 26 January 1979. It is served by Seregno railway station ...

. On 29 October, Sekulov extended his contract with

until 2025. On 7 December 2022, Sekulov scored Juventus Next Gen's 2–0 in their victory against

Padova Padua ( ) is a city and ''comune'' (municipality) in Veneto, northern Italy, and the capital of the province of Padua. The city lies on the banks of the river Bacchiglione, west of Venice and southeast of Vicenza, and has a population of ...

Coppa Italia Serie C Coppa Italia Serie C (), formerly named Coppa Italia Lega Pro, is a straight knock-out based competition involving teams from Serie C in Italian football first held in 1972. Format There are a total of six rounds in the competition. It begins i ...

after carrying the ball from his own half. On 15 July 2023, he joined

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

Cremonese Cremona ( , , ; ; ) is a city and (municipality) in northern Italy, situated in Lombardy, on the left bank of the Po (river), Po river in the middle of the Po Valley. It is the capital of the province of Cremona and the seat of the local city a ...

on loan. On 12 January 2024, the loan was terminated early. On 30 March, he made his first-team debut, entering the field in the final minutes of a 1–0 away defeat to Lazio. He became the first player to play in the Serie A, in Serie B and in Serie C in the same season. On 14 August 2024, Sekulov joined

on loan with an obligation to buy.

International career

Sekulov represented Macedonia internationally at youth level until the under-17s, switching allegiance to Italy in 2018. He represented the under-17s at the

2019 UEFA European Under-17 Championship The 2019 UEFA European Under-17 Championship (also known as UEFA Under-17 Euro 2019) was the 18th edition of the UEFA European Under-17 Championship (37th edition if the Under-16 era is also included), the annual international youth association fo ...

, reaching the final of the competition where Italy lost to the

Netherlands , Terminology of the Low Countries, informally Holland, is a country in Northwestern Europe, with Caribbean Netherlands, overseas territories in the Caribbean. It is the largest of the four constituent countries of the Kingdom of the Nether ...

Style of play

A half-winger (), Sekulov has been likened to former Juventus midfielder

Claudio Marchisio Claudio Marchisio (; born 19 January 1986) is an Italian former professional Association football, footballer who played as a midfielder. A product of the Juventus F.C. Youth Sector, Juventus youth system, he spent a large portion of his career ...

for his technical qualities, movements, and height.

Career statistics

Club

Honours

Juventus Next Gen *

runner-up:

2022–23 The dash is a punctuation mark consisting of a long horizontal line. It is similar in appearance to the hyphen but is longer and sometimes higher from the baseline. The most common versions are the endash , generally longer than the hyphen ...

Italy U17 *

UEFA European Under-17 Championship The UEFA European Under-17 Championship, or simply the Euro Under-17, is an annual Association football, football competition contested by the men's under-17 national teams of the UEFA member associations. Spain national under-17 football team, ...

runner-up:

2019 This was the year in which the first known human case of COVID-19 was documented, preceding COVID-19 pandemic, the pandemic which was declared by the World Health Organization the following year. Up to that point, 2019 had been described as ...

Notes

References

External links

* * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Sekulov, Nikola 2002 births Living people Sportspeople from Piacenza Footballers from the Province of Piacenza Italian men's footballers Italy men's youth international footballers Macedonian men's footballers North Macedonia men's youth international footballers Italian people of Macedonian descent Men's association football midfielders Juventus FC players Juventus Next Gen players US Cremonese players UC Sampdoria players Serie A players Serie B players Serie C players 21st-century Italian sportsmen 21st-century Macedonian sportsmen