Riccardo Improta (born 19 December 1993) 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 for club Latina as a

forward Forward is a relative direction, the opposite of backward. Forward may also refer to: People *Forward (surname) Sports * Forward (association football) * Forward (basketball), including: ** Point forward ** Power forward (basketball) ** Smal ...

. His elder brothers Umberto and Giancarlo Improta are also professional footballers.

Club career

Born in

Pozzuoli Pozzuoli (; ; ) is a city and (municipality) of the Metropolitan City of Naples, in the Italian region of Campania. It is the main city of the Phlegrean Peninsula. History Antiquity Pozzuoli began as the Greek colony of ''Dicaearchia ...

, The

Province of Naples The province of Naples (; ) was a province in the Campania region of Italy. In 2014/2015, the reform of local authorities (Law 142/1990 and Law 56/2014), replaced the province of Naples with the Metropolitan City of Naples. Demographics The p ...

, Campania, Riccardo Improta started his career at hometown club Puteolana. He was the member of ''Giovanissimi'' U15 team in 2007–08 season. In 2008–09 season he was the member of ''Allievi Fascia B'' U16 team. In 2009–10 season Improta promoted to ''Allievi'' U17 team. All 3 teams competed in Campania regional youth league. In 2010 Improta left for the reserve of

Lega Pro Prima Divisione Serie C1 was the third highest football league 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 ...

team

Lanciano Lanciano (; ) is a town and ''comune'' in the province of Chieti, part of the Abruzzo region of central Italy. It has 33,944 inhabitants as of 2023. The town is known for the first recorded Catholic Church, Catholic Miracle of Lanciano, Eucharis ...

Lanciano

On 2 May 2011, Improta made his first team debut against Lucchese. Riccardo replaced

Alessandro Volpe Alessandro Volpe (born 4 January 1983) is an Italian footballer who plays as a midfielder. Career Born in Rome, capital of Lazio region and Italy, Volpe started his career at S.S. Lazio. In July 2004 Volpe left for Serie B club Ternana. In 2005 ...

at half-time, while his brother, Umberto Improta was replaced by Mario Titone. He was promoted to the first team in the

2011–12 Lega Pro Prima Divisione The 2011–12 Lega Pro Prima Divisione season will be the thirty-fourth football league season of Italian Lega Pro Prima Divisione since its establishment in 1978, and the fourth since the renaming from Serie C to Lega Pro. It will be divided in ...

season, while Umberto left the club. Improta made a total of 10 appearances, seven of which were starts. On 18 January 2012, he left 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

Genoa Genoa ( ; ; ) is a city in and the capital of the Italian region of Liguria, and the sixth-largest city in Italy. As of 2025, 563,947 people live within the city's administrative limits. While its metropolitan city has 818,651 inhabitan ...

in a temporary deal.

Genoa

Improta played for the Genoa reserve team in the

Campionato Nazionale Primavera The Campionato Nazionale Primavera – Trofeo Giacinto Facchetti, was an Italian football youth competition. It is organised by the Lega Serie A and the participating teams that take part in Serie A and Serie B: the first edition was held in the 1 ...

. He played 9 games and scored 1 goal in the second half of the 2011–12 season. He also played in the first round of the play-offs, losing to

Fiorentina ACF Fiorentina, commonly referred to as Fiorentina (), is an Italian professional Association football, football List of football clubs in Italy, club based in Florence, Tuscany. The original team was founded by a merger in August 1926, while ...

. On 22 June 2012, Genoa excised the option to sign Improta outright, for €150,000. He left for

Gubbio Gubbio () is an Italian town and ''comune'' in the far northeastern part of the Italian province of Perugia (Umbria). It is located on the lowest slope of Mt. Ingino, a small mountain of the Apennine Mountains, Apennines. History Prehistory The ol ...

's pre-season camp. However, he was allowed to join

Juve Stabia Società Sportiva Juve Stabia is an Italian professional football club based in Castellammare di Stabia, Campania. Juve Stabia plays in Serie B, the second tier of Italian football system, following their promotion ahead of the 2024–25 seas ...

on 4 August 2012. On 2 July 2013, Improta left for

Chievo Chievo (4,500 inhabitants) is a frazione of Verona located to the west of the city, around from the historic city centre, on the shores of the river Adige. It is best known for its football team, A.C. ChievoVerona. History The name came from t ...

on loan, with an option to buy. In January 2014, Chievo bought him in a co-ownership deal for a peppercorn of €500. However, he left for

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 ...

immediately. In June 2014, Improta returned to Genoa for an undisclosed fee. On 1 September 2014, Improta left for

Bologna Bologna ( , , ; ; ) is the capital and largest city of the Emilia-Romagna region in northern Italy. It is the List of cities in Italy, seventh most populous city in Italy, with about 400,000 inhabitants and 150 different nationalities. Its M ...

. On 18 July 2015, Improta was signed by

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 ...

on a temporary basis. On 19 August 2016, Improta left for

Salernitana Unione Sportiva Salernitana 1919 is an Italian professional football club based in Salerno, Campania. The original club was founded in 1919 and has been reconstituted three times in the course of its history, most recently in 2011. The current ...

in another loan. Before he left Genoa, he was assigned the number 16 shirt. On 11 July 2017, Improta was signed by

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 1 July 2018, Improta signed 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 ...

club

Benevento Benevento ( ; , ; ) is a city and (municipality) of Campania, Italy, capital of the province of Benevento, northeast of Naples. It is situated on a hill above sea level at the confluence of the Calore Irpino (or Beneventano) and the Sabato (r ...

. On 22 September 2024, Improta signed for

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 ...

club Latina.

International career

Improta was capped for

Italy national under-19 football team The Italy national under-19 football team is the national under-19 Association football, football team of Italy and is controlled by the Italian Football Federation. The team competes in the UEFA European Under-19 Championship, held every y ...

in the second half of the 2011–12 season. He scored twice in 3 games of 2012 UEFA European Under-19 Football Championship elite qualification. Along with Francesco Zampano, they scored a goal against U19 team when they represented

Italy Lega Pro representative teams Italy national football C teams () are the Italy national football team representative teams of Serie C (in the past Lega Pro Prima Divisione and Seconda Divisione). They are controlled by the Lega Italiana Calcio Professionistico and consist of ...

in December 2011. After the game they both entered U19 team.

Career statistics

Honours

Club

;Lanciano (youth) *

Campionato Nazionale Dante Berretti Campionato Primavera 3, formerly Campionato Nazionale Dante Berretti (or simply ''Campionato Berretti''), is an Italian football competition played by youth teams (under 19) organized by the Lega Pro, and mainly composed by Serie C clubs but also ...

Runner-up: 2011

Individual

;Genoa (youth) * Top-scorer of 2012 Torneo di Viareggio

References

External links

FIGC

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Improta, Riccardo 1993 births Living people Italian men's footballers Italy men's under-21 international footballers Italy men's youth international footballers Serie A players Serie B players Serie C players SS Virtus Lanciano 1924 players Genoa CFC players SS Juve Stabia players AC ChievoVerona players Calcio Padova players Bologna FC 1909 players AC Cesena players SSC Bari players Benevento Calcio players Latina Calcio 1932 players Men's association football forwards People from Pozzuoli Footballers from the Metropolitan City of Naples 21st-century Italian sportsmen