Riccardo Meggiorini (born 4 September 1985) is an Italian former 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 played 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 ...

Club career

Early career

Meggiorini took his first steps as a footballer at age eight, in a small football team from Tarmassia, a small fraction of

Isola della Scala Isola may refer to : Places and jurisdictions France * Isola, Alpes-Maritimes, a municipality in the region Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur * Isola 2000, a village and ski resort of the municipality of Isola, Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur * I ...

, and at 12 he entered in the

Verona Verona ( ; ; or ) is a city on the Adige, River Adige in Veneto, Italy, with 255,131 inhabitants. It is one of the seven provincial capitals of the region, and is the largest city Comune, municipality in the region and in Northeast Italy, nor ...

youth system, where he remained for two years. He moved to

Bovolone Bovolone is a town and a ''comune'' (municipality) in the Province of Verona in the Italian region Veneto, located about west of Venice and about southeast of Verona. Bovolone borders the following municipalities: Cerea, Concamarise, Isola de ...

in 2000, in which he scored 46 goals in 26 games in the category of ''Allievi regionali''. He earned a call-up to the first team the following season, scoring 13 times in 27 appearances.

Inter Milan

In the summer of 2003, Meggiorini moved, on loan, to

Internazionale 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 football club based in Milan, Lombardy. Since 1 ...

, who placed him in the ''Primavera'' of the Nerazzurri. At the end of the season, on 23 June 2004 the club redeemed his contract. After starting the season in the youth team,

Roberto Mancini Roberto Mancini (; born 27 November 1964) is an Italian football manager and former player who was most recently the head coach of the Saudi Arabia national team. As a player, Mancini operated as a deep-lying forward, and was best known for h ...

called him up into the first team for the trip to

Cagliari Cagliari (, , ; ; ; Latin: ''Caralis'') is an Comune, Italian municipality and the capital and largest city of the island of Sardinia, an Regions of Italy#Autonomous regions with special statute, autonomous region of Italy. It has about 146,62 ...

, giving him his

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 ...

debut on 14 November 2004, which ended 3–3.

Spezia and Pavia

In January 2005, he left on loan to

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 ...

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 ...

, along with Hernán Paolo Dellafiore. In the summer of the same year, he moved to

Pavia Pavia ( , ; ; ; ; ) is a town and comune of south-western Lombardy, in Northern Italy, south of Milan on the lower Ticino (river), Ticino near its confluence with the Po (river), Po. It has a population of c. 73,086. The city was a major polit ...

, also in Serie C1. In January 2006, he moved to

Cittadella Cittadella () is a medieval walled city in the province of Padua, northern Italy, founded in the 13th century as a military outpost of Padua. The surrounding wall has been restored and is in circumference with a diameter of around . There are fo ...

, another Serie C1 team. He loan was extended in July 2006

Cittadella

He was bought by Cittadella in co-ownership deal in summer 2007, for €40,000, and won promotion to Serie B in June 2008.

Genoa and Bari

In June 2009 Meggiorini was involved in the signing of

Diego Milito Diego Alberto Milito (born 12 June 1979) is an Argentine former professional footballer who played as a striker. He was nicknamed ''El Principe'' ("The Prince" in Spanish) because of his physical resemblance with former Uruguayan footballer En ...

(€28 million) and

Thiago Motta Thiago Motta (; ; born 28 August 1982) is a professional Association football, football manager and former player who was most recently the head coach of club Juventus FC, Juventus. A Midfielder#Defensive midfielder, defensive midfielder, Mott ...

(€10.2 million). Which Inter paid Genoa €20 million cash and half of the registration rights of Meggiorini (tagged for €2.5 million), Robert Acquafresca (€9.5 million), half of

Ivan Fatić Ivan Fatić (, ; born 21 August 1988) is a Montenegrin retired football player who played as a defender or midfielder. He Is manager in youth categories of Rudar Pljevlja. Club career Italy Fatić was signed by Italian Serie A side Internazio ...

(€200,000),

Leonardo Bonucci Leonardo Bonucci (; born 1 May 1987) is an Italian former professional footballer who played as a centre-back. Considered one of the best defenders of his generation, he was known for his technique, ball-playing skills, tackling and his ability ...

(€3 million) and

Francesco Bolzoni Francesco Bolzoni (born 7 May 1989) is a retired Italian footballer who played as a midfielder. He is a former Italy U21 international. Club career Internazionale Bolzoni started out at San Colombano al Lambro before joining Inter's academy. ...

(€3 million). Genoa also paid another €2.5 million to

via Inter in order to fully owned the registration rights of Meggiorini. Meggiorini was transferred to

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 2 July 2009 along with Bonucci,

Matteo Paro Matteo Paro (born 17 March 1983) is an Italian Association football, football coach and former player who played as a midfielder. Playing career Juventus Paro made his Serie A debut on 17 May 2003, in a 2–1 loss to Reggina Calcio, Reggina. ...

(loan),

Andrea Ranocchia Andrea Ranocchia (; born 16 February 1988) is an Italian former professional footballer who played as a defender. Club career Early career Born in Assisi in the province of Perugia, Ranocchia started his career at Perugia then in Arezzo. Ranocc ...

(loan) and

Giuseppe Greco Giuseppe Greco (; 4 January 1952 – September 1985) was an Italian hitman and high-ranking member of the Sicilian Mafia. A number of sources refer to him exclusively as Pino Greco, although ''Giuseppe'' was his Christian name; ''Pino'' is a fr ...

(loan) in another co-ownership deal, which the 50% registration rights of Bonucci Meggiorini were valued €1.75 million and €2.75 million respectively. On 26 June 2010, he was bought back by Genoa as the

Liguria Liguria (; ; , ) is a Regions of Italy, region of north-western Italy; its Capital city, capital is Genoa. Its territory is crossed by the Alps and the Apennine Mountains, Apennines Mountain chain, mountain range and is roughly coextensive with ...

side made a higher bid than Bari in a closed tender, for €1.79 million.Genoa CFC Report and Accounts on 31 December 2010 Four days later, Genoa was reported to have agreed with

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 ...

to swap Meggiorini for

goalkeeper In many team sports that involve scoring goal (sport), goals, the goalkeeper (sometimes termed goaltender, netminder, GK, goalie, or keeper) is a designated player charged with directly preventing the opposing team from scoring by blocking or i ...

Stefano Sorrentino Stefano Sorrentino (born 28 March 1979) is an Italian former footballer. A professional goalkeeper for his whole career, he is currently a football agent. Sorrentino played for several Italian clubs throughout his career, being mainly known fo ...

. However, the deal collapsed.

Bologna

On 9 July 2010, he was sold to

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 ...

in another co-ownership deal, for €3 million. Despite not a solid member of starting XI, he also made 3 assists, tied the team record with Diego Pérez.

Novara

The following year Genoa bought back Meggiorini again (direct swap with

Federico Rodríguez Federico Martín Rodríguez Rodríguez (born 3 April 1991) is a Uruguayan footballer who plays as a forward for Cerrito. He represented Uruguay U20 national team. Rodríguez also holds Spanish nationality, it made him unrestricted to be regist ...

) but left for another side, Serie A newcomer

Novara Novara (; Novarese Lombard, Novarese: ) is the capital city of the province of Novara in the Piedmont (Italy), Piedmont region in northwest Italy, to the west of Milan. With 101,916 inhabitants (on 1 January 2021), it is the second most populous ...

in temporary deal, for €400,000,Genoa CFC SpA financial report and accounts on 31 December 2012 as the club had sold its flagship striker

Pablo Andrés González Pablo is a masculine given name, the Spanish form of the name Paul. People * Pablo Acha (born 1996), Spanish archer * Pablo Alarcón (born 1946), Argentine actor * Pablo Alborán (born 1989), Spanish singer * Pablo Aimar (born 1979), Argentine ...

and

Cristian Bertani Cristian Bertani (born 14 March 1981) is an Italian footballer who plays for as a forward for an amateur club Pro Novara. He was suspended in August 2012 for three years and six months. Career Como Born in Legnano, Lombardy, Bertani started h ...

Torino

On 16 January 2012, he was sold in co-ownership to

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 ...

, returning to

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 ...

after playing in the top flight for three years. The fee was €1 million. He debuted 21 January against his former team,

, substituting Juan Surraco in the 71st minute. In February 2012, he scored the match-winner against

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 ...

, 2–1. On 1 May he scored a header, securing the victory for his team at

Livorno Livorno () is a port city on the Ligurian Sea on the western coast of the Tuscany region of Italy. It is the capital of the Province of Livorno, having a population of 152,916 residents as of 2025. It is traditionally known in English as Leghorn ...

. Torino was promoted to

at the end of the season. On 22 June 2012, Torino bought him outright from Genoa for €600,000. On 27 January 2013, he scored a brace at the

San Siro San Siro is a football stadium in the San Siro district of Milan, Italy. It has a seating capacity of 75,817, making it the largest stadium in Italy and one of the largest stadiums in Europe. It is the home stadium of the city's principal ...

against

Inter Inter may refer to: Association football clubs * Inter Milan, an Italian club * SC Internacional, a Brazilian club * Inter Miami CF, an American club * Inter Playa del Carmen, a Mexican club * FC Inter Sibiu, a Romanian club * FC Inter Turku, ...

, ending 2–2. He concluded the season with 3 goals in 31 appearances.

Chievo

On 4 July 2014, he signed a two-year contract, with an option for a third, with Chievo. He scored his first goal for Chievo at home against

Empoli Empoli () is a town and ''comune'' in the Metropolitan City of Florence, Tuscany, Italy, about southwest of Florence, to the south of the Arno River, Arno in a plain formed by the river. The plain has been usable for agriculture since Ancient Ro ...

, in the match in which he debuted with Chievo. On 8 December, he scored with a fantastic bicycle kick against Cagliari, then was decisive in a 2–1 encounter won against

, scoring his club's second goal after a 50-metre dribbling run.

Vicenza

On 15 July 2020 he signed a 1-year contract with an option for extension with

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 ...

Amateur levels

On 7 September 2022, Meggiorini joined amateur side San Giovanni Lupatoto.

International career

He made one appearance for the Italy U-19 team and two for the U-20.

Honours

Spezia *

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 ...

: 2005

References

External links

Profile at La Gazzetta dello Sport (2009–10)

Inter Archive
*
Profile of Riccardo Meggiorini on Torinofc.it
{{DEFAULTSORT:Meggiorini, Riccardo Living people 1985 births Footballers from the Province of Verona Men's association football forwards Italian men's footballers Italy men's youth international footballers Serie A players Serie B players Inter Milan players Spezia Calcio players AS Cittadella players SSC Bari players Bologna FC 1909 players AC Pavia 1911 SSD players Novara FC players Torino FC players AC ChievoVerona players LR Vicenza players 21st-century Italian sportsmen