Roberto Insigne (born 11 May 1994) 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

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 ...

for club

Palermo Palermo ( ; ; , locally also or ) is a city in southern Italy, the capital (political), capital of both the autonomous area, autonomous region of Sicily and the Metropolitan City of Palermo, the city's surrounding metropolitan province. The ...

Club career

Napoli

Insigne initially chose the shirt number 42 at

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 ...

, as his older brother and Napoli teammate Lorenzo wore the number 24, but later chose the number 30, and finally the number 94, as it represented the year of his birth. After playing for the Napoli Primavera side in the club's youth system, he made his professional debut for the club's senior side under manager

Walter Mazzarri Walter Mazzarri (; born 1 October 1961) is an Italian professional football manager and former player. After a 14-year playing career with Italian clubs including Reggiana and Empoli, Mazzarri coached several smaller Italian sides and in 2007 ...

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 ...

on 6 December 2012, in a 2–0 home defeat against

PSV Eindhoven Philips Sport Vereniging (; ), abbreviated as PSV and internationally known as PSV Eindhoven (), is a Dutch sports club from Eindhoven, Netherlands. It is best known for its professional association football, football department, which has pla ...

; his first appearance in

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 ...

came on 13 January 2013, as he appeared as a very late substitute in a 3–0 home win against

, playing alongside his older brother. On 22 July 2013 he was sent on loan from Napoli to

Perugia Perugia ( , ; ; ) is the capital city of Umbria in central Italy, crossed by the River Tiber. The city is located about north of Rome and southeast of Florence. It covers a high hilltop and part of the valleys around the area. It has 162,467 ...

, at the request of the club's coach, and former Napoli striker,

Cristiano Lucarelli Cristiano Lucarelli (; born 4 October 1975) is an Italian football manager and a former player who played as a forward. Club career Lucarelli was born in Livorno, Italy. A journeyman striker, he had stints with eight different teams (includ ...

. In August 2014, he was sent on loan from Napoli to Reggina. On 15 July 2015, both Insigne and his young Napoli attacking teammate

Gennaro Tutino Gennaro Tutino (born 20 August 1996) is an Italian professional footballer who plays as a forward for club Sampdoria. Club career Tutino began his career in the Napoli youth system, and became the captain of ''Primavera'' side, with which he ...

were sent on loan to

Avellino Avellino () is a city and ''comune'', capital of the province of Avellino in the Campania region of southern Italy. It is situated in a plain surrounded by mountains east of Naples and is an important hub on the road from Salerno to Benevento. ...

with an option to buy. On 12 January 2017, Insigne was sent on loan from Napoli 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 ...

side

Latina Latina or Latinas most often refers to: * Latinas, a demographic group in the United States * Latino (demonym), a term used in the United States for people with cultural ties to Latin America. *Latin Americans Latina and Latinas may also refer ...

, where he was assigned the number 9 shirt. On 23 July 2017, it was announced that Insigne would be loaned to newly promoted Serie B 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, ...

for the 2017–18 season.

Benevento

On 21 July 2018, Insigne joined with

side

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 loan until 30 June 2019. On 23 June 2019, Insigne signed permanently with Benevento. On 29 June 2020, Insigne helped Benevento secure promotion to the

with seven matches to spare. At the time, Benevento had won 23 of their 31 league games and lost just once, and had a 24-point advantage over nearest rivals

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 ...

and

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 ...

. On 25 October 2020, Insigne scored in Benenvento's clash with his former club Napoli; Insigne's brother Lorenzo was also on the scoresheet as Napoli won 2–1. It was Insigne's first goal ever in the top division of Italian football. It was also only the second time in

history that two brothers have scored against each other in a game; Hungarian pair

István István () is a Hungarian language equivalent of the name Stephen or Stefan. It may refer to: People with the given name Nobles, palatines and judges royal * Stephen I of Hungary (c. 975–1038), last grand prince of the Hungarians and first k ...

and

Ferenc Nyers Ferenc Nyers (also known as ''Étienne Nyers''; born 3 March 1927) is a French retired professional footballer who played as a forward. He was active in France, Italy, Hungary and Colombia. Early life Nyers was born in Freyming-Merlebach, Mos ...

did the same back in 1949, while playing for

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 ...

and

Lazio Lazio ( , ; ) or Latium ( , ; from Latium, the original Latin name, ) is one of the 20 Regions of Italy, administrative regions of Italy. Situated in the Central Italy, central peninsular section of the country, it has 5,714,882 inhabitants an ...

respectively.

Frosinone

On 27 August 2022, Insigne signed a two-year contract with

Frosinone Frosinone (; local dialect: ) is a ''comune'' (municipality) in the Italian region of Lazio, administrative seat of the province of Frosinone. It is about southeast of Rome, close to the Rome-Naples A1 Motorway. The city is the main city of th ...

Palermo

On 12 July 2023, Insigne signed for Serie B club

on a three-year deal.

International career

At international level, Insigne has represented the Italy U-18, U-19, and U-21 sides.

Style of play

Regarded as a talented and promising prospect, Insigne is a diminutive, quick, creative, and skilful left footed forward, with good technique, an eye for goal, and a small, slender physical build, who is capable of playing anywhere along the front line. Due to his ability to both set up and score goals, he usually plays in a free role as a

second striker In the sport of association football, a forward (attacker or striker) is an outfield position which primarily plays further up the pitch than midfielders and defenders. As with any attacking player, the role of the forward relies heavily on bein ...

, which allows him to operate on either flank or in the centre of the attacking third, although he frequently also plays as a right winger, a position which allows him to cut into the centre and

curl cURL (pronounced like "curl", ) is a free and open source computer program for transferring data to and from Internet servers. It can download a URL from a web server over HTTP, and supports a variety of other network protocols, URI scheme ...

shots on goal with his stronger left foot. He has also been deployed as an

attacking midfielder In the sport of association football, a midfielder takes an outfield position primarily in the middle of the pitch. Midfielders may play an exclusively defensive role, breaking up attacks, and are in that case known as defensive midfielders. ...

, or as a main striker on occasion.

Personal life

Roberto is the younger brother of footballer

Lorenzo Insigne Lorenzo Insigne (; born 4 June 1991) is an Italian professional Association football, footballer who plays as a Forward (association football), forward or Midfielder#Winger, winger for Major League Soccer club Toronto FC. Insigne began his pro ...

, who plays for

Toronto FC Toronto Football Club is a Canadian professional Association football, soccer club based in Toronto. The club competes in Major League Soccer (MLS) as a member of the Eastern Conference (MLS), Eastern Conference. The team plays its home matc ...

. His oldest and youngest brothers, Antonio and Marco, also play football, in the Italian amateur divisions. Roberto Insigne is married to Elisabetta; their daughter, Patrizia, was born on 22 November 2016.

Career statistics

Club

Honours

Perugia *

Lega Pro The Lega Italiano Calcio Professionistico (Italian for Professional Football Italian League), commonly known as Lega Pro (Pro League), is the governing body that runs the third tier of professional football competitions in Italy, the Serie C. I ...

: 2013–14 Benevento *

: 2019–20 Frosinone *Serie B:

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 ...

References

External links

*
Roberto Insigne FIGC Profile
{{DEFAULTSORT:Insigne, Roberto 1994 births Living people Footballers from the Metropolitan City of Naples Italian men's footballers Italy men's youth international footballers Men's association football forwards SSC Napoli players AC Perugia Calcio players AS Reggina 1914 players US Avellino 1912 players Latina Calcio 1932 players Parma Calcio 1913 players Benevento Calcio players Frosinone Calcio players Palermo FC players Serie A players Serie B players Serie C players 21st-century Italian sportsmen