Roberto Piccoli (born 27 January 2001) 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

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 ...

Club career

Youth

Piccoli began playing football at the age of 10 for Tritium Calcio, which plays in the fourth division of Italian football. At the age of 13, Piccoli made a move to the

Atalanta Atalanta (; ) is a heroine in Greek mythology. There are two versions of the huntress Atalanta: one from Arcadia (region), Arcadia, whose parents were Iasus and Clymene (mythology), Clymene and who is primarily known from the tales of the Caly ...

youth academy after being noticed by Maurizio Costanzi, head of Atalanta youth development. He would remain with Atalanta for the entirety of his youth career. Piccoli had a successful youth career while playing for

in the

Campionato Primavera 1 Campionato Primavera 1, known also as Campionato Primavera 1 TIM – Trofeo Giacinto Facchetti due to sponsorship and posthumous honour, is an Italian football youth competition. It was created in 2017–18 season by splitting Campionato Nazion ...

. In the 2018–19 season, Piccoli scored 14 goals in the league which eventually helped his

side lift the

trophy. Piccoli had a similar performance in the 2019–20 season where he scored a total of 7 goals in the league which eventually saw his

side lift the

title once again.

Atalanta

He made his professional debut in a 0–0

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 ...

tie with

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 ...

on 15 April 2019.

Loan to Spezia Calcio

On 15 September 2020, he joined

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 a season-long loan. Piccoli scored his first goal for

in a 1–2 loss on 20 December 2020 against

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 ...

Return to Atalanta

On 21 August 2021, Piccoli came on as a substitute for Atalanta 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 ...

and scored the winning goal in the 93rd minute. This was his first goal for the Bergamo club in the top flight. Piccoli made several more substitute appearances for Atalanta throughout the season, and was named in the starting lineup for the first time against Lazio on 22 January 2022. Piccoli has made a total of 15 appearances for Atalanta in

, while only scoring one goal for the Bergamo club.

Loan to Genoa

Piccoli joined

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 ...

on loan for the remainder of the 2021–22 season after spending the first half of the season with

. Piccoli made his Genoa debut against

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 ...

coming on as a substitute on 5 February 2022 in a 0–0 draw. He made five appearances for Genoa during the remainder of the season, though did not score any goals.

Loan to Hellas Verona

On 30 June 2022, Piccoli joined

Hellas Verona Hellas Verona Football Club, commonly referred to as simply Hellas Verona (), is an Italian professional Association football, football List of football clubs in Italy, club based in Verona, Veneto, that currently plays in Serie A. The team won ...

on loan for the 2022–23 season.

Loan to Empoli

On 31 January 2023, Piccoli moved on loan to

for one and a half seasons, with an option to buy for Empoli and counter-option to buy back for Atalanta.

Loan to Lecce

On 31 August 2023, Piccoli's loan to Empoli was cut short and he moved on loan to

Lecce Lecce (; ) is a city in southern Italy and capital of the province of Lecce. It is on the Salentine Peninsula, at the heel of the Italian Peninsula, and is over two thousand years old. Because of its rich Baroque architecture, Lecce is n ...

instead, with an option to buy.

Cagliari

On 17 July 2024, Cagliari signed 23-year-old Piccoli on loan with an option to buy set at €12 million. On 24 June 2025, Cagliari triggered the option to buy and signed a four-year contract with Piccoli.

International career

Youth

Roberto Piccoli made his first appearance in an international match when he came on as a substitute for the Italy U15 team in a friendly match against England U15 on 24 April 2016, in which the Italians were defeated 2–3. With the Italy U19 squad he took part in the

2019 UEFA European Under-19 Championship The 2019 UEFA European Under-19 Championship (also known as UEFA Under-19 Euro 2019) was the 18th edition of the UEFA European Under-19 Championship (68th edition if the Under-18 and Junior eras are included), the annual international youth associ ...

. While qualifying for the

, Piccoli scored two goals in a 2–0 victory against the Serbian U19s on 26 March 2019. Piccoli's U-19 side was knocked out in the

group stage A tournament is a competition involving at least three competitors, all participating in a sport or game. More specifically, the term may be used in either of two overlapping senses: # One or more competitions held at a single venue and concentr ...

of the tournament after suffering defeats to both Portugal U19 and Spain U19. On 3 September 2021 he made his debut with the Italy U21 squad, playing as a starter in the

qualifying Qualification may refer to: Processes * Qualifications-Based Selection (QBS), a competitive contract procurement process established by the United States Congress * Process qualification, ensures that manufacturing and production processes can ...

match won 3–0 against

Luxembourg Luxembourg, officially the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg, is a landlocked country in Western Europe. It is bordered by Belgium to the west and north, Germany to the east, and France on the south. Its capital and most populous city, Luxembour ...

. Roberto Piccoli's last appearance for the Italy U21 squad was on 16 November 2021, playing as a starter in a

friendly match An exhibition game (also known as a friendly, scrimmage, demonstration, training match, pre-season game, warmup match, or preparation match, depending at least in part on the sport) is a sport, sporting event whose prize money and impact on th ...

won 4–2 against Romania U21.

Senior

Roberto Piccoli has yet to make his senior debut for the Italy national team. However, following an impressive first-half to the 2024-25 Serie A season with Cagliari, he spoke about his hopes for a possible call-up in an exclusive interview wit
Steven Moore
of Canadian Serie A Broadcaster TLN TV, stating that he is "focused on working hard at the club level" as this is "the only way you can get to the national team."

Career statistics

Style of play

Regarded as a talented young prospect, Piccoli is a player with good technique and a tall stature of 193 centimeters, while mostly being deployed as a center-forward. His height allows him to be dangerous in the air.

Gian Piero Gasperini Gian Piero Gasperini (born 26 January 1958) is an Italian professional football manager and former professional footballer who is currently the head coach of Serie A club Roma. After starting his managerial career at Crotone, he had spells in ch ...

, Atalanta's head coach, describes Roberto Piccoli as great young talent who is a harder worker and a player that brings great value to the team. Piccoli describes himself as a center-forward who loves to exploit the depth of the defense, while being technically gifted but also explaining he can still improve in that area. Piccoli has said that he is inspired by the likes of Duván Zapata and

Mario Mandžukić Mario Mandžukić (; born 21 May 1986) is a Croatian association football, football coach and a former player who was most recently an assistant coach for the Croatia national football team, Croatia national team. As a player, he played as a for ...

Personal life

On 22 January 2021, Piccoli met

Pope Francis Pope Francis (born Jorge Mario Bergoglio; 17 December 1936 – 21 April 2025) was head of the Catholic Church and sovereign of the Vatican City State from 13 March 2013 until Death and funeral of Pope Francis, his death in 2025. He was the fi ...

. Piccoli has a passion for

cycling Cycling, also known as bicycling or biking, is the activity of riding a bicycle or other types of pedal-driven human-powered vehicles such as balance bikes, unicycles, tricycles, and quadricycles. Cycling is practised around the world fo ...

, which he uses to maintain fitness.

Honors

Atalanta * 2x Italian youth champion (Primavera) 18/19,19/20 * Italian Supercoppa Winner (Primavera) 19/20 Individual *

UEFA Youth League The UEFA Youth League is an annual club football competition organised by the Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) since 2013. In its current format, it is contested by the under-19 teams of the clubs competing in the UEFA Champions Le ...

Top Scorer: 2019–20 *

Cosme Damião Cosme Damião (2 November 1885 – 12 June 1947) was a Portuguese football player-coach for S.L. Benfica. A former midfielder, he is remembered as the main force behind the birth of Benfica and one of the first great Portuguese football players ...

Awards – Revelation of the Year: 2021 * Italian Golden Boy: 2021 * 20 man shortlist for the European Golden Boy award: 2021

References

External links

* *
Serie A Profile

FIGC U18 Profile

FIGC U19 Profile
{{DEFAULTSORT:Piccoli, Roberto 2001 births Living people Footballers from Bergamo Men's association football forwards Italian men's footballers Italy men's youth international footballers Italy men's under-21 international footballers Atalanta BC players Spezia Calcio players Serie A players Genoa CFC players Hellas Verona FC players Empoli FC players US Lecce players Cagliari Calcio players 21st-century Italian sportsmen