Samuele Vignato (born 24 February 2004) 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 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. ...

Early life

Vignato was born on 24 February 2004 in

Negrar Negrar di Valpolicella is a ''comune'' (municipality) in the Province of Verona in the Italy, Italian region Veneto, about west of Venice and about northwest of Verona. Since 8 February 2019, the official name has been changed to "Negrar di Valp ...

in the

Province of Verona The province of Verona (Italian: ''provincia di Verona'') is a province of the Veneto region in Italy. On its northwestern border, Lake Garda—Italy's largest—is divided between Verona and the provinces of Brescia (Lombardy region) and Trentin ...

, Italy, to Italian father Davide and a Brazilian mother Shèrida. Having begun playing youth football at local club Pieve, Vignato joined

ChievoVerona Associazione Calcio ChievoVerona, commonly referred to as ChievoVerona or simply Chievo (, ), is an Italian football club named after and representing Chievo, a suburb of 4,500 inhabitants in Verona, Veneto. It is owned since 2024 by the team' ...

's youth sector aged six.

Club career

ChievoVerona

After having played for ChievoVerona's under-17s, Vignato was promoted to their '' Primavera'' (under-19) side, scoring 14 goals and making 11 assists in 18 games in the season. He made his first-team debut for Chievo on 4 May 2021, as a 76th-minute substitute in a

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 ...

game against

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 ...

. Vignato finished the season with two league games, having also played against

Virtus Entella Virtus Entella, commonly referred to as Entella, is an Italian professional Association football, football club based in Chiavari, Liguria. Founded in 1914, the club currently competes in the . Entella will play in Serie B 2025/26 after winning ...

as a substitute.

Monza

On 11 August 2021, Vignato joined Serie B side

Monza Monza (, ; ; , locally ; ) is a city and ''comune'' (municipality) on the Lambro, River Lambro, a tributary of the Po (river), River Po, in the Lombardy region of Italy, about north-northeast of Milan. It is the capital of the province of Mo ...

on a three-year deal. He made his debut on 29 August, playing the first half of a 1–0 league win against

. On 25 September, Vignato scored his first professional goal, in a 3–1 Serie B win against

Pordenone Pordenone (; Venetian language, Venetian and ) is a city and (municipality) in the Italy, Italian region of Friuli-Venezia Giulia, the capital of the Province of Pordenone, Regional decentralization entity of Pordenone. The name comes from Lati ...

. He became the first player born in 2004 to score in an Italian professional league. On 25 February 2022, Vignato's contract was extended until 30 June 2025. After having helped Monza gain promotion to the

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 ...

for the first time in their history, Vignato made his Italian top-flight debut in the

2022–23 Serie A The 2022–23 Serie A (known as the Serie A TIM for sponsorship reasons) was the 121st season of top-tier Italian football, the 91st in a round-robin tournament, and the 13th since its organization under an own league committee, the Lega Serie A ...

on 7 November 2022, as a stoppage-time substitute in a 2–0 home win against

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 Vignato's first game as a starter, on 8 October 2023, he scored his first Serie A goal in a 3–0 home win against

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 ...

. He became the first player born in 2004 to score in the Italian top flight, and the youngest Monza player to do so.

International career

Eligible to also represent

Brazil Brazil, officially the Federative Republic of Brazil, is the largest country in South America. It is the world's List of countries and dependencies by area, fifth-largest country by area and the List of countries and dependencies by population ...

internationally, Vignato played for Italy at under-15, under-16 and under-18 levels. Having played 16 games for the under-16s, Vignato made his under-18 debut in a friendly against

Austria Austria, formally the Republic of Austria, is a landlocked country in Central Europe, lying in the Eastern Alps. It is a federation of nine Federal states of Austria, states, of which the capital Vienna is the List of largest cities in Aust ...

in June 2021. Vignato was first called up to the under-19 team on 4 August 2022, for a friendly game against

Albania Albania ( ; or ), officially the Republic of Albania (), is a country in Southeast Europe. It is located in the Balkans, on the Adriatic Sea, Adriatic and Ionian Seas within the Mediterranean Sea, and shares land borders with Montenegro to ...

on 10 August. In June 2023, he was included in the Italian squad for the

UEFA European Under-19 Championship The UEFA European Under-19 Championship, or simply the Euro Under-19, is an annual football competition, contested by the European men's under-19 national teams of the UEFA member associations. Spain is the most successful team in this competit ...

Malta Malta, officially the Republic of Malta, is an island country in Southern Europe located in the Mediterranean Sea, between Sicily and North Africa. It consists of an archipelago south of Italy, east of Tunisia, and north of Libya. The two ...

, where the ''Azzurrini'' eventually won their second continental title.

Style of play

Mainly an

, Vignato can also play as a ''

mezzala 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. ...

''. His main characteristics are his

dribbling In sports, dribbling is maneuvering a ball by one player while moving in a given direction, avoiding defenders' attempts to intercept the ball. A successful dribble will bring the ball past defenders legally and create opportunities to score. As ...

and technical abilities.

Personal life

Vignato's brother, Emanuel, is also a professional football player.

Career statistics

Club

Honours

Italy U19 *

2023 Catastrophic natural disasters in 2023 included the Lists of 21st-century earthquakes, 5th-deadliest earthquake of the 21st century 2023 Turkey–Syria earthquakes, striking Turkey and Syria, leaving up to 62,000 people dead; Cyclone Freddy ...

References

External links

* * * * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Vignato, Samuele 2004 births Living people Footballers from the Province of Verona Italian people of Brazilian descent Sportspeople of Brazilian descent Italian men's footballers Men's association football midfielders AC ChievoVerona players AC Monza players Serie B players Serie A players Italy men's youth international footballers 21st-century Italian sportsmen