Sebastiano Esposito (; born 2 July 2002) 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 for club

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 ...

Club career

Inter Milan

Esposito made his professional debut for

at 16 years old, on 14 March 2019, in the second leg of

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 ...

match against

Eintracht Frankfurt Eintracht Frankfurt e.V. () is a German professional sports club based in Frankfurt, Hesse. It is best known for its football club, which was founded on 8 March 1899. The club currently plays in the Bundesliga, the top tier of the German footb ...

, coming in as a substitute for

Borja Valero Borja Valero Iglesias (; born 12 January 1985) is a Spanish former professional Association football, footballer who played as a midfielder. He began his career with Real Madrid CF, Real Madrid but did not have any impact with its first team, a ...

in the 73rd minute. He became the youngest player ever to feature in a European competition match for the club. The following season, on 23 October 2019 he made his debut in Champions League, replacing

Romelu Lukaku Romelu Lukaku Bolingoli (; born 13 May 1993) is a Belgian professional footballer who plays as a Striker (association football), striker for club SSC Napoli, Napoli and the Belgium national football team, Belgium national team. Lukaku began h ...

in the group stage match against

Borussia Dortmund Ballspielverein Borussia 09 e. V. Dortmund, often known simply as Borussia Dortmund () or by its initialism BVB (), or just Dortmund by International fans, is a German professional sports club based in Dortmund, North Rhine-Westphalia. It is ...

, and becoming the first player born in 2002 and the second youngest ever for the club to feature in a Champions League/European Cup match, after

Giuseppe Bergomi Giuseppe "Beppe" Bergomi (; born 22 December 1963) is an Italian former professional footballer who spent his entire career at Inter Milan. He is regarded as one of the greatest Italian defenders of all time, and as one of the best of his genera ...

. On 26 October, he made 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, aged 17, coming as a substitute for

Lautaro Martínez Lautaro Javier Martínez (born 22 August 1997), also known mononymously as Lautaro, is an Argentine professional footballer who plays as a striker for club Inter Milan, whom he captains, and the Argentina national team. Widely regarded as one ...

in a home match against

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, ...

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 ...

. On 21 December 2019, Esposito scored his first goal for Inter, on his full debut, from a penalty in a 4–0 win at home against

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 15 June 2020, he was nominated for the Golden Boy award.

2020–21 season: Loans to SPAL and Venezia

On 25 September 2020, he joined

SPAL Società Polisportiva Ars et Labor, commonly referred to by the acronym SPAL (), is a professional football club based in Ferrara, Emilia-Romagna, Italy. During the 2024–25 season the team played in Serie C, the third tier of the Italian foot ...

on loan. On 15 January 2021, Esposito joined

Venezia Venice ( ; ; , formerly ) is a city in northeastern Italy and the capital of the Veneto Regions of Italy, region. It is built on a group of 118 islands that are separated by expanses of open water and by canals; portions of the city are li ...

on loan.

2021–22 season: Loan to Basel

On 13 July 2021, he was loaned to Swiss club

Basel Basel ( ; ), also known as Basle ( ), ; ; ; . is a city in northwestern Switzerland on the river Rhine (at the transition from the High Rhine, High to the Upper Rhine). Basel is Switzerland's List of cities in Switzerland, third-most-populo ...

, with an option to buy. Basel confirmed the loan deal on the same day and Esposito joined Basel's first team for their 2021–22 season under head coach

Patrick Rahmen Patrick Rahmen (born 3 April 1969) is a Swiss football coach and former player. He played as midfielder or forward. He was most recently the head coach of Young Boys in the Swiss Super League. Club career Patrick Rahmen learned his football s ...

. After playing in one test game, Esposito played his debut for his new club in the second qualifying round of the

2021–22 UEFA Europa Conference League The 2021–22 UEFA Europa Conference League was the inaugural season of the UEFA Europa Conference League, Europe's tertiary club football tournament organised by UEFA. The final was played at the Arena Kombëtare in Tirana, Albania, with Rom ...

, a home game in the

St. Jakob-Park St. Jakob-Park () is a Swiss sports stadium in Basel. It is the largest football venue in Switzerland and home to FC Basel. "Joggeli", as the venue is nicknamed by the locals, was originally built with a capacity of 33,433 seats. The capacity w ...

on 22 July 2021, as Basel won 3–0 against

Partizani Tirana Futboll Klub Partizani is an Albanian professional football club based in Tirana, that competes in the Kategoria Superiore. Founded in 1946, the club was historically affiliated to the Albanian army. Partizani's home ground is the newly built sta ...

. Three days later, on 25 July, Esposito made his

Swiss Super League The Super League (also known as the Credit Suisse Super League for sponsorship reasons) is a professional association football league in Switzerland and the highest level of the Swiss football league system. It has been played in its current fo ...

debut for Basel against

Grasshoppers Grasshoppers are a group of insects belonging to the suborder Caelifera. They are amongst what are possibly the most ancient living groups of chewing herbivorous insects, dating back to the early Triassic around 250 million years ago. Grassh ...

and scored his first goal for the club in the same game as they recorded 2–0 victory. At the end of the season, Basel decided not to pull the purchase option. During his time with the club, Esposito played a total of 39 games for Basel, scoring a total of nine goals. 23 of these games were in the

, one in the

Swiss Cup The Swiss Cup (; ; ; ) is a football cup competition that has been organised annually since 1925–26 season by the Swiss Football Association. The Swiss Cup final is usually the most important game of the year with a high attendance. The co ...

, ten in the

UEFA Europa Conference League The UEFA Conference League (UECL), usually known simply as the Conference League, is an annual association football, football competition organised since 2021 by the UEFA, Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) for eligible European foot ...

and five were friendly games. He scored six goals in the domestic league, one in the Conference League and the other two were scored during the test games.

2022–23 season: Loans to Anderlecht and Bari

On 4 July 2022, Esposito joined Belgian club

Anderlecht Anderlecht (; ) is one of the List of municipalities of the Brussels-Capital Region, 19 municipalities of the Brussels-Capital Region, Belgium. Located in the south-western part of the region, it is bordered by the City of Brussels, Forest, B ...

on loan. On 31 January 2023, Esposito moved on a new loan 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 ...

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 ...

2023–24 season: Loan to Sampdoria

On 22 August 2023, Esposito joined

club

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 ...

on loan.

2024–25 season: Loan to Empoli

On 17 July 2024, Esposito joined Serie A side

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 loan. Despite the club's relegation to Serie B, he recorded a personal best by scoring 8 goals during the season.

2025-26 season: Return to Inter

Following his loan spell, he returned to his parent club, Inter Milan, to take part in the

2025 FIFA Club World Cup The 2025 FIFA Club World Cup (officially known as the FIFA Club World Cup 2025, also marketed as FIFA Club World Cup 25) is the 21st edition and the first of the expanded FIFA Club World Cup, an international club soccer competition organized ...

. He started for Inter in their first

FIFA Club World Cup The FIFA Club World Cup (FIFA CWC) is an international men's association football competition organised by the ''Fédération Internationale de Football Association'' (FIFA), the sport's global sports governing body, governing body. The compe ...

match against

Monterrey Monterrey (, , abbreviated as MtY) is the capital and largest city of the northeastern Mexican state of Nuevo León. It is the ninth-largest city and the second largest metropolitan area, after Greater Mexico City. Located at the foothills of th ...

International career

He took part in the

2019 UEFA European Under-17 Championship The 2019 UEFA European Under-17 Championship (also known as UEFA Under-17 Euro 2019) was the 18th edition of the UEFA European Under-17 Championship (37th edition if the Under-16 era is also included), the annual international youth association fo ...

, reaching the final of the tournament. He made his debut with the Italy U21 on 3 September 2020, in a friendly match won 2–1 against

Slovenia Slovenia, officially the Republic of Slovenia, is a country in Central Europe. It borders Italy to the west, Austria to the north, Hungary to the northeast, Croatia to the south and southeast, and a short (46.6 km) coastline within the Adriati ...

Personal life

He is the younger brother of midfielder Salvatore Esposito, and the older brother of striker Francesco Pio Esposito.

Career statistics

Club

Honours

Inter Milan *

UEFA 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 ...

runner-up: 2019–20 Italy U17 *

UEFA European Under-17 Championship The UEFA European Under-17 Championship, or simply the Euro Under-17, is an annual Association football, football competition contested by the men's under-17 national teams of the UEFA member associations. Spain national under-17 football team, ...

runner-up:

2019 This was the year in which the first known human case of COVID-19 was documented, preceding COVID-19 pandemic, the pandemic which was declared by the World Health Organization the following year. Up to that point, 2019 had been described as ...

Individual *

Team of the Tournament:

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Esposito, Sebastiano 2002 births Living people Footballers from Castellammare di Stabia Italian men's footballers Men's association football forwards Italy men's youth international footballers Italy men's under-21 international footballers Inter Milan players SPAL players Venezia FC players FC Basel players R.S.C. Anderlecht players SSC Bari players UC Sampdoria players Empoli FC players Serie A players Serie B players Swiss Super League players Belgian Pro League players Italian expatriate men's footballers Italian expatriate sportspeople in Switzerland Expatriate men's footballers in Switzerland Italian expatriate sportspeople in Belgium Expatriate men's footballers in Belgium 21st-century Italian sportsmen