Vinicio Edwards Espinal Marte (born 14 November 1982 in

Santo Domingo Santo Domingo, formerly known as Santo Domingo de Guzmán, is the capital and largest city of the Dominican Republic and the List of metropolitan areas in the Caribbean, largest metropolitan area in the Caribbean by population. the Distrito Na ...

) is a Dominican former

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kick (football), kicking a football (ball), ball to score a goal (sports), goal. Unqualified, football (word), the word ''football'' generally means the form of football t ...

player and current coach. A former

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 ...

player, he is the twin brother of José Espinal and also holds Italian nationality.

Club career

Edwards emigrated to

Italy Italy, officially the Italian Republic, is a country in Southern Europe, Southern and Western Europe, Western Europe. It consists of Italian Peninsula, a peninsula that extends into the Mediterranean Sea, with the Alps on its northern land b ...

in 1991, where he played with

team

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 ...

. He moved to Calcio Portogruaro Summaga in

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 ...

during January 2009.

International career

Espinal is a holding

midfielder In the sport of association football, a midfielder takes an Glossary of association football terms#O, outfield position primarily in the middle of the pitch. Midfielders may play an exclusively defensive role, breaking up attacks, and are in t ...

and has several caps under his belt for the

Dominican Republic The Dominican Republic is a country located on the island of Hispaniola in the Greater Antilles of the Caribbean Sea in the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic Ocean. It shares a Maritime boundary, maritime border with Puerto Rico to the east and ...

. He also holds an Italian passport.

Coaching career

In May 2021, Espinal, while still playing with them, was promoted new head coach of

Eccellenza The Eccellenza (, "excellence") is the fifth level (since 2014–15) of Italian football.Official ...

amateurs Mapello. On 15 July 2021, he left Mapello to accept an offer from

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 ...

to become a member of

Maurizio Sarri Maurizio Sarri (; born 10 January 1959) is an Italian professional football manager who is currently manager of Serie A club Lazio. Sarri did not play football professionally, taking part as an amateur centre back and coach while working as a ba ...

's coaching staff. On 10 June 2022, after having spent a season as an assistant coach for the Lazio Under-19 team, Espinal was announced as the new head coach of

Eccellenza The Eccellenza (, "excellence") is the fifth level (since 2014–15) of Italian football.Official ...

amateurs

Ospitaletto Ospitaletto (Brescian: ) is a town and ''comune'' in the province of Brescia, in Lombardy The Lombardy Region (; ) is an administrative regions of Italy, region of Italy that covers ; it is located in northern Italy and has a population of a ...

. On 31 May 2023, Serie D club Crema announced the hiring of Espinal as their new head coach for the 2023–24 season; however, the appointment was not formalized eventually, and Crema announced later in July to have parted ways with Espinal. A few days later, he was unveiled as the new head coach of fellow Serie D club Folgore Caratese. He was dismissed, together with his assistant and brother José Espinal, on 6 October 2023. On 1 March 2024, Espinal was hired by Serie D club Gozzano as their new head coach. He left Gozzano by the end of the season after guiding them to safety, then accepting the head coaching role at fellow Serie D club Real Calepina. He departed from Real Calepina by the end of the season, after a positive campaign with the club.

Honours

Player

; Portogruaro *

: 2009–10 (Group A)

References

External links

* *
ricerca.gazzetta.it
* 1982 births Living people Dominican Republic men's footballers Dominican Republic men's international footballers Dominican Republic expatriate men's footballers Atalanta BC players Taranto FC 1927 players AC Monza players FC Crotone players FC Pro Vercelli 1892 players Benevento Calcio players Venezia FC players Calcio Lecco 1912 players Serie A players Serie B players Serie C players Expatriate men's footballers in Italy Sportspeople from Santo Domingo Dominican Republic twins Men's association football midfielders 21st-century Dominican Republic sportsmen {{DominicanRepublic-footy-bio-stub