Alessandro Lucarelli (Italian pronunciation: [al.esˈsan.dro lu.kaˈre.li] born 22 July 1977) is an Italian former professional footballer who last played for Parma as a defender.

Alessandro Lucarelli
Alessandro Lucarelli
Personal information
Date of birth (1977-07-22) 22 July 1977 (age 47)
Place of birth Livorno, Italy
Height 1.82 m (6 ft 0 in)
Position(s) Defender
Senior career*
Years Team Apps (Gls)
1996–2002 Piacenza 89 (0)
1997–1998Leffe (loan) 29 (0)
2002–2003 Palermo 28 (0)
2003–2004 Fiorentina 31 (0)
2004–2005 Livorno 27 (4)
2005–2007 Reggina 67 (4)
2007 Siena 0 (0)
2007–2008 Genoa 29 (1)
2008–2018 Parma 333 (21)
Total 633 (30)
*Club domestic league appearances and goals

Playing career

edit

Alessandro Lucarelli started his professional career at Piacenza, whose youth sides he also represented. In 1997, he was sent out on loan to Leffe in order to gain first team experience, making 29 league appearances with the side in 1997–98 Serie C2. Leffe narrowly avoided relegation in a relegation play-out. He became a more prominent member of the first team upon his return to Piacenza, where he spent four seasons as a regular. Playing for the first time in Serie A, Lucarelli avoided relegation with Piacenza in 1998–1999 but went down the following year after finishing bottom of the league. Piacenza and Lucarelli secured an immediate return to the top division the next year with a second-place finish in Serie B. In 2001–02, Piacenza finished 12th and this proved to be Lucarelli's final season with the club after 100 appearances in all competitions.

After leaving Piacenza in the summer of 2002, Lucarelli moved to Palermo, then in Serie B, where he spent just one season, making 28 league appearances for the Rosanero, who finished just outside of the promotion places. A brief spell at Brescia in the summer of 2003 lasted just two appearances in the 2003 UEFA Intertoto Cup, which would prove to be his only two appearances in European competition. In August of the same year, he moved to another Serie B side, this time Fiorentina, where he made 31 appearances as they were promoted to Serie A.

His hometown club, Livorno, noticed the defender's qualities and signed him for the 2004–05 Serie A season. He made 28 appearances in his only full season at the club and also scored his first league goals of his professional career as he bagged four goals. Livorno finished ninth in Serie A. Lucarelli moved to Reggina for the 2005–06 season and would spend two seasons at the club, twice achieving mid-table finishes before repeating the feat with Genoa in 2007–08, a club he had joined in the summer of 2007, having been exchanged to Siena from Reggina for Francesco Cozza, but immediately leaving for Genoa, where he signed a three-year contract.[1] Genoa paid €1.9 million to Siena to acquire Lucarelli.[2]

The following summer, 2008, he rejoined his brother Cristiano at Parma, who paid €1.2 million for his services.[3][4] Parma were in Serie B at the time and Lucarelli helped Parma to promotion that season, making 39 appearances in all competitions. This was Lucarelli's third promotion from Serie B to A. Between 2009 and 2015 and across six seasons, Lucarelli made 193 Serie A appearances for the club. In his sixth season at the club, he became club captain. During his time at Parma, he entered the top 100 of players with most Serie A appearances, appearing 386 times for five clubs. Lucarelli was the only player to remain at Parma following the club's demotion to Serie D.[5] He earned three successive promotions in the rebirth of the club from Serie D in 2015–16, Lega Pro to Serie B in 2016–17 and to Serie A in 2017–18. On 4 November 2017, Lucarelli became Parma's record holder for league appearances, moving ahead of Ivo Cocconi on the all-time list.[6] On 27 May 2018, Lucarelli announced his retirement during Parma's promotion party at the Stadio Ennio Tardini, with Parma retiring his number 6 jersey.[7][8]

Coaching career

edit

In June 2017, Lucarelli began studying for his UEFA A Licence at Coverciano,[9] going on to become manager of the team from 2018 to 2021. Lucarelli began a managerial contract with Vastese in Italy in 2022, managing 27 matches and in the Italian league before the end of his contract in 2023.[10] During this time, Vastese scored 26 goals and 29 points, with an average of 2:1 per match.[10] As of 2024, Lucarelli is working at Parma once more as a loan manager.

Personal life

edit

Lucarelli was born in Livorno, the younger brother of Cristiano Lucarelli, who played for Livorno and the Italy national football team. Both the Lucarelli brothers captained their respective clubs for the 2006–07 season.[11] Alessandro's son, Matteo, now plays for Bulgarian Tsarsko Selo, on loan from Parma.

Career statistics

edit
As of 18 May 2018[12]
Club Season League Cup[13] Other[14] Total
Division Apps Goals Apps Goals Apps Goals Apps Goals
Leffe Serie C2 1997–98 29 0 0 0 0 0 29 0
Piacenza Serie A 1998–99 21 0 1 0 0 0 22 0
1999–2000 26 0 2 0 0 0 28 0
Serie B 2000–01 19 0 5 1 0 0 24 1
Serie A 2001–02 23 0 3 0 0 0 26 0
Total 89 0 11 1 0 0 100 1
Palermo Serie B 2002–03 28 0 2 0 0 0 30 0
Brescia Serie A 2003–04 0 0 0 0 2 0 2 0
Fiorentina Serie B 2003–04 31 0 0 0 0 0 31 0
Livorno Serie A 2004–05 27 4 1 0 0 0 28 4
2005–06 0 0 1 0 0 0 1 0
Total 27 4 2 0 0 0 29 4
Reggina Serie A 2005–06 33 2 0 0 0 0 33 2
2006–07 34 2 4 1 0 0 38 3
Total 67 4 4 1 0 0 71 5
Genoa Serie A 2007–08 29 1 0 0 0 0 29 1
Parma Serie B 2008–09 37 2 2 0 0 0 39 2
Serie A 2009–10 33 2 1 1 0 0 34 3
2010–11 32 1 2 0 0 0 34 1
2011–12 34 2 1 0 0 0 35 2
2012–13 32 1 0 0 0 0 32 1
2013–14 34 4 0 0 0 0 34 4
2014–15 28 1 1 0 0 0 29 1
Serie D 2015–16 36 2 0 0 2 0 38 2
Lega Pro 2016–17 35 1 2 0 5 0 42 1
Serie B 2017–18 32 4 1 0 0 0 33 4
Total 333 21 10 1 7 0 350 22
Career total 633 30 29 3 9 0 671 33

Honours

edit

Club

edit

References

edit
  1. ^ "Ufficiale l'acquisto del difensore Lucarelli". Genoa CFC (in Italian). 22 August 2007. Retrieved 7 March 2012.
  2. ^ Genoa CFC Report and Accounts on 31 December 2008 (in Italian)
  3. ^ Genoa CFC Report and Accounts on 31 December 2009 (in Italian)
  4. ^ "Le curiosità di Parma-Napoli: Lucarelli, 100 in gialloblu". Archived from the original on 5 July 2011. Retrieved 13 March 2011.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: unfit URL (link)
  5. ^ "Parma promoted to Serie C in first season after bankruptcy". BBC Sport. 18 April 2016. Retrieved 18 April 2016.
  6. ^ "Dai Dilettanti alla Serie A in tre anni: il record del Parma" (in Italian). foxsports.it. 19 May 2018.
  7. ^ "Alessandro Lucarelli si ritira: "A Parma morto e rinato, ma ora dico basta"" (in Italian). Sky Sport. 27 May 2018.
  8. ^ "Lucarelli si ritira. E il Parma ritira la maglia numero 6" (in Italian). gazzetta.it. 27 May 2018.
  9. ^ "Inaugurato a Coverciano il nuovo corso per allenatore professionista UEFA A" (Press release) (in Italian). Italian Football Federation (FIGC). 13 June 2017. Retrieved 12 August 2017.
  10. ^ a b "Alessandro Lucarelli: Information, teams and honours". www.besoccer.com. Retrieved 26 January 2024.
  11. ^ "Alessandro Lucarelli: Difensore con i fiocchi" (in Italian). Calciomercato.com. 22 July 2011. Retrieved 21 May 2017.
  12. ^ "Alessandro Lucarelli » Club matches". worldfootball.net. Retrieved 25 February 2018.
  13. ^ Includes Coppa Italia, Coppa Italia Serie C and Coppa Italia Serie D.
  14. ^ Includes UEFA Intertoto Cup, Lega Pro play-offs and Serie D play-offs.
edit