Andrea Barzagli Biography

Andrea Barzagli, born in Fiesole, on 8 May 1981, is an Italian former football player, who played as a defender, most notably for Juventus and the Italian national team. He has 73 caps for Italy's national football team. He debuted on 17 November 2004, in a friendly match against Finland.

During his career, Barzagli has won a Bundesliga title with Wolfsburg (2008-09) and eight consecutive Serie A championships with Juventus (from 2011-12 to 2018-19), a club with which he also won four consecutive Italian Cups (from 2014-15 to 2017-18) and four Super Cups (2012, 2013, 2015 and 2018); in the lower divisions, he has won a Serie C1 championship (2001-02) and a Serie C Super Cup (2002) with Ascoli as well as a National Amateur Championship (1998-99) with Rondinella Impruneta.

As a member of the Italian national team, he was world champion in Germany 2006, finalist at the European Championship in Poland-Ukraine 2012, and third at the Confederations Cup in Brazil 2013; moreover, he took part in the World Cup in Brazil 2014 and the European Championships in Austria-Switzerland 2008 and France 2016. At youth level, with Olympic Italy, he was a bronze medalist at the Athens 2004 Games, and with Italy Under-21 he was European champion at Germany 2004.

All You Need to Know About Andrea Barzagli Biography

He is regarded as one of the best defenders in the world of his generation, and on the individual level, he was included four times (2012, 2013, 2014, and 2016) in the AIC team of the year.

Andrea Barzagli Information

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Andrea Barzagli biography

we will share more general information about him such as

Andrea Barzagli nationality

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Andrea Barzagli Bio

• Full Name: Andrea Barzagli

• Nickname: The Wall

• Profession: Professional Footballer

Andrea Barzagli Physical Stats

• Weight: 87 Kg

• Height: 1.87 m

• Eye Color: Hazel

• Hair Color: Dark Brown

Andrea Barzagli Football Information

• Position: Defender

• Jersey Number: 15

• Professional Debut: 1998

Andrea Barzagli Date of Birth and Personal Info

• Date of Birth: 8 May 1981

• Birth Place: Fiesole, Italy

• Zodiac Sign: Taurus

• Nationality: Italian

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Andrea Barzagli biography

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Andrea Barzagli childhood

.

Andrea Barzagli Early Life

He started his professional career with the semi-professional club Rondinella Calcio, where he played in Serie C2 between 1998 and 2002. Prior to 1998, he attended Rondinella's youth academy. During his first season, in 1998/99, Barzagli played 28 league games in Serie D, netting one goal.

During the 1999/00 season, Rondinella was promoted to Serie C, where he played 23 league games and scored two goals. By the summer of 2000, Barzagli had signed a contract on loan with AC Pistoiese, which competed at the second tier of the Italian league.

Andrea Barzagli Profile

He played his first game in service of Pistoiese on 1 October 2000 and played another four more league games of the first half of the season followed. Barzagli returned to Rondinella at the end of the calendar year. Upon his return to Rondinella, Barzagli also made a return to Italy's fourth league level, having spent several months in action in

.

Ascoli

Before the 2001/02 season, he left for Ascoli Calcio, a level higher than Rondinella; becoming a regular in the

team throughout the season, he helped the club force promotion to Serie B by finishing first in the league (Serie C1). The following season, Barzagli was a frequent substitute and played in 18 of the 38 games in Serie B.

He scored two goals, one of which was the winning goal: in the game against AC Siena on 12 January 2003, he scored the decisive goal six minutes before the final whistle (2-1 win). While Ascoli won the league in the previous season, this time they finished in the middle of the table (twelfth place). Nonetheless, he had some interest from Serie A, which led to a free transfer by Chievo Verona in July 2003.

Chievo Verona

He played his first match in Serie A - also which was also his debut match for Chievo Verona - against

on 31 August 2003 (1-1 draw). In the first eight games of the 2003/04 season, Barzagli spent five of them on the bench, but he never missed a game from the ninth matchday on 9 November 2003.

Barzagli played in 29 games in his first season at the top of the league and scored three goals. His last league game of the season on 16 May 2004 (against

, 2-1 victory) was Barzagli's last game in the service of

Verona.

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Andrea Barzagli biography

as we want to share some info about his Palermo career.

Palermo

Barzagli's transfer to US Palermo was finalized on 24 July 2004 for a fee of over two and a half million euros. He made his debut for

on 12 September 2004 in the opening match of the 2004/05 Serie A against AC Siena. Barzagli played the entire match, which was won 1-0 by a goal from Luca Toni.

During his first year with Palermo, Barzagli was a regular in central defense from the first game, missing only one league game out of a total of 38 matches, where he was suspended for one game after receiving four yellow cards in different matches. Aside from this game, Barzagli also missed ten minutes in the game against

Calcio (1-0 loss) on 6 January 2005.

Only goalkeeper Matteo Guardalben played fewer minutes than Barzagli; of all players in Serie A 2004/05, Barzagli was eighth in the list of players with most minutes played, and Palermo finished in sixth place, thus qualifying for the UEFA Cup 2005/06. In that tournament, Barzagli played his first international club matches and appeared eight times for Palermo in the UEFA Cup, which included the two matches in the lost eighth final against FC Schalke 04.

Palermo won 1-0 at home on 9 March 2006, but a week later Schalke beat the club 3-0 in Gelsenkirchen. Barzagli was also a regular in the 2005/06 league season, playing in 35 league games and scoring two goals. He went on to score the second decisive goal of his career in the 0-1 away win against Empoli FC on 12 February 2006. The following UEFA Cup season, Barzagli appeared in five of Palermo's six matches, which did not survive the group stage.

The club experienced a successful first half of the season in

, finishing at the top of the standings for three games and dropping to third at best. However, the club failed to win a single match between 11 February and 22 April, ultimately dropping to sixth place on the final day of play in May 2007. The 2007/08 season was Barzagli's last in the service of Palermo.

He did not miss a minute in the first 27 league games, but he frequently missed games and did not play a full match in the rest of the season. He last played for US Palermo on 18 May 2008 against AC Siena (2-2), playing a total of 165 games in all competitions - Serie A, Coppa Italia, and UEFA Cup - in which he scored three goals. In some of those games, Barzagli played as captain, after then-captain Eugenio Corini left for

in June 2007.

Now stay tuned to this section of Andrea Barzagli biography as we want to share some info about his career in the German Bundesliga.

VfL Wolfsburg

During the spring of 2008, Barzagli was looking to move to ACF Fiorentina, the club from his native region. Although the transfer seemed to be completed, Barzagli's agent and the Fiorentina management did not completely agree on the salary. Instead, Barzagli decided against a contract with Fiorentina, signing a three-season deal with

in June 2008.

Internazionale had also expressed interest in Barzagli, but no real talks were held. Barzagli's move involved a fee of around fourteen million euros. With his move, Barzagli followed his compatriot Cristian Zaccardo, who had previously joined Wolfsburg. Along with Portuguese Ricardo Costa, they formed a southern European defense.

On 16 August 2008, Barzagli played his debut for VfL Wolfsburg in the Bundesliga in the home match against 1. FC Köln (2-1 win). It was not the only time in Barzagli's first season in Germany that he played a full league game: in fact, he never missed a second of Wolfsburg's 34 matches, becoming the only outfield player in the German league to do so. His teammate Marcel Schäfer was the only one to come close to Barzagli with 22 missed minutes.

Wolfsburg was active in the UEFA Champions League in the 2009/10 season; at the end of 2009, Barzagli missed some important matches, in addition to four matches in the group stage of the Champions League as well as six league games. He appeared in the final group game on 8 December 2009, losing 1-3 to Manchester United.

In the Champions League, Wolfsburg was knocked out, but they did advance to the Europa League. In April 2010, Barzagli played in both games of the lost quarter-final against Fulham FC (1-3 over two games). In the 2010-11 Bundesliga, he played all games in the first half of the season.

He provided the assist to Edin Džeko on 18 September 2010, who scored the second and decisive goal (2-0) in the home match against Hannover 96. He played his last game for VfL Wolfsburg on 18 December against TSG 1899 Hoffenheim (2-2 draw); it marked his 94th official game for the club, scoring one goal. During the winter break, he left the club.

Juventus FC

Italian top club FC Internazionale was interested in Barzagli in October 2010 and was considering bringing him back to the Italian league in the winter break. Barzagli's contract at Wolfsburg, which expired in June 2011, had a clause; if he failed to leave in the winter, Wolfsburg would be obliged to let him go on a free transfer and thus would not be able to make any money from his departure.

Genoa had also shown interest in January 2010. Barzagli indeed returned to Serie A in January 2011, but not with either Internazionale or Genoa: his transfer to top club

, which was in sixth place in the league at the time of the winter break, was finalized on 26 January 2011.

Barzagli played his first match for Juventus on 2 February 2011 against former US Palermo in central defense. Manager Luigi Delneri placed him alongside Giorgio Chiellini, with whom Barzagli would play in the Juventus defense for many years to come. For his second game in the service of Juventus, played three days later against Cagliari (1-3 win), Barzagli gave an assist five minutes before the end to Luca Toni, with whom he had already worked at Palermo.

In the rest of the league season, Barzagli went on to play thirteen more matches, including twelve full appearances. During the 2010/11 season, Juventus' defensive side conceded 47 goals in the 38 league games. Therefore, the team's defense left much to be desired. Under coach Delneri, the regular defense was made up of Chiellini, Barzagli, and Leonardo Bonucci.

The next season, Delneri was replaced by Antonio Conte. He didn't replace any of the three defenders but positioned all three side by side - thereby increasing the number of central defenders from two to three. With this so-called 3-5-2 system, Juventus' team was now made up of these three defenders, five midfielders, and two strikers. And it worked: in 38 matches in Serie A 2011/12, Juventus conceded 20 goals.

This system was taken by Bonucci and Chiellini to the national team, where the national coach adopted Conte's system, replacing Barzagli with Daniele De Rossi. Juventus did not participate in any European competition that season due to the seventh place in the previous season; nevertheless, the club won the league title for the first time since 2003.

During the 2011/12 season, Barzagli appeared in 35 league matches, only missing three games in March 2012 due to injury. During the last game of the season, a 3-1 win over Atalanta Bergamo on 13 May 2012, Barzagli had handed over his starting spot to Bonucci; he entered the pitch four minutes before time to replace Chiellini, and in the first minute of injury time he scored his first goal for Juventus with a penalty kick.

Following the 2011/12 season, Barzagli was included in the Serie A team of the year, along with teammates Gianluigi Buffon, Claudio Marchisio, and Andrea Pirlo. He renewed his contract with Juventus on 15 May 2012 through the 2014/15 season.

In the 2012/13 season, Juventus returned to the UEFA Champions League for the first time since 2010 and experienced a successful run-up to the quarter-finals, including a 4-0 win over FC Nordsjaelland and a 3-0 win against Chelsea FC; the Round of 16 was won 5-0 over Scottish side Celtic FC in a two-legged duel. Bayern Munich beat Juventus 2-0 in the quarter-finals in April 2013.

In Serie A, Juventus won their second title in a row and once again conceded relatively few goals in their 38 games, employing the same defense (Bonucci, Chiellini, and Barzagli) that coach Conte had implemented a year earlier. In addition to the league title, Barzagli won one more trophy with Juventus in the 2012/13 season, namely the 2012 Supercoppa.

Barzagli was voted the best central defender in Serie A at the Oscar del Calcio - the Italian football gala of the players' union - in January 2013, together with Thiago Silva, who was playing for AC Milan at the time. Juventus went on to win six of the thirteen different categories.

Because of a calf injury, Barzagli repeatedly missed games in the 2013/14 season, both in Serie A and European Champions League. He starred in four of Juventus' six group matches in the 2013/14 UEFA Champions League, including the last one against Galatasaray SK on 12 November 2013, which they lost 1-0. As a result, Juventus were knocked out of the Champions League but qualified for the second round in the Europa League.

As a result of his injury, Barzagli missed the rest of Juventus' European season, which finished in the semi-finals (2-1 loss to SL Benfica). Once again, Juventus won the league title and the Supercoppa. The club reached a record of 102 points in the league. For the second time, the team's defense was the best in all of Europe.

After the World Cup ended on 1 July 2014, Barzagli had surgery on his right foot in Finland, which left him out of action for three months. He consequently missed the start of the 2014/15 season. Finally, eight months later, Barzagli was expected to play a game in the Juventus team for the first time: under the new coach, Massimiliano Allegri, he substituted for Carlos Tévez in the 86th minute of the home game against US Sassuolo on 9 March.

Pogba had scored the only goal of the match four minutes earlier. Barzagli was back in Juventus' starting eleven a week later. The away match against UC Sampdoria was won 0-1 on 2 May 2015, making it the fourth consecutive league title for Barzagli and Juventus, Two weeks later, he participated in the cup final won against SS Lazio (1-2 win after extra time).

During the 2014/15 UEFA Champions League, Barzagli never missed a game from the return match in the Round of 16 against Borussia Dortmund (0-3 win); it seemed he might miss the quarter-final against AS Monaco because of a muscle injury, but he recovered well enough to be in action anyway, defeating

3-2 in the semi-final, which featured Barzagli as a substitute.

In the run-up to the final on 6 June 2015, coach Allegri was dealing with several injuries in Juventus' defense. Giorgio Chiellini, Barzagli's regular fellow defender, pulled out injured and Martín Cáceres was also unavailable. Due to a thigh injury, Barzagli again did not seem fit enough for the final - Allegri would field Angelo Ogbonna in his place - but he was again sufficiently fit for a starting spot.

Barzagli, as a replacement for Chiellini, played in a four-man defense with Bonucci in the center and Stephan Lichtsteiner and Patrice Evra as wingbacks. Juventus lost the final at the Olympiastadion to FC Barcelona 1-3. Barzagli retired as a player in the summer of 2019, before becoming an assistant coach at Juventus.

Italy National Team

Barzagli played for

at three different levels in 2004. In a friendly match against Finland (1-0 win) on 17 November 2004, he made his debut in the senior Italy national team. Coach Marcello Lippi had five other players make their debut besides Barzagli, including his former teammate at Palermo Cristian Zaccardo. Barzagli played a single game in the qualifying tournament for the 2006 World Cup, on 7 September 2005 against Belarus (1-4 win).

He substituted Mauro Camoranesi five minutes before the final whistle. In May 2006, Barzagli was included in Italy's squad for the World Cup in

and featured in the Round of 16 against Australia (0-1 win) and also played the full quarter-final against Ukraine on 30 June, winning 3-0. Italy reached the final after beating Germany in the semi-final. In the final Barzagli did not play. Italy won the final against France after penalty kicks.

Under new manager Roberto Donadoni, Barzagli was a part of Italy's regular defensive line, with captain Fabio Cannavaro the most experienced international in defense. He played in seven matches in the qualifying tournament for the 2008 European Football Championship, including the deciding away win against Scotland (1-2) on 17 November 2007.

In May 2008, Italy qualified for the European Championship and national coach Donadoni selected Barzagli for the tournament. He played in the preliminary friendly against Belgium (3-1 win), and also played in the first group game of the European Championship on 9 June 2008. The match against the Netherlands was lost 0-3, with goals from Ruud van Nistelrooij, Wesley Sneijder and Giovanni van Bronckhorst.

After the match, the central defensive duo - Barzagli and Materazzi - were criticized by Italian media, while in the next two group matches, Barzagli and Materazzi were replaced by Fabio Grosso and Giorgio Chiellini. Following the group stage, Barzagli sustained an injury to his meniscus during a training session, which caused him to miss the lost quarter-final against the eventual champions Spain.

Under the new national coach, Marcello Lippi, Barzagli played two more matches in the Italian team in 2008 - a friendly against Austria in August and a World Cup qualifier against Cyprus in September - but was subsequently not called up to Italy's national team for over three years. Despite becoming national champions with VfL Wolfsburg in the following league season (2008/09), he was not included in the selections for the 2009 FIFA Confederations Cup and the 2010 World Cup.

In October 2011, Cesare Prandelli, who had been appointed as Italy's new coach after the 2010 World Cup, reinstated Barzagli - by then a key player in the Juventus team - into the national squad for two games in the qualifying tournament for the next European Championship. During the first match, against Serbia (1-1), Barzagli was lined up in the starting eleven with five Juventus teammates, among them fellow defenders Chiellini and Bonucci, and goalkeeper Buffon.

Barzagli missed two friendly internationals in November 2011 due to injury, however, he returned on 29 February 2012 and played the full friendly match against the United States, which was lost 0-1 by a goal from Clint Dempsey. On 29 May 2012, Prandelli selected him in the 23-man squad for the 2012 European Football Championship in Poland and Ukraine.

However, Barzagli missed the first two group games of the tournament because of a calf injury sustained in the last week before the first game against defending champion Spain, but Prandelli kept him in the selection despite his injury. Davide Astori was called up as a possible replacement, however, Barzagli recovered enough to be fit again in the final group game.

In addition to clubmate Bonucci, Barzagli played the three knockout matches in full, which included the final, lost 0-4 to Spain. Following the European Championship, he maintained his place in the starting eleven and played in six World Cup qualifiers in 2012 and 2013. Similarly, Barzagli was included in the squad for the 2013 FIFA Confederations Cup in Brazil, where he starred in three matches, Italy lost to Spain in the semi-finals after penalty kicks, followed by a defeat to Uruguay in the third-place playoff, again in a penalty kick shootout.

Barzagli was included in Italy's squad for the World Cup in June 2014. He participated in the three group matches, with the final group match against Uruguay (1-0 loss) on 24 June 2014 marking Barzagli's 50th international. Following the earlier loss against Costa Rica, this meant Italy had been eliminated from the knockout phase.

He was included in the selection for the 2016 European Football Championship in France on 23 May 2016, where Italy was knocked out by Germany in the quarter-finals after penalty kicks. Barzagli played all matches.

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Style of Play

Barzagli is a complete central defender, who is physically strong, fast, and skilled in building the game. Blessed with a sense of position, adaptability, and tactical intelligence, he can play in both a four-man and a three-man defensive line. If necessary, he can also be used as a right-back.

Reception

Many football fans and critics regard Barzagli to be one of the best defenders of his generation. Together with Leonardo Bonucci and Giorgio Chiellini, who have been teammates in both Juventus and the national team over the course of the 2010s, Barzagli has formed a close-knit defensive trio referred to as the "BBC" by the football press; the strength of the trio has led to comparisons with the defensive line made up of full-backs Virginio Rosetta and Umberto Caligaris as well as center-back Luis Monti, who was the foundation of Juventus' and the national team's successes in the 1930s.

Goal Celebration

As a defender, he never scored many goals during his career and on the other hand, he never had a signature goal celebration.

Andrea Barzagli outside Football

Soon after retiring from playing football, he joined Juventus coaching staff as a defensive coach. However, he resigned from his position a season later and these days are spending much of his time with his wife and children.

Andrea Barzagli Personal Life

In this section of Andrea Barzagli biography, we will take a deeper look into his personal life and share some information about things like

Andrea Barzagli life story

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Andrea Barzagli religion

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Family, Children, and Relationships

He was born in Fiesole in the province of Florence. Barzagli married Maddalena Nullo, an Italian model on 13 July 2013 in Tellaro near Lerici in Liguria. Together they have a son, named Mattia (born on 13 February 2008), and a daughter, named Camilla (born on 2 July 2011).

Philanthropy

Barzagli always participated in charity projects during his playing career and several times, he auctioned his signed boots and shirts to raise funds for charities.

Legal Issues

At the time of writing this article, there are no reports of legal issues or disputes to Andrea Barzagli’s name.

Andrea Barzagli Career Statistics

In this section of Andrea Barzagli biography, we will take a deeper look into his career stats, both as an international and club player.

Club

In a total of 694 matches he has played in different clubs in Italy and Germany, as a defender, Barzagli has managed to score 17 goals. He has spent the biggest part of his career playing for Juventus.

International

Between 2004 and 2017, the talented central defender has played a total of 73 matches for the Italian national team.

Andrea Barzagli Honors

On the club level, Andrea has won many titles including Serie A, Coppa Italia,

, Supercoppa Italiana, and was runner-up in Champions League with Juventus.

With Italy national team, he was the 2006 World Cup winner and runner-up in the 2012 UEFA European Championship.

His notable individual awards include the Serie A Team of the Year on several occasions, UEFA Champions League Team of the Group Stage, and the 2017 Premio Nazionale Carriera Esemplare "Gaetano Scirea".

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