Amelia Marco
Marco Amelia, Ufficiale OMRI, is an Italian former professional footballer who played as a goalkeeper, and current coach. A Roma youth product, Amelia spent most of his professional club career at Livorno, where he made 181 appearances across all competitions, including playing and scoring in the 2006–07 UEFA Cup. He later played for several other Italian clubs, and also had a spell in England as a reserve goalkeeper with Chelsea. At international level, Amelia won a bronze medal at the 2004 Olympics, and earned nine senior caps for Italy between 2005 and 2009. He was part of the squad that won the 2006 FIFA World Cup, also being included for Italy’s UEFA Euro 2008 and 2009 FIFA Confederations Cup squads.
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This shirt was worn by Marco Amelia during the Serie A game between Catania and Palermo which took place in Catania, “Angelo Massimino” Stadium, on October 19th 2008. Catania defeated Palermo 2-0 and at the end of the game Amelia swapped his shirt with a Catania’s player whom we got it from. In July 2008, after Livorno were relegated to Serie B, Amelia agreed a permanent deal and contract to join Palermo, for €6 million. Among the highlights of his season, Amelia was mostly remembered by fans for saving Ronaldinho’s penalty in a 3–1 win over Milan, but also, in a more negative fashion, for failing to deal with Giuseppe Mascara’s 49-yard strike in the Derby di Sicilia, which ended in a shocking 0–4 home loss for his side.
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Amelia made his debut for the Italy under-15 side in March 1998, in a tournament held in France. With the Italy under-21 side, Amelia was the starting goalkeeper in Claudio Gentile’s squad that won the 2004 UEFA European Under-21 Championship. Later that year, he served as a back-up to Ivan Pelizzoli in the Italy under-23 squad which won a bronze medal at the 2004 Summer Olympics in Athens. Amelia made his senior debut for Italy at age 23, on 16 November 2005, coming on as a second-half substitute in a 1–1 friendly draw against the Ivory Coast, in Geneva. He later became a permanent member of Marcello Lippi’s squad, and was called up as Italy’s third goalkeeper at the 2006 FIFA World Cup, behind Gianluigi Buffon and Angelo Peruzzi, and ahead of reserve Morgan De Sanctis. Italy went on to win the tournament, although Amelia did not feature in any matches throughout the competition. Following Peruzzi’s retirement, Amelia became Italy’s second-choice goalkeeper, behind Buffon. He was called up as Buffon’s back-up for UEFA Euro 2008 by manager Roberto Donadoni and for the 2009 FIFA Confederations Cup by Donadoni’s replacement, Lippi. Amelia’s last appearance for Italy came on 10 June 2009 in a 4–3 friendly win against New Zealand, in Pretoria. In total, Amelia has made nine appearances for Italy.