Simone Barone

Simone Barone

Personal information
Date of birth	(1978-04-30) 30 April 1978
Place of birth	Nocera Inferiore, Italy
Height
Position(s)	Centre Midfielder
Youth career
1995–1997	Parma
Senior career*
Years	Team	Apps	(Gls)
1997–2000	Parma	2	(0)
1999	→ Padova (loan)	28	(5)
1999–2000	→ Alzano Virescit (loan)	28	(1)
2000–2002	Chievo	47	(4)
2002–2004	Parma	62	(4)
2004–2006	Palermo	71	(5)
2006–2009	Torino	82	(2)
2009–2010	Cagliari	16	(0)
2011–2012	Livorno	20	(2)
Total		356	(23)
International career
2004–2006	Italy	16	(1)
Medal record Representing Italy Association football FIFA World Cup Germany 2006
*Club domestic league appearances and goals

Simone Barone, Ufficiale OMRI (born 30 April 1978) is a retired Italian footballer, who played as a midfielder. He was part of the Italian side that won the 2006 FIFA World Cup.

Club career

Barone started his career making his first team debut in 4 May 1997 for Parma, against Atalanta. He then played for Padova of Serie C1 in 1998, Alzano Virescit of Serie B in 1999.

In summer 2000, he joined Chievo in a co-ownership deal, where he played for 2 seasons. He was loaned back to Parma in 2002–03 season, then bought back permanently in 2003, with Amauri moved to Chievo.

On 16 July 2004, he transferred to Palermo for €5M. He signed a 4-year contract. He was the regular of the team, and the team qualified for 2006–07 UEFA Cup (after the Calciopoli trials).

On 5 August 2006, Simone moved to Serie A newcomer Torino after the club signed Mark Bresciano and Fábio Simplício from Parma. He played 3 seasons for the Serie A struggler and left the club after relegated in 2009.

On 6 August 2009 he was signed by Serie A side Cagliari. He mainly a substitute, only played 5 times as starting XI, all appeared as right midfielder.

International career

Barone debuted for the Italy national football team on 18 February 2004, in a 2–2 tie against Czech Republic. Stefano Bettarini and Sergio Volpi also received their first call-up and made their debut under Giovanni Trapattoni. He was part of Italy's 2006 FIFA World Cup squad, under Marcello Lippi, appearing two times as a substitute on Italy's quest to win the 2006 FIFA World Cup. In total, he made 16 appearances for Italy between 2004 and 2006, scoring his only international goal on 9 February 2005, in a 2–0 friendly home win over Russia, in Cagliari, at the stadio Sant'Elia.

Style of play

A versatile, energetic, and hard-working player, Barone was primarily deployed as a central or right sided midfielder, he was capable of playing in any midfield position, and was also deployed as a defensive midfielder, due to his stamina and ability to break down opposition plays.

Honours

International

Italy

• FIFA World Cup: 2006

Orders

Collar of Merit Sports: Collare d'Oro al Merito Sportivo: (2006)

4th Class / Officer: Ufficiale Ordine al Merito della Repubblica Italiana: (2006)

External links

• FIGC (Italian)
• Profile at La Gazzetta dello Sport (2006–07) (Italian)
• Profile at La Gazzetta dello Sport (2007–08) (Italian)
• Profile at La Gazzetta dello Sport (2009–10) (Italian)
• Profile at AIC.Football.it (Italian)
• Profile at tuttocalciatori.net (Italian)