Antonio Arena
Italian footballer (born 2009)
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Antonio Arena (born 10 February 2009) is a professional footballer who plays as a striker for Serie A club Roma. Born in Australia of Italian descent, he has represented both Australia and Italy at youth international level, having most recently appeared for the Italy national under-18 team.
| Personal information | |||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Full name | Antonio Arena | ||||||||||||||||
| Date of birth | 10 February 2009 | ||||||||||||||||
| Place of birth | Sydney, Australia[1] | ||||||||||||||||
| Height | 1.88 m (6 ft 2 in) | ||||||||||||||||
| Position | Striker | ||||||||||||||||
| Team information | |||||||||||||||||
Current team | Roma | ||||||||||||||||
| Number | 68 | ||||||||||||||||
| Youth career | |||||||||||||||||
| M&U Football Academy | |||||||||||||||||
| Western Sydney Wanderers | |||||||||||||||||
| 2022–2025 | Pescara | ||||||||||||||||
| 2025– | Roma | ||||||||||||||||
| Senior career* | |||||||||||||||||
| Years | Team | Apps | (Gls) | ||||||||||||||
| 2024–2025 | Pescara | 4 | (1) | ||||||||||||||
| 2025– | Roma | 2 | (0) | ||||||||||||||
| International career‡ | |||||||||||||||||
| 2024 | Australia U16 | 1 | (0) | ||||||||||||||
| 2025 | Italy U16 | 2 | (1) | ||||||||||||||
| 2025 | Italy U17 | 14 | (3) | ||||||||||||||
| 2025– | Italy U18 | 8 | (3) | ||||||||||||||
Medal record
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* Club domestic league appearances and goals as of 22 March 2026 ‡ National team caps and goals as of 31 March 2026 | |||||||||||||||||
Club career
Arena is a youth product of the Australians clubs M&U Football Academy and Western Sydney Wanderers, before moving to Pescara in 2022 to finish his development.[2] On 15 February 2025, he signed his first professional contract until 2028.[3] He made his senior and professional debut with Pescara in a 4–1 Serie C win over Lucchese, and scored his side's fourth goal. At 16 years and 25 days old, he became the first 2009-born player to score in professional football in Italy, and also the youngest ever goalscorer for Pescara, beating the record of Marco Verratti.[4]
On 23 July 2025, Arena signed for Serie A club Roma.[5]
On 13 January 2026, Arena made his first-team debut for Roma in the round of 16 of the Coppa Italia, in a 3–2 defeat against Torino, scoring his first goal for the club with his first touch of the ball.[6]
International career
Born in Australia, Arena is of Italian descent through his grandparents from Taurianova.[7] He holds dual Australian-Italian citizenship.[4] He debuted with the Australia U16s in a friendly 4–3 win over the Switzerland U16s on 16 April 2024.[8] In January 2025, he was called up to the Italy U16s for a set of friendlies.[2]
Arena was a member of the Italy U17s' squad in their third place campaign at the 2025 FIFA U-17 World Cup, scoring two goals in seven appearances.
Career statistics
Club
- As of match played 22 March 2026[9]
- Includes Coppa Italia
- Appearance in Serie C promotion play-offs
Honours
Italy U17
- FIFA U-17 World Cup third place: 2025[10]