List of foreign Serie A players

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

This is a list of foreign players (i.e. non-Italian players) in Serie A. The following players:

  1. Have played at least one Serie A game for the respective club (seasons in which and teams that a player did not collect any caps in Serie A for have NOT been listed).
  2. Have not been capped for the Italy national team on any level, independently from the birthplace, except for players born in San Marino and active in the Italy national team before the first official match of the San Marino national football team played on 14 November 1990 and players of Italian formation born abroad from Italian parents (so called 'Oriundi').
  3. Have been born in Italy and were capped by a foreign national team, even after their Serie A spell. This includes players who have dual citizenship with Italy.

Players are sorted by the State, according to the FIFA eligibility rules:

  1. They played for in a national team on any level. For footballers that played for two or more national teams it prevails:
    1. The one he played for on A level.
    2. The national team of birth.
  2. If they never played for any national team on any level, it prevails the state of birth. For footballers born in dissolved states prevails the actual state of birth (e.g.: Yugoslavia -> Serbia, Montenegro, Croatia, etc.).

These are all the teams that have had at least one foreign player while playing in a Serie A season. Teams in bold are the ones currently playing in the 2025–26 Serie A season:

Alessandria, Ancona, Ascoli, Atalanta, Avellino, Bari, Benevento, Bologna, Brescia, Cagliari, Carpi, Catania, Catanzaro, Cesena, Chievo, Como, Cremonese, Crotone, Empoli, Fiorentina, Foggia, Frosinone, Genoa, Hellas Verona, Internazionale, Juventus, Lazio, Lecce, Lecco, Legnano, Livorno, Lucchese, Mantova, Messina, Milan, Modena, Monza, Napoli, Novara, Padova, Palermo, Parma, Perugia, Pescara, Piacenza, Pisa, Pistoiese, Pro Patria, Reggiana, Reggina, Roma, Salernitana, Sampdoria, Sassuolo, Siena, SPAL, Spezia, Torino, Treviso, Triestina, Udinese, Varese, Venezia, Vicenza.

These are the only teams that have participated in Serie A but have not had at least one foreign player:

Casale, Pro Vercelli, Ternana.

In bold: Players still active in Serie A and their respective teams in the current season.

José Altafini playing for Milan

Africa (CAF)

Algeria

Angola

Burkina Faso

Cameroon

Samuel Eto'o, a protagonist of the 2010 treble by Inter, training. He also played 6 months for Sampdoria.

Cape Verde

Central African Republic

Congo

DR Congo

Egypt

Mohamed Salah playing for Fiorentina in 2015

Equatorial Guinea

Eritrea

Gabon

Gambia

Ghana

Guinea

Guinea-Bissau

Ivory Coast

Gervinho with Roma in 2014

Kenya

Liberia

Libya

Madagascar

Mali

Mauritania

Morocco

Mehdi Benatia training for Udinese

Nigeria

Obafemi Martins
Victor Osimhen was the first African player to win the Capocannoniere, scoring 26 goals in Napoli's title-winning 2022–23 campaign.

Réunion

Senegal

Alfred Gomis, the second African goalkeeper in Serie A after his brother Lys, and the first to be starter in the category.[1]
Kalidou Koulibaly made over 200 Serie A appearances for Napoli

Sierra Leone

Somalia

South Africa

Togo

Tunisia

Uganda

Zambia

Zimbabwe

Asia (AFC)

Australia

Mark Bresciano, who played in European competitions with Parma and Palermo

Indonesia

Emil Audero, Indonesian player of Italian descent who played in European competitions with Juventus, Sampdoria, Inter, Como and Cremonese

Iran

Iraq

Japan

Hidetoshi Nakata has been an important player for Roma's Scudetto in 2001

North Korea

Qatar

Saudi Arabia

South Korea

Kim Min-jae won a Serie A title with Napoli in 2023

Uzbekistan

Europe (UEFA)

Albania

Elseid Hysaj made over 300 Serie A appearances for Empoli, Napoli and Lazio

Armenia

Henrikh Mkhitaryan was the first Armenian to play in Serie A

Austria

Herbert Prohaska won a scudetto with Roma in 1983

Belarus

Belgium

Dries Mertens is Napoli's all-time top goalscorer.
Radja Nainggolan training with Roma

Bosnia and Herzegovina

Bulgaria

Valeri Bojinov, the youngest foreign player to make his debut in Serie A at the age of 15 and 11 months.[3]

Croatia

Mario Mandžukić, Croatian player appreciated with Juventus for his grit and determination.[4][5]
Marcelo Brozović made over 250 Serie A appearances for Inter Milan

Cyprus

Czech Republic

Pavel Nedvěd playing for Juventus in 2007, he is one of the best players in the history of the Turin team. He won the 2003 Ballon d'Or and he has been an important player also for the Sergio Cragnotti's Lazio
Marek Jankulovski

Denmark

Preben Elkjær in 2011; he played a vital role in Verona's scudetto win in 1985
Michael Laudrup in 2006

England

David Beckham playing for AC Milan in 2009
Fikayo Tomori won the scudetto with AC Milan in 2021–22

Estonia

Faroe Islands

Finland

France

Georgia

Khvicha Kvaratskhelia

Germany

Oliver Bierhoff scored 112 goals in Serie A
Andreas Brehme, Jürgen Klinsmann, Lothar Matthäus have been extremely important for Inter
Miroslav Klose
Rudi Völler

Greece

Kostas Manolas playing for Roma

Hungary

István Nyers

Iceland

Israel

Kazakhstan

Kosovo

Latvia

Liechtenstein

Lithuania

Luxembourg

Moldova

Monaco

Montenegro

Dejan Savićević, one of the stars of the '90 AC Milan

Netherlands

Ruud Gullit, Frank Rijkaard and Marco Van Basten have been extremely important for Milan
Clarence Seedorf playing for Milan
Wesley Sneijder, a protagonist of the 2010 treble by Inter
Aron Winter

North Macedonia

Goran Pandev was part of Inter's treble success in 2010.

Northern Ireland

Norway

John Arne Riise

Poland

Zbigniew Boniek in 2015
Wojciech Szczęsny with Juventus in 2019
Piotr Zieliński with Napoli in 2019

Portugal

Fernando Couto in 2011
Luís Figo
Cristiano Ronaldo playing for Juventus in 2020

Republic of Ireland

Romania

Cristian Chivu
Gheorghe Hagi
Adrian Mutu
Ștefan Radu

Russia

San Marino

Scotland

Graeme Souness in 2001

Serbia

Aleksandar Kolarov played for both of the Capital teams
Siniša Mihajlović as Fiorentina head coach in 2010. As player he was a free kick specialist.[6][7] He scored a record 28 goals from free kicks in Serie A.[8]
Dejan Stanković with Inter. He won five championships with Inter and one with Lazio, also lifting the treble with Inter in 2010.
Sergej Milinković-Savić made over 250 Serie A appearances for Lazio

Slovakia

Marek Hamšík was formerly Napoli's all-time top goalscorer
Milan Škriniar playing for Inter

Slovenia

Samir Handanović training with Inter
Srečko Katanec in 2015, he had an important role in the Sampdoria team that won the 1990–91 Scudetto.

Spain

José Callejón playing for Napoli in 2014
Luis Alberto playing for Lazio in 2018
Luis Suárez, a legend of Inter, club where he played and that he trained

Sweden

Switzerland

Valon Behrami playing for Napoli
Stephan Lichtsteiner won 7 consecutives leagues with Juventus between 2011 and 2018

Turkey

Ukraine

Andriy Shevchenko won the Ballon d'Or while at Milan in 2004

Wales

John Charles

North, Central America and Caribbean (CONCACAF)

Canada

Costa Rica

Dominican Republic

El Salvador

Guadeloupe

Honduras

Jamaica

Martinique

Mexico

Panama

Saint Martin

Suriname

United States

Weston McKennie playing for Juventus in 2021

Oceania (OFC)

New Zealand

South America (CONMEBOL)

Argentina

Bolivia

Brazil

Chile

Alexis Sánchez
Arturo Vidal, an important player for Juventus between 2011 and 2015 for the rise of the club

Colombia

Juan Cuadrado
Luis Muriel
Duván Zapata

Ecuador

Paraguay

Peru

Uruguay

Venezuela

See also

Notes

References

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