Piotr Zieliński

Piotr Sebastian Zieliński (Polish pronunciation: [ˈpjɔtr ʑɛˈlij̃skʲi] (listen); born 20 May 1994) is a Polish professional footballer who plays as a midfielder for Serie A club Napoli and the Poland national team. During his senior career he has also played for Udinese and Empoli.

Piotr Zieliński
Zieliński playing for Napoli in 2019
Personal information
Full name Piotr Sebastian Zieliński[1]
Date of birth (1994-05-20) 20 May 1994[1]
Place of birth Ząbkowice Śląskie, Poland
Height 1.80 m (5 ft 11 in)[1]
Position(s) Midfielder
Club information
Current team
 Napoli
Number 20
Youth career
2003–2007 Orzeł Ząbkowice Śląskie
2007–2011 Zagłębie Lubin
2011–2012 Udinese
Senior career*
Years Team Apps (Gls)
2012–2016 Udinese 19 (0)
2014–2016 → Empoli (loan) 63 (5)
2016– Napoli 213 (30)
National team‡
2009 Poland U15 5 (1)
2009–2010 Poland U16 6 (0)
2010–2011 Poland U17 10 (1)
2012 Poland U18 5 (1)
2011–2012 Poland U19 15 (5)
2012–2013 Poland U21 3 (1)
2013– Poland 68 (8)
* Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only and correct as of 23:19, 24 April 2022 (UTC)
‡ National team caps and goals correct as of 29 March 2022

Zieliński was selected to represent Poland at UEFA Euro 2016 in France, as well as the 2018 FIFA World Cup in Russia and the pan-European UEFA Euro 2020. He has two brothers who are also professional footballers – Paweł and Tomasz Zieliński.

Club career

Early career

Zieliński started his career at his local club, Orzeł Ząbkowice Śląskie, where he was coached by his father.[2] At the age of 14, he joined Zagłębie Lubin, even though he was wanted by Bayer Leverkusen and Liverpool and also had trials at Feyenoord and Hereenveen.[2] He rose through the ranks and started training with the first team at the age of 15, under Franciszek Smuda.[2]

At 17 he moved abroad to join Udinese Calcio after they scouted him on international youth tournament.[2]

Udinese

He made his debut in Serie A on 2 November 2012 when he replaced Antonio Di Natale in 91st minute of a match against Cagliari.[3]

Empoli (loan)

In 2014, he joined Empoli on loan.[4]

Napoli
Piotr Zieliński in a UEFA Champions League match against Red Bull Salzburg, 2019.

On 4 August 2016, after months of transfer speculation, Zieliński moved from Udinese to Napoli for a reported €16 million.[5] He scored his first goal with Partenopei's shirt on 3 December, in a 3–0 home win against Inter Milan;[6] he ended his first season with six goals. On 31 August 2020 he signed new contract with Napoli until 2024. On 31 October 2021, not only did he decide the derby between U.S. Salernitana 1919 and Napoli, scoring the only goal of the game, but with 32 goals he also became the second best Polish goal-scorer in Serie A's history (behind Arkadiusz Milik), beating Zbigniew Boniek's record.[7] On 17 February 2022, he scored a goal for Napoli in a UEFA Europa League match against FC Barcelona which ended in a 1:1 draw.[8]

International career
Zieliński at the 2018 FIFA World Cup playing against Japan.

On 4 June 2013, Zieliński made his senior international debut for Poland in a friendly match against Liechtenstein.[9]

In May 2018, he was named in Poland’s preliminary 35-man squad for the 2018 World Cup in Russia.[10]

Personal life

On 15 June 2019, he married Laura Słowiak[11] with whom he has a son, Maksymilian (born 2021).[12] On 2 October 2020, Zieliński tested positive for COVID-19 amid its pandemic in Italy.[13] In 2021, he passed an Italian language exam at the B2 level at the University of Naples in an effort to obtain Italian citizenship.[14]

Career statistics

Club
As of match played 24 April 2022[15]
Club Season League Cup Europe Other Total
DivisionAppsGoalsAppsGoalsAppsGoalsAppsGoalsAppsGoals
Udinese 2012–13 Serie A 900000–90
2013–14 Serie A 100001[lower-alpha 1]0–110
Total 1900010–200
Empoli 2014–15 Serie A 28020––300
2015–16 Serie A 35510––365
Total 63530––665
Napoli 2016–17 Serie A 365417[lower-alpha 2]0–476
2017–18 Serie A 364209[lower-alpha 3]3–477
2018–19 Serie A 3661012[lower-alpha 4]1–497
2019–20 Serie A 372507[lower-alpha 2]0–492
2020–21 Serie A 368406[lower-alpha 1]21[lower-alpha 5]04710
2021–22 Serie A 325007[lower-alpha 1]2–397
Total 213301614881027839
Career total 295351914981036444
  1. Appearance(s) in UEFA Europa League
  2. Appearance(s) in UEFA Champions League
  3. Seven appearances and two goals in UEFA Champions League, two appearances and one goal in UEFA Europa League
  4. Six appearances in UEFA Champions League, six appearances and one goal in UEFA Europa League
  5. Appearance in Supercoppa Italiana

International
As of match played 29 March 2022[16]
Appearances and goals by national team and year
National teamYearAppsGoals
Poland 201373
201410
201530
2016100
201780
2018123
2019100
202050
2021101
202221
Total688

International goals
Scores and results list Poland's goal tally first.[16]
No.DateVenueOpponentScoreResultCompetition
1.14 August 2013PGE Arena Gdańsk, Gdańsk, Poland Denmark
3–2
3–2
Friendly
2.10 September 2013Stadio Olimpico, Serravalle, San Marino San Marino
1–0
5–12014 FIFA World Cup qualification
3.
4–1
4.27 March 2018Stadion Śląski, Chorzów, Poland South Korea
3–2
3–2
Friendly
5.8 June 2018Stadion Miejski, Poznań, Poland Chile
2–0
2–2
6.7 September 2018Stadio Renato Dall'Ara, Bologna, Italy Italy
1–0
1–1
2018–19 UEFA Nations League A
7.8 June 2021Stadion Miejski, Poznań, Poland Iceland
1–1
2–2
Friendly
8.29 March 2022Stadion Śląski, Chorzów, Poland Sweden
2–0
2–0
2022 FIFA World Cup qualification

Honours

Napoli

Poland U21

  • Four Nations Tournament: 2014–15[18]

References
  1. "FIFA World Cup Russia 2018: List of players: Poland" (PDF). FIFA. 15 July 2018. p. 22. Archived from the original (PDF) on 6 December 2019.
  2. "Skąd się wziął w Udinese Piotr Zieliński?" [How did Zielinski came to Udinese?] (in Polish). Weszło!. 18 April 2013. Retrieved 17 May 2016.
  3. "Debiut Piotra Zielińskiego w Serie A" [Piotr Zieliński debuts in Serie A] (in Polish). Interia. 2 December 2012. Retrieved 2 December 2012.
  4. "Empoli, dall'Udinese Zielinski in prestito". www.tuttosport.com (in Italian). 1 September 2014. Retrieved 27 September 2020.
  5. "Official: Zielinski joins Napoli". Football Italia. 4 August 2016. Retrieved 23 May 2018.
  6. "Le pagelle di Napoli-Inter: Zielinski dominatore, Perisic non pervenuto". La Repubblica (in Italian). 2 December 2016. Retrieved 27 September 2020.
  7. "Gol Zielińskiego! Polak wyprzedził legendę [WIDEO]" (in Polish). Retrieved 20 December 2021.
  8. "Barcelona 1 1 Napoli". Retrieved 18 February 2022.
  9. "Skromna wygrana na pożegnanie Dudka" (in Polish). 90minut.pl.
  10. "Revealed: Every World Cup 2018 squad - Final 23-man lists". goal.com. Goal. 4 June 2018. Retrieved 1 April 2020.
  11. "Kolejny ślub polskiego piłkarza! Piotr Zieliński powiedział "tak" Laurze Słowiak". Retrieved 20 December 2021.
  12. "Piotr Zieliński został ojcem. Pokazał pierwsze zdjęcia dziecka". Retrieved 20 December 2021.
  13. "Napoli: Zielinski has coronavirus". Football Italia. 2 October 2020.
  14. "Piotr Zieliński ubiega się o włoskie obywatelstwo" (in Polish). Retrieved 20 December 2021.
  15. "Piotr Zieliński". Soccerway. Retrieved 5 November 2019.
  16. "Zieliński, Piotr". National Football Teams. Retrieved 28 March 2018.
  17. "Coppa: Napoli beat Juventus on penalties". Football Italia. 17 June 2020.
  18. "Turniej Czterech Narodów U-21: Niemcy 1-2 Polska. Polska zwycięzcą rozgrywek" [Four Nations Tournament U-21: Germany 1-2 Poland. Poland is the winner of the competition]. 90minut.pl (in Polish). 27 March 2015. Retrieved 1 April 2020.
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