Cristian Volpato

Cristian Volpato (born 15 November 2003) is a professional footballer who plays as an attacking midfielder or winger for Serie A club Sassuolo. Born and raised in Australia, Volpato has represented Italy internationally at youth level since 2022.

Early life

Volpato was born in Camperdown, an inner western suburb of Sydney in Australia. He attended the prestigious rugby school St Joseph's College Hunters Hill. Volpato is of Italian descent, both his parents are second generation Italians.

Club career

Youth career

Volpato first started playing football in Abbotsford, in Sydney suburbs, where he was a prolific goalscorer.

This allowed him to take his first steps into professional football, at Andrea Icardi's AC Milan Soccer School, Sydney FC and the Western Sydney Wanderers academy. He soon earned a trial in the AS Roma Youth Sector through Fabrizio Piccareta.

After a few months in Rome where he was able to demonstrate his attacking abilities, the young footballer signed a three-year contract with the club from the Italian capital in January 2020. A month later he also joined Francesco Totti's agency, while he had already taken the number 10 shirt with Roma's Youth.

A year later, Volpato signed his first professional contract with Roma, a new three-year deal tying him to the club until 2024. As the youth competitions due to the COVID-19 pandemic in Italy, he then became a regular with the under-18, scoring five goals during the 2020–21 season, soon earning a place in the under-19s squad.

Roma

Volpato made his professional debut for Roma on 4 December 2021, aged 18, in a Serie A match lost 3–0 against Inter Milan. On 19 February 2022, Volpato scored his first Serie A goal in a match drawn 2–2 against Hellas Verona.