Wikipedia

Emmanuele Zurlo

Emmanuele Zurlo (born 7 February 1988) is an Italian beach soccer player who plays as a forward for the Italy national team.

Emmanuele Zurlo
Zurlo in 2017.
Personal information
Full name Emmanuele Zurlo
Date of birth (1988-02-07) 7 February 1988 (age 36)
Place of birth Catanzaro, Italy[1]
Height 1.73 m (5 ft 8 in)[2]
Position(s) Forward
International career‡
Years Team Apps (Gls)
2013– Italy[3] 152 (142)
‡ National team caps and goals, correct as of 15 May 2023

Career

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Zurlo originally pursued a career in association football, reaching Serie C2 with US Catanzaro 1929.[4]

He began his transition to beach soccer in 2011 when he began playing in the Italian National League (Serie A). In 2013, he was the second top scorer in the league and top scorer in the Coppa Italia.[5] He was subsequently called up to the Italy national team for the first time[6] for a friendly versus Iran in August of that year.[7] His competitive debut came at Stage 1 of the 2014 Euro Beach Soccer League (EBSL); his performances during the season earnt him a nomination for the Pallone Azzurro (Blue Ball).[5]

In 2015, he attended his first World Cup, and has since been part of the Italian squads at three further editions (2017, 2019, 2014). He was top scorer of Serie A in back-to-back seasons in 2016 and 2017, and was named as the league's MVP in 2018 whilst playing for club side Catania.[8] He successfully converted his penalty in the shootout win versus Spain in the final of the 2018 EBSL to help seal Italy's first European title in 13 years.[9]

At the 2019 World Cup, he won the Silver Boot award with 10 goals,[10][11] was shortlisted for the Golden Ball,[12] and his first goal versus Switzerland was voted as the best of the tournament[13] as he played a crucial role in Italy's run to the final. It was also in 2019 when Zurlo made his 100th appearance for Italy in a 4–3 win versus Russia at the European Games in Minsk,[14] and he scored his 100th goal at the World Beach Games in Doha.[15]

In 2023, Italy coach, Emiliano Del Duca, revamped the national team, purging it of some veteran players.[16][17] However, Zurlo's services were retained and he was promoted to team captain;[4] in this role, he was flag bearer for Italy at the opening ceremony of the 2023 Mediterranean Beach Games,[18] and he led Italy to a third European crown at the 2023 EBSL,[19] being one of just two surviving squad members from the previous title win five years prior.[20]

Statistics

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Competition Year Apps Goals Ref.
FIFA Beach Soccer World Cup
  2015 6 7 [1]
  2017 4 2 [2]
  2019 6 10 [3]
  2024
Total 16 19 —

Honours

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The following is a selection, not an exhaustive list, of the major international honours Zurlo has achieved:

References

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  1. ^ "Beach soccer, premiato Emmanuele Zurlo - Comune di Catanzaro". Comune di Catanzaro (in Italian). Retrieved 30 January 2024.
  2. ^ "FIFA Beach Soccer World Cup Paraguay 2019 – List of Players" (PDF). FIFA.com. 15 November 2019. Archived from the original (PDF) on 16 November 2019. Retrieved 17 November 2019.
  3. ^ Menolascina, Omar (15 May 2023). "Il bomber Zurlo continua a vestire la maglia del Catania Beach Soccer". CataniaToday (in Italian). Retrieved 30 January 2024.
  4. ^ a b c Costanzo, Claudio (14 October 2023). "Il catanzarese Emmanuele Zurlo: "2023 un anno incredibile. Con il Beach Soccer amore a prima vista"". Gazzetta del Sud (in Italian). Retrieved 30 January 2024.
  5. ^ a b "Pallone Azzurro 2014: Corosiniti, Marrucci e Zurlo, i tre finalisti per la nazionale di Beach Soccer". Italian Football Federation (in Italian). 23 December 2014. Retrieved 30 January 2024.
  6. ^ "Coppa Italia Beach Soccer, Zurlo è il Re dei bomber". CatanzaroInforma (in Italian). 3 June 2013. Retrieved 30 January 2024.
  7. ^ "Beach Soccer: oggi l'amichevole Iran-Italia". Italian Football Federation (in Italian). 27 August 2013. Retrieved 30 January 2024.
  8. ^ "World Cup Beach Soccer, conosciamo meglio tutti gli azzurri mondiali". Sky Sport (in Italian). 20 November 2019. Retrieved 17 May 2021.
  9. ^ "Beach Soccer: Italia campione d'Europa, 9-8 alla Spagna". Corriere della Sera (in Italian). 9 September 2018. Retrieved 30 January 2024.
  10. ^ "Zurlo: We've shown the world who Italy are". FIFA.com. 2 December 2019. Retrieved 30 January 2024.
  11. ^ Corradi, Marco (1 December 2019). "Beach Soccer, Mondiali 2019: Portogallo campione del mondo, Italia 2a". Azzurri di Gloria (in Italian). Retrieved 30 January 2024.
  12. ^ "Golden Ball shortlist and digital success highlighted at closing press conference". FIFA.com. Fédération Internationale de Football Association. 30 November 2019. Archived from the original on 1 December 2019. Retrieved 1 December 2019.
  13. ^ "2019's greatest goals". FIFA.com. 21 December 2019. Retrieved 30 January 2024.
  14. ^ "Giochi Europei di Minsk: L'Italia supera la Russia per 4-3 e chiude al 5^ posto". Lega Nazionale Dilettanti (in Italian). 29 June 2019. Retrieved 30 January 2024. Giornata particolare per Emmanuele Zurlo che ha raggiunto le 100 presenze con la maglia azzurra
  15. ^ Scerbo, Massimo (10 January 2020). "I record dei cannonieri del calcio dilettantistico calabrese". Calabria Dilettanti. Retrieved 30 January 2024.
  16. ^ Del Duca: We’ll give it everything to make the Italy fans proud. FIFA.com. 1 February 2024. Retrieved 8 February 2024.
  17. ^ "Rodrigo: It's a wonderful sensation to be a Best Player finalist". FIFA.com. 26 January 2024. Retrieved 30 January 2024. Italy have undergone a renewal. They have new players who have shown how good they are.
  18. ^ "Giochi del Mediterraneo su sabbia, Zurlo portabandiera, ma gli Azzurri partono con un ko: l'Egitto vince 3-2". Italian Football Federation (in Italian). 9 September 2023. Retrieved 30 January 2024.
  19. ^ Spina, Francesco (24 September 2023). "La Nazionale italiana di beach soccer campione d'Europa: una vittoria che parla anche calabrese". LaC News24 [it] (in Italian). Retrieved 30 January 2024.
  20. ^ "Gravina lancia gli Azzurri: "La vittoria dell'Europeo alimenta l'entusiasmo per il Mondiale", il 29 scatta il raduno per Dubai". Italian Football Federation (in Italian). 18 January 2024. Retrieved 30 January 2024. Emmanuele Zurlo, l'unico, insieme ad Andrea Carpita, rimasto in gruppo dal trionfo all'Europeo del 2018 a poter dire di aver bissato il titolo continentale
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