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 1.77 m (5 ft 10 in)[1]
Position(s) Midfielder
Team 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 270 (36)
International career‡
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 86 (10)
*Club domestic league appearances and goals, correct as of 21:01, 29 December 2023 (UTC)
‡ National team caps and goals, correct as of 15 October 2023

Piotr Sebastian Zieliński (Polish pronunciation: [ˈpjɔtr ʑɛˈlij̃skʲi] ⓘ; 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.

Zieliński was selected to represent Poland at UEFA Euro 2016 in France, as well as the 2018 FIFA World Cup in Russia, the pan-European UEFA Euro 2020, and the 2022 World Cup in Qatar. 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

Zieliński 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, Zieliński joined Empoli on loan.[4]

Napoli

Piotr Zieliński (right) 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 June 2023. 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 Europa League match against Barcelona which ended in a 1–1 draw.[8] On 7 September 2022, he scored two goals and had one assist in a Champions League match against Liverpool F.C., which concluded in a 4–1 victory for Napoli.[9]

International career

Zieliński at the 2018 FIFA World Cup playing against Japan.

On 4 June 2013, Zieliński made his senior international debut for the Poland national team in a friendly match against Liechtenstein.[10]

In May 2018, he was named in Poland's preliminary 35-man squad for the 2018 World Cup in Russia.[11]

Personal life

His older brothers Tomasz and Paweł are also footballers.[12] On 15 June 2019, Zieliński married Laura Słowiak[13] with whom he has a son, Maksymilian (born 2021).[14] In 2021, he passed an Italian language exam at the B2 level at the University of Naples in an effort to obtain Italian citizenship.[15] On 6 October 2023, Zieliński formally became an Italian citizen.[16]

Career statistics

Club

As of match played 19 December 2023[17]
Appearances and goals by club, season and competition
Club Season League Coppa Italia 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 (loan) 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 356007[lower-alpha 1]2—428
2022–23 Serie A 3731010[lower-alpha 2]4—487
2023–24 Serie A 172006[lower-alpha 2]100233
Total 2703617164131035250
Career total 3524120165131043855
  1. 1 2 3 Appearance(s) in UEFA Europa League
  2. 1 2 3 4 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 15 October 2023[18]
Appearances and goals by national team and year
National teamYearAppsGoals
Poland 201373
201410
201530
2016100
201780
2018123
2019100
202050
2021101
2022123
202380
Total8610
Scores and results list Poland's goal tally first, score column indicates score after each Zieliński goal.
List of international goals scored by Piotr Zieliński[18]
No. Date Venue Opponent Score Result Competition
114 August 2013Stadion Gdańsk, Gdańsk, Poland Denmark3–23–2Friendly
210 September 2013San Marino Stadium, Serravalle, San Marino San Marino1–05–12014 FIFA World Cup qualification
34–1
427 March 2018Stadion Śląski, Chorzów, Poland South Korea3–23–2Friendly
58 June 2018Stadion Poznań, Poznań, Poland Chile2–02–2Friendly
67 September 2018Stadio Renato Dall'Ara, Bologna, Italy Italy1–01–12018–19 UEFA Nations League A
78 June 2021Stadion Poznań, Poznań, Poland Iceland1–12–2Friendly
829 March 2022Stadion Śląski, Chorzów, Poland Sweden2–02–02022 FIFA World Cup qualification
911 June 2022De Kuip, Rotterdam, Netherlands Netherlands2–02–22022–23 UEFA Nations League A
1026 November 2022Education City Stadium, Al Rayyan, Qatar Saudi Arabia1–02–02022 FIFA World Cup

Honours

Napoli

Poland U21

  • Four Nations Tournament: 2014–15[21]

References

  1. 1 2 3 "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. 1 2 3 4 "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). 31 October 2021. Retrieved 20 December 2021.
  8. ↑ "Barcelona 1 1 Napoli". Retrieved 18 February 2022.
  9. ↑ "Liverpool thrashed by Napoli in Champions League". BBC Sport. Retrieved 8 September 2022.
  10. ↑ "Skromna wygrana na pożegnanie Dudka" (in Polish). 90minut.pl.
  11. ↑ "Revealed: Every World Cup 2018 squad - Final 23-man lists". goal.com. Goal. 4 June 2018. Retrieved 1 April 2020.
  12. ↑ "Zielińscy. Rodzina, która zawsze pomoże". sportowefakty.wp.pl (in Polish). 12 April 2020. Retrieved 7 September 2023.
  13. ↑ "Kolejny ślub polskiego piłkarza! Piotr Zieliński powiedział "tak" Laurze Słowiak". 15 June 2019. Retrieved 20 December 2021.
  14. ↑ "Piotr Zieliński został ojcem. Pokazał pierwsze zdjęcia dziecka". Retrieved 20 December 2021.
  15. ↑ "Piotr Zieliński ubiega się o włoskie obywatelstwo" (in Polish). 27 February 2021. Retrieved 20 December 2021.
  16. ↑ "Zielinski ha ottenuto la cittadinanza italiana" (in Italian). RAI News. 6 October 2023. Retrieved 7 October 2023.
  17. ↑ "Piotr Zieliński". Soccerway. Retrieved 5 November 2019.
  18. 1 2 "Zieliński, Piotr". National Football Teams. Retrieved 28 March 2018.
  19. ↑ "Napoli win Serie A for first time in 33 years". BBC Sport. 4 May 2023. Retrieved 4 May 2023.
  20. ↑ "Coppa: Napoli beat Juventus on penalties". Football Italia. 17 June 2020.
  21. ↑ "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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