Nicola Ventola
| Personal information | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Full name | Nicola Ventola | ||
| Date of birth | 24 May 1978 | ||
| Place of birth | Grumo Appula, Italy | ||
| Height | 1.85 m (6 ft 1 in) | ||
| Playing position | Striker | ||
| Youth career | |||
| Bari | |||
| Senior career* | |||
| Years | Team | Apps | (Gls) |
| 1994–1998 | Bari | 44 | (12) |
| 1998–1999 | Internazionale | 21 | (6) |
| 1999–2000 | Bologna | 14 | (0) |
| 2000–2005 | Internazionale | 16 | (4) |
| 2000–2001 | → Atalanta (loan) | 28 | (10) |
| 2003–2004 | → Siena (loan) | 28 | (4) |
| 2004–2005 | → Crystal Palace (loan) | 3 | (1) |
| 2005–2007 | Atalanta | 64 | (23) |
| 2007–2009 | Torino | 35 | (6) |
| 2009–2011 | Novara | 26 | (4) |
| National team | |||
| 1994 | Italy U-17 | 2 | (1) |
| 1995 | Italy U-18 | 4 | (2) |
| 1995–1996 | Italy U-19 | 18 | (14) |
| 1996–2000 | Italy U-21 / Olympic | 25 | (12) |
| * Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only. |
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Nicola Ventola (born 24 May 1978) is a retired Italian footballer who played as a forward. Ventola played for several clubs in Italy throughout his career, and also had a loan spell with English side Crystal Palace. At international level, he was a member of the Italian squad at the 2000 Summer Olympics in Sydney and made his only senior appearance for Italy in 1998. At youth level, he represented the Italy under-21 side, and was a member of the team that won the 2000 UEFA European Under-21 Championship, also winning a gold medal at the 1997 Mediterranean Games with the under-23 side. He retired from football in February 2011.
Born in Grumo Appula, Bari, Nicola Ventola's career began with Bari in 1994 as a youth player. He made his Serie A debut on 6 November 1994 against ACF Fiorentina, at the age of 16 and 166 days. He left the club in 1998 after three more seasons (one in Serie B, winning the 1996–97 title, and two in Serie A), after scoring 12 goals in 45 appearances with the club (10 of which were scored in Serie B and 2 in Serie A).
Ventola signed for Internazionale during the 1998–99 season, making 21 appearances in the league, and scoring 6 goals, playing alongside other notable forwards, such as Ronaldo, Roberto Baggio, Zamorano, Andrea Pirlo, and Djorkaeff, albeit mainly as a substitute. During the season, he showed real star potential for his young age, scoring 11 goals in all competitions, as well as a goal against eventual European Cup winners Manchester United in the quarter-finals of the 1998–99 UEFA Champions League. However, exactly a year later he was signed on a co-ownership deal with Bologna (after Christian Vieri's £32 million transfer to Inter from Lazio) and later Atalanta during the next two seasons, in a swap deal with Corrado Colombo. During his loan period with Bologna, he made 14 appearances in Serie A, without scoring a goal, although he managed 4 goals in 7 appearances in the 1999–2000 Coppa Italia and the 1999–2000 UEFA Cup. With Atalanta, he had a more successful league season, scoring 10 goals in 28 Serie A appearances during the 2000–01 season.
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