Piotr Zieliński

Piotr Sebastian Zieliński (born 20 May 1994) is a Polish professional footballer who plays as a midfielder for club Napoli and the Poland national team.

During his senior career he has also played for Udinese and Empoli.

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.

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

In 2014, Zieliński joined Empoli on loan.

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.

Zieliński started his career at his local club, Orzeł Ząbkowice Śląskie, where he was coached by his father.

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 Heerenveen.

He rose through the ranks and started training with the first team at the age of 15, under Franciszek Smuda.

At 17, he moved abroad to join Udinese after they scouted him on international youth tournament.

On 4 August 2016, after months of transfer speculation, Zieliński moved from Udinese to Napoli for a reported €16 million.

He scored his first goal with Partenopei's shirt on 3 December, in a 3–0 home win against Inter Milan; he ended his first season with six goals.

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

His older brothers Tomasz and Paweł are also footballers.

On 15 June 2019, Zieliński married Laura Słowiak with whom he has a son, Maksymilian (born 2021).

In 2021, he passed an Italian language exam at the B2 level at the University of Naples in an effort to obtain Italian citizenship.

On 6 October 2023, Zieliński formally became an Italian citizen.

Napoli

Poland U21

Individual

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 Salernitana 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.

On 17 February 2022, he scored a goal for Napoli in a Europa League match against Barcelona which ended in a 1–1 draw.

On 7 September 2022, he scored two goals and had one assist in a Champions League match against Liverpool, which concluded in a 4–1 victory for Napoli.