Piá (footballer, born 1982)

João Batista Inácio (born 22 March 1982), commonly known as Piá, is a Brazilian former footballer who played as a forward.

Not to be confused with Piá (footballer born 1973).
In this article, the surname is Inácio, not Piá.

Piá
Personal information
Full name João Batista Inácio
Date of birth (1982-03-22) 22 March 1982
Place of birth Ibitinga, Brazil
Height 1.77 m (5 ft 10 in)
Position(s) Striker / Winger
Youth career
1999–2001 Atalanta
Senior career*
Years Team Apps (Gls)
2001–2005 Atalanta 33 (1)
2003–2004 → Ascoli (loan) 36 (13)
2005–2010 Napoli 79 (16)
2007–2008 → Treviso (loan) 16 (3)
2008 → Catania (loan) 8 (0)
2010 → Torino (loan) 17 (3)
2010–2011 Portogruaro 13 (1)
2011–2012 Pergocrema 22 (10)
2012–2013 Lecce 21 (3)
2013–2014 L'Aquila 12 (1)
2014 Taranto 7 (0)
2014–2015 Darfo Boario 12 (7)
2015 Varese 1 (0)
2016 Pro Patria 4 (0)
2016 Darfo Boario 11 (2)
2016–2017 Adrense 12 (4)
*Club domestic league appearances and goals, correct as of 17:45, 17 April 2017 (UTC)
‡ National team caps and goals, correct as of 20 October 2012

Football career

Atalanta

Piá got his start by playing for Atalanta in Serie A, where he made his Serie A debut on 2 December 2001, in the 4–2 defeat to Internazionale. He scored only one goal in 23 appearances during his first years at the club. A loan spell came next as he joined up with then Serie B side Ascoli for a season, where this spell proved to be quite a successful time, scoring 13 goals in 36 games.

Napoli
Piá training with Napoli

After his loan spell ended, Piá returned to Atalanta making 10 more appearances for the club, before transferring to Napoli on a co-ownership deal in January 2005, for €750,000.[1] He scored during his first official match for Napoli, in the 3–0 victory over Giulianova.

Piá helped the club achieve the Serie C1 championship, gaining promotion back into Serie B. The co-ownership deal with Atalanta was resolved in favour of Napoli in early 2005, for another €600,000.[1] Despite being a regular starter with the club, and signing a new deal in May 2006 that will keep him at the club until 2011, he became a surplus in Napoli's Serie A campaign, and thus he was loaned to Treviso for another Serie B season. After just six months in Serie B with Treviso, he was loaned out to Serie A side Catania.[2]

In June 2008, he returned to Napoli to wear once again the Neapolitan colours, and made his debut in the UEFA Cup match against Vllaznia, where he scored a brace in the 3–0 win. In the return fixture, he scored the second goal in the 5–0 defeat of the Albanian club.

In January 2010 he was loaned to Serie B side Torino.

Portogruaro

On 31 August 2010, he left Napoli permanently to join newly promoted Serie B side Portogruaro.[3]

Lega Pro clubs

In September 2011 he left for Italian third division club Pergocrema.[4] After scoring 10 goals with Pergocrema, he signed with Lecce the following the season.[5]

Name spelling

The nickname Piá is pronounced as it is spelled (in his native Portuguese). The accent would signify that the stress is on the second syllable. In Italian, the language of his current team, the phonetic equivalent is written Pià, which is used for Italian television graphics.

Personal life

He is the older brother of Brazilian footballer Joelson, who also spent most of his career in Italy.

His son Inácio Samuele, born in 2008, followed in his footsteps and is currently a youth player for Atalanta and the Italian youth representatives.[6]

References
  1. Napoli Soccer S.p.A. bilancio (financial report and accounts) on 30 June 2005 (in Italian), PDF purchased from Italian C.C.I.A.A.
  2. "Pià al Catania" (in Italian). Calcio Catania. 23 January 2008. Retrieved 19 June 2015.
  3. "Dumitru e Cribari al Napoli. Rinaudo alla Juve, Dalla Bona all'Atalanta, Pia' al Portogruaro, Ciano e Diana in prestito alla Cavese. Risoluzione contrattuale per De Zerbi" (in Italian). SSC Napoli. 31 August 2010. Retrieved 15 January 2011.
  4. "Pergocrema, colpo Inacio Pià". Tutto Mercato Web (in Italian). 6 September 2011. Archived from the original on 13 September 2012. Retrieved 2 December 2011.
  5. "Ufficiale Pià e Bogliacino al Lecce". U.S. Lecce (in Italian). 28 July 2012. Archived from the original on 16 December 2019. Retrieved 28 July 2012.
  6. "Chi è Samu Piá, figlio di Jô: cresce con l'Atalanta e ora segna con la 10 dell'Italia" (in Italian). Gianluca Di Marzio. 9 November 2022. Retrieved 23 August 2023.
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