Antonio Candreva (Italian pronunciation: ; born 28 February 1987) is an Italian professional footballer who plays as a right midfielder or right winger for Serie A club Salernitana, on loan from Sampdoria.
Candreva began his professional club career with Ternana in 2004, where he remained until 2007. He later moved to Udinese, remaining until 2012, but was sent on loan to Livorno, Juventus, Parma, and Cesena during his time with the club. He subsequently transferred to Lazio, where he won the Coppa Italia in his first season with the team. He joined Inter in 2016. At international level he has represented Italy at the 2008 Summer Olympics, at the 2013 FIFA Confederations Cup (winning a bronze medal in the tournament), at the 2014 FIFA World Cup, and at UEFA Euro 2016.
Candreva was born on 28 February 1987 in Rome. Candreva is of part Arbëreshe descent as his grandfather, on his father's side, is from the Arbëreshë village of Falconara Albanese in Cosenza.
Candreva has played for Italy since the U-18 level, making his debut in October 2004. After taking part in his nation's victorious campaign in the 2008 Toulon Tournament, Candreva was named in reserve list for the upcoming Olympics; he was eventually called up as an injury replacement for Tommaso Rocchi. He made his U-21 debut on 9 September 2008 in the 2009 Under-21 European Championship qualifier against Croatia. In May, he was called up to the 23-man squad for 2009 Under-21 European Championships, initially as second choice, and made several substitute appearances as Italy reached the semi-finals of the tournament, in which he started, losing 1–0 to eventual champions Germany.
On 14 November 2009, Candreva made his senior national team debut in a friendly match against the Netherlands, which ended in a 0–0 draw.
In early May, Candreva was called up for the training camp prior to the 2010 FIFA World Cup; he was included by manager Marcello Lippi in the 30-man preliminary squad announced on 11 May 2010, but was dropped from the 28-man provisional team a week later.
In October 2012, Antonio Candreva was recalled to the Italian national team by manager Cesare Prandelli to play in a double fixture for the 2014 FIFA World Cup qualification. Candreva earned a spot in the national team after his top performances for Lazio playing in both qualifiers.
In June 2013, Candreva was selected by Prandelli to play in the 2013 FIFA Confederations Cup. In the knockout stages of the tournament knockout stage, during the semi-final against Spain national football team the match had to be decided by a penalty shoot-out. Candreva stepped up to take the first penalty and scored past Iker Casillas by chipping the ball, in a way that recalled the famous penalty scored by Czech legend Antonín Panenka in the UEFA Euro 1976 Final. Italy finished third after defeating Uruguay on penalties in the bronze medal match.
On 1 June 2014, Candreva was selected in Italy's 23-man squad for the 2014 FIFA World Cup. In Italy's opening match of the tournament in Manaus on 14 June, he assisted Mario Balotelli's match-winning goal in a 2–1 defeat of England. He was also involved in Claudio Marchisio's opening goal, as he played a short corner to Marco Verratti, who then passed the ball out wide towards Andrea Pirlo, who drew his marker with him; Pirlo let the ball pass in between his legs to Marchisio, leaving him with space to score with a low drive from outside the area. Italy lost their next two matches, however, and finished in third place in their group, and were eliminated in the first round for a second consecutive World Cup.
On 16 November 2014, Candreva scored his first international goal in a 1–1 Euro 2016 qualifier draw against Croatia. On 12 June 2015, he scored Italy's equalising goal, from a Panenka style penalty, in the 36th minute of a 1–1 Euro 2016 qualifier away draw against Croatia in an empty Split stadium. On 10 October 2015, he assisted Stephan El Shaarawy's match-winning goal in Italy's 3–1 away win over Azerbaijan in a European qualifying match; the win guaranteed Italy a place at Euro 2016.
On 31 May 2016, he was named to Antonio Conte's 23-man Italy squad for Euro 2016. On 13 June he made his tournament debut and set up Graziano Pellè's goal in stoppage time in a 2–0 win over Belgium in the opening group match of Euro 2016. After being ruled out of Italy's final group match, a 1–0 defeat to Ireland, due to an injury sustained in Italy's 1–0 victory over Sweden, on 25 June, it was confirmed that Candreva would also miss out on the round of 16 match up with Spain on 27 June due to a thigh problem – and subsequently the 6–5 penalty shoot-out loss to Germany in the quarter final on 2 July.
