Paolo Palmacci

Paolo Palmacci (born 17 May 1984), is an Italian beach soccer player who plays as a midfielder, having originally started as a forward.

He has appeared at eight editions of the FIFA Beach Soccer World Cup representing the Italy national team, earning a silver medal on two occasions (2008 and 2019), and, as of 2023, is the most-capped Italian player ever. In 2003, aged 19, he started playing beach soccer, in his hometown of Terracina.

He was Serie A's second top scorer in the 2010 and 2011 seasons; In total, he won nine trophies with Terracina, scoring 196 goals. He was subsequently a surprise inclusion in Italy's final 12-man squad for the 2006 FIFA Beach Soccer World Cup a month later.

At the 2008 World Cup, he scored his self-proclaimed favourite ever beach soccer goal, an overhead kick in the quarter-final victory over France. Italy reached their first World Cup final at said edition, and he scored one of his team's three goals in the defeat against Brazil.

Palmacci survived new Italy head coach Massimiliano Esposito's purging of the squad in 2010 to find himself as one of the most experienced members of the national team come the time of the 2011 FIFA Beach Soccer World Cup; he was Italy's top scorer at the tournament with seven goals.

Palmacci became Italy's all-time record appearance maker at the 2015 European Games in Baku, overtaking the previous holder Michele Leghissa's 162 caps. A few weeks later at the 2015 World Cup in Espinho, Portugal, he infamously missed the crucial spotkick in the penalty shootout loss against Tahiti in the semi-final. He also made his 200th appearance for Italy at the tournament, against Poland in the semi-finals. In 2017, Palmacci reached the milestone of 200 goals for Italy in an 11–4 victory against Ukraine during the Superfinal of the Euro Beach Soccer League.

In 2018, he scored Italy's last penalty of the shootout win versus Spain in the final of the Euro Beach Soccer League to help seal the title, the biggest of Palmacci's international career. In 2019, he was one of just two surviving Italian players to play in the World Cup final against Portugal, having also played Italy's only previous final in 2008. Palmacci's final appearance to date for Italy came during the team's unsuccessful World Cup qualifying campaign in June 2021.

Style of play Palmacci has been described as "agile and quick, with great acrobatic skills... the prototype of the ideal beach soccer striker."

Statistics Competition Year Apps Goals Ref.FIFA Beach Soccer World Cup 2006 3 1 2007 3 3 2008 6 5 2009 4 3 2011 4 7 2015 6 4 2017 5 5 2019 6 0Total 37 28 —

Honours As of 2019 season

The following is a selection, not an exhaustive list, of the major honours Palmacci has achieved with Italy:

Team FIFA Beach Soccer World Cup Runner-up (2): 2008, 2019 Euro Beach Soccer League Winner (1): 2018 Runner-up (1): 2010 Mediterranean Beach Games Gold medal (1): 2015 European Games Silver medal (1): 2015 UEFA qualifiers for the FIFA Beach Soccer World Cup: Runner-up (1): 2019

Individual Euro Beach Soccer League (6): Superfinal: Top scorer: 2009, 2016 Regular season stages: