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Federico Balzaretti
Personal information
Date of birth	December 6, 1981 (age 28)
Place of birth	Turin, Italy
Height	1.78 m (5 ft 10 in)
Playing position	Left back
Club information
Current club	Palermo
Number	42
Senior career*
National team‡
	* Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only and correct as of 21 Ocotber 2009.; † Appearances (Goals).; ‡ National team caps and goals correct as of 14 October 2009

Federico Balzaretti (born 6 December 1981 in Turin) is an Italian footballer who currently plays for Serie A side U.S. Città di Palermo. He plays in the role of a left sided full-back.

[edit] Career

Known as 'Balzac' by most fans, he grew up since the age of 6 in the Torino youth system, debuting for the granata in season 2002-03. After a couple of seasons on loan to Varese and Siena, 'Balzac' was heavily involved in the 2004-05 Serie B campaign of Torino, which brought the team to a Serie A promotion.

However, as Torino disbanded right after that promotion, 'Balzac' was released in a free transfer, and was signed by city arch-rivals Juventus. In 2005-06 he was part of the first team for the bianconeri, often playing as regular under orders of coach Fabio Capello, and finally winning the Serie A league.

'Balzac's' first ever senior goal game on 17 February 2007, in Serie B, as Juventus beat Crotone 5-0. He was sold to Fiorentina on July 2007, but failed to impress with the viola as he made only six appearances in the first half of the Serie A 2007-08, and was subsequently signed by Palermo in a permanent move during the January transfer market.^[1] At Palermo, he took the #42 jersey as a homage to his father, who was born in 1942; in his tenure with the Sicilian side, he immediately established himself as a mainstay, playing regularly for the rosanero also in the following 2008–09 season.