Inácio Piá

Infobox Football biography
playername = Inácio Piá
fullname = João Batista Inácio
dateofbirth = birth date and age|1982|3|22
cityofbirth = Ibitinga
countryofbirth = Brazil
height = Height|m=1.78
position = Striker
currentclub = Napoli
clubnumber = 12
youthyears = 1999-2001
youthclubs = Atalanta
years = 2001-2004 2003-2004 2005- Sep 2007 Jan 2008 June 2008
clubs = Atalanta → Ascoli ("loan") Napoli → Treviso ("loan") → Catania ("loan") Napoli
caps(goals) = 33 0(1) 10 0(1) 65 (12) 16 0(3) 8 0(0)
nationalyears =
nationalteam =
nationalcaps(goals) =
pcupdate =
ntupdate =

João Batista Inácio (born March 22 1982 in Ibitinga, Brazil) more commonly know as Inácio Piá is a Brazilian football player, who has played his entire career in the Italian football leagues. He plays as a striker.

Biography

Piá got his start playing for Atalanta B.C. in Serie A, he made his Serie A debut on 2 December, 2001, Atalanta 2-4 lost 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 Calcio 1898 for a season, this proved quite a successful time, scoring 13 goals in 36 games while on loan at the club.

Move to Napoli

After his loan spell ended, Piá returned to Atalanta B.C. making 10 more appearances for the club, before transfering to S.S.C. Napoli on a co-ownership deal in January 2005. 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; he has continued to be a prominent feature in the clubs plans, playing over 50 games to date. He is contracted with the club until 2011 after signing a new deal in May 2006.

But he became a surplus in Napoli's Serie A campaign, so 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, but was not a vital player during his stay in Sicily.

In June 2008 he returned from his loans to wear once again the Neapolitan colours. He actively participated to the pre-tournament training preparation due the qualification of the team for the Inter-Toto 2008, scoring 6 goals in 3 friendly matches.

Napoli/UEFA CUP

So far, Pia has scored 3 goals for Napoli in the UEFA CUP.

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.

References

External links

*pt icon [http://200.159.15.35/registro/registro.aspx?s=132481 CBF]
*it icon [http://www.gazzetta.it/speciali/serie_b/2008_nw/giocatori/54197.shtml gazzetta.it]